Millennials Are Sharing The Exact Moment They Realized They Weren't "Young" Anymore
Millennials, we're not old, but it's pretty clear that times have changed. We have new Gen Z slang, skinny jeans are out, and even quite a few "millennial names" are now considered "old people" names?!
So, we recently asked millennials of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the exact moment they realized they weren't "young" anymore, and their responses ranged from hilarious to eye-opening. Here's what they had to say:
1."When I turned 40. I still don't feel 40, and it's weird to think about. Also, I asked my teenage niece if she knew who Britney Spears was. She knew of her, but not really any of her music. Yup, now I feel old."
2."When I realized that my students use a completely different hand sign for making a call than people our age. Instead of sticking out their thumb and pinky 🤙🏻 and putting it to the side of their face like an old school phone, they just put their whole hand against the side of their face, like an iPhone."
—28, Massachusetts
3."I went back to university, and the professor said, 'I know a lot of you weren't alive for this event.' The event? 9/11, I've never felt so old."
—28, North Carolina
"When a friend of mine told me he was in 4th grade when 9/11 happened, and I was a senior in college."
4."I mean, I know I'm aging — that's kind of what happens — but the first time my oldest called me 'bruh,' hit different. He's 10, and it happened maybe two years ago. I still hate it, but at least I can laugh about it now."
—40, Canada
5."My daughter asked me when her dad and I were born. To which she replied, 'OMG the 1900s!?' Or the time she discovered TikTok through her aunt. She asked if I had it as a kid, and I had to explain that it didn't exist then 🙃."
—27, Tennessee
6."When I was in Forever 21, and a young girl told her boyfriend to watch out for 'that lady' (me) to avoid bumping into me. When I realized I wasn't part of the young group of people in the office and am now in a federally protected class (over 40). The nail in the coffin was when I was considered an extremely geriatric pregnant person (at 42/43) and had loads of extra attention during my visits and hospital stay."
"But aging is also a privilege denied to many, so I consider myself lucky."
7."When I realized that my first cellphone was a prepaid Nokia brick that I got at 16 years old, and kids nowadays have iPhones in elementary school 🥴."
When I realize my first cell phone was a prepaid Nokia brick that I got at 16 years old and kids nowadays have iPhones in elementary school 🥴
8."I walked into a new store that had just popped up in my neighborhood: a vintage clothing store. I didn't see anything cute or vintage. When I walked in, I strolled the aisles feeling confused for a minute, but then it hit me — everything in there was all '90s vintage — the '90s was vintage ☠️."
—40, Atlanta
9.I used to go to music festivals religiously, and then I took a couple of years off when I had a kid — and bang, now I don't recognize any of the acts on lineups. I barely recognize anyone on the radio or at the Grammys."
"I literally wonder if I should start listening to my dad's fave smooth tunes radio station. Is it my time?!"
"A few years ago now, I sat down to watch the Grammys, and I had NO IDEA who anyone nominated was. I used to be a big music nerd. But nope. No idea."
10."When one of the kids I nannied for told me I was an 'adult.' She was 8 at the time, and I'd been taking care of her since she was 5. No one had ever directly called me an adult before, other than my parents, even though I was 21 at the time. Having a kid call you an adult feels real because you take care of them thinking you're close in age."
"She'll be graduating high school next year, which is icing on the 'I'm old' cake."
—Anonymous, California
11."I'm a 31-year-old millennial. My first inkling was when I opened Buzzfeed and didn’t recognize a single name out of 10+ articles, but the final nail in my coffin was walking into Target to see lace trim camis featured prominently in the front of the store 💀."
"When I go to shop for clothes and see half of the things I used to wear back in the '90s and early 2000s coming back into style."
12."It was when I realized The Princess and The Frog came out 15 years ago — and that film now is what The Lion King was to me and my sister back then."
13."I'm 31. I was talking to the younger girls in the office, and they didn't understand listening to a cassette tape and having to wind it back with a pencil 😩."
14."When a Gen Z'er at work referred to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as 'some old, classic film.' It came out when I was in college. And the other day when my husband was showing me something on his phone, and I literally moved my glasses up to see it better."
"Also, when I tweaked my back picking up my shopping; it was so bad that I had to lie down for the rest of the day, and it took weeks to fully recover."
15."I dressed up as Daria last year for Halloween, and my Gen Z friend asked me if I was Harry Potter."
—35, Florida
16."Avril Lavigne's debut album, Let Go, turned 20 a couple of years ago, and her second album, Under My Skin, is turning 20 THIS year. I've been a fan of hers since not long after the first one came out."
17."Patients who had barely started school when I started my job in my mid-20s are now in their 20s. The age gap between myself and the students is also feeling painfully obvious now."
—klmy
18."I don't know what ASMR means."
19."When my niece was a baby, she was an extra in the Hannah Montana movie along with her older siblings. The 'baby' graduates from high school next month."
—37, Florida
20."My manager is younger than me. When she started, it was a real existential 'Does this mean I've already got where I'm going?' moment. I got over it pretty quick (and she is a good manager!), but it weirded me out for a minute there."
—35, UK
21."When I had just finished training someone for a few weeks at work, and she had to call one of our vendors from the landline in a different area code. She couldn’t get the number right three times (or so I thought). I tried, and it went straight through. I was like, Ohhhh, did you press one for the country code? She was like, 'What’s that?!'"
"She asked around, and no one who she talked to knew that to make a long-distance call on a landline, you would need the country code except her mom and aunt. I was like, 'Hmm. I guess I’m old.'"
22."When I did the math and realized I was physically old enough to have a child in middle school. Now there are people younger than me with grandchildren 🤯."
And finally...
23."I've been feeling this way for a while since my teenage daughter is now starting to wear things I wore in high school. And then this 'throwback' radio station came on the air with all the music I grew up to. But it really hit me last week when I was walking around the college campus where I teach, and saw a poster for a Y2K party. That did it. I'm old, officially."
—38, New York
Millennials, what was the exact moment you started feeling "old?" Let us know in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
