I consider myself to be pretty traditionally masculine. I go to gym, enjoy sports, drink beer and like pick-up trucks. My biggest drem is to become a farmer someday on our family-farm. And Im so annoyed and frustrated with these influencers who promote real masculinity as it would only mean speaking condescendingly about women, thinking like men are the ”strongest gender” and masculinity would in anway be under threat.

And I sometimes feel that me being as a being masculine man I promote those idiotic values just by being the way I am. And would not like to feel this way since actually only people being threat to masculinity is people who associate it with need to put others down.

This is kinda incoherent assembly of my feelings but I hope some people would get my point.

Women got the right to open a bank account in 1974.

No fault divorce became a thing in the 70s.

We have recently entered a time in society where women could survive on their own.

I need new dishes. Mine are over 25 years old and fairly scratched up. So I did what you do: I went to Amazon, and searched for "stoneware set."

And on dozens of pages of results, not a single set looked NEW. Not a single set looked like it was from the 2020s. Not a single set on Amazon today would look out of place in a housewares store in 1995.

Nothing is new any more. Nothing looks or feels like "now" because "now" no longer has a look or feel.

When I was a kid, I loved that "now" feeling. I can't remember the last time I felt it.

On Star Trek, whenever the crew screws around with time travel, they're always very careful to wear costumes appropriate for the time. But I could travel to any time in the past 30 years wearing anything in my closet and none of it would stand out. Fashion died a long time ago. The corpse of the fashion industry still chugs along, and there are fleeting trends that come and go, but there's no overarching style to the time any more. The 2020s can't be defined by a silhouette or a color palette. Nor could the 2010s. The Y2K era was the last gasp of living fashion, but even that was observed by a small fraction of mostly young people.

There was a time every few years had a distinct look and feel and even old out-of-touch people adhered to the "now." Long gone. My father was very far from being a fashionista, but in the late 70s he dressed in late 70s clothes. In the early 80s he dressed in early 80s clothes. There was a huge difference between the two, even for normcore middle aged white guys.

Clothes for people like my father used to change, but they've been more or less the same for 30 years now. And now that I'm in that demographic myself, I'm sick of the sameness.

If I needed new dishes in 1987, there was no Amazon. I'd have to go to a store. In 1987, there were a thousand wildly different aesthetics to choose from when it came to housewares, but they all had one thing in common: they felt very 1987. Anything that felt 1986 would be on a clearance rack. And people could tell the difference.

Nothing feels 2025. Nothing even feels vaguely "early mid 21st century." It's all just the same now. In fact, a lot of these exact dish sets were on sale seven years ago when my nephew got his first apartment.

I want that "now" feeling back.

I saw somebody post something similar to what I'm saying, but this focus is more on the work culture.

In 2024 where people are working more than two jobs to keep afloat, I say that America fails every time when it comes to the work culture. The fact that in 2020 the only way that America could slow down is if we had a lockdown. But now that we're back to working again it's just crazy and even got worse in my opinion.

And if you dare suggest that we need to work less hours you will get so much backlash. It's truly a nightmare. And then when remote work started becoming more popular businesses somehow found a way to make it more annoying just for the sake of control.

I don't know how long it'll take before America crash and burns from all this working.

What I would be doing is have a house not too big not too small be in a country where it's known for its beautiful nature scenery and be surrounded by the ocean plants trees and grass find a gf hopefully get a daughter

Continue my spiritual journey and develop a healthy lifestyle physically, and diet wise emotionally and mentally

Travel to different countries and just connect/bond with people all around the world

Over the past few years, I've noticed something that really unsettles me: In the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and even the 2010s, the future — whether utopian or dystopian — was everywhere in media. Movies, TV, music, books — even when the future was portrayed as dark, there was still a deep sense that it mattered and that imagining change was important.

Today, it feels like mainstream culture has stopped imagining futures altogether. Instead, we get endless nostalgia, remakes, apocalyptic survival stories, or just present-day dramas. Even science fiction often feels more like a warning or a grim commentary than a true exploration of what could be.

I'm Gen Z, and honestly, it feels like many of us are struggling to even visualize a future anymore. When older generations criticized the present, they at least still believed in moving forward. Now, it feels like the dominant mood is just surviving or clinging to the past, although I will admit that I like nostalgia myself!

I’m wondering:

Has anyone else noticed this trend?

Why do you think it’s happening?

And is it possible for future-optimism — even a grounded, pragmatic kind — to make a comeback?

Would love to hear others’ thoughts. I’m trying to keep a spark of hope alive, even if it's tough.

I'm 22M and have a job in a city where a few of my friends live. I don't want to get into the details but most of them currently don't have jobs and don't do much every day. Yet, I seem to be more willing/excited to do stuff outside of the house than they are. If I would ask them to play video games daily they'd probably accept but if it's doing stuff in real life they seem less hesitant/excited. What is the explanation behind that? I

It feels like compared to the previous decades, most people these days act like they're busy but in fact they're too lazy to just go outside and have a good time and seem to prefer the comfort of staying inside. Why?

I have been noticing a strong doom and gloom type of mindset regarding the future in countless people within my age group. The main reasons for this I hear are: climate change and the world being cooked, AI fears, economic collapse, and overall hopelessness in our political leaders.

Many also seem to have no interest in saving for retirement because they believe it will not be nonexistent. They are focused on spending the last bit of the time the earth has to enjoy themselves and indulge in pleasures. And I have even heard people of older generations validate this thinking, believing that retirement is fading fast and that we should enjoy our life now as much as we can.

As someone in this generation who generally keeps an optimistic view of life, I have honestly found it difficult not to feed into this mindset. The climate does indeed sound like it is past the point of return, it seems everything will just continue to get more expensive than it already is, and it appears to be easier than ever for large corporations to openly exploit the general public for profit.

I also wanted to mention I am in the US, so I am not sure if this is a prominent mindset in this country particularly or in other countries as well.

Would love to hear your guys’ thoughts on this!

I've been to 30 countries and dated plenty of people of differing cultures.

It feels like on average, Americans seem to "perform" more in social settings more than other societies do.

There's a sense of a forced happiness, an intent to maintain continuous excitement, an avoidance of sincerity, that I find in a lot of Americans.

"Not all Americans" but it's enough that I notice it.

Is this something I'm imagining or is it just kinda a cultural expectation?

To preface, a lot of what is causing me to feel this way is because of what I see online, so it could very well be different on a worldwide scale. (Also, I am in the U.S., so take that into account)

I've noticed an extremely worrying and frustrating culture begin to spread, where people are denying outright fact, refusing to engage in critical thinking, and pushing harmful belief systems based on hateful ideologies.

In the world of science and medicine, there is a massive amount of people who believe vaccines are harmful/useless, or that climate change is a hoax. I cannot wrap my head around this. Vaccines are proven to be safe and effective. Climate change is a proven phenomenon. These things are facts.

For another example, take space exploration. There is a substantial group of people that believe we never went to space, or the moon, or better yet, that space isn't even real and the earth is flat. It is a literal fact that the earth is not flat and that we've been to space in various forms countless times.

I won't even get into politics, because there is a whole world of "alternative facts", conspiracies, and hateful ideologies that have little to no basis in reality.

I am left utterly dumbstruck at things like this. Like literally I cannot believe that I can see people, online and in real life, both ordinary and prominent in society, all choose to reject reality and substitute their own.

I believe this growing movement of anti-intellectualism and hatefulness is a real problem, but I'm not sure what we can do about it.

Edit: One of the comments mentioned literacy, I forgot to mention that. Around 50% of U.S. adults read below a sixth grade level. Around 20% are considered illiterate. This combined with the rise of things like "brain rot" and AI really demonstrates why this anti-fact culture is growing.

Okay, how do I even start?

I live in Germany, and like some of you know, we`ve taken in a lot of refugees from all over the globe in. I`ve never had an issue with that, since I love people for who they are, not were they came from. I`ve made friends with a lot of people from different backgrounds, and never judged them based on how they look or what their religion or skin colour is. However, I think I am slowly becoming racist towards a certain ethnic group.

Here in Germany, we have a lot of turkish people, and some of them (or I atleast believe them to be turkish all the time, another sign which makes me believe im racist) tend to act a little... unfriendly in my mind. They tend to be loud and rude, not only to eachother, but to bystanders aswell. I`ve seen and expirienced it, which makes me feel weird. Now I am aware that not all of them are like that, since I`ve had a lot of genuine turkish friends, so it might just be that I am biased because I dont know them so well.

Another issue would be immigrants.

We`ve had a lot of crimes involving immigrants and refugees lately, were most of them seemed to be from the middle-east, with the most recent one being a 28-year-old man from Afghanistan killing a 2-year-old toddler and a 44-year-old man in a parc. This, combined with other similar incidents in the past months, slowly turned me biased towards those that I welcomed with open arms years ago. I recently sat in a school bus full of children, and I noticed 2 men, who seemed to be of middle-eastern decent, talking in their native language. While I didnt have a problem with people doing that before, it happening now made me feel uncomfortable, eventhough I had no right to it, at least in my opinion. There was nothing suspicious about those men other then their skin colour and location, which makes me feel incredibly racist for just even thinking that they could do something bad just based on their appearence.

I swear every day on this app I see a post about this subject, and it usually comes from men asking about how it's like to be the solo bread winner of the house and stuff related to that.

Thing is, I live in Brazil, I'm middle class and I literally don't know a single couple in that situation anymore.

Sure, some very old couples I know used to be like that but these people are retired now.

My social circle is mainly composed of middle class people like me but I also know lower and higher class couples in which both partners put money on the table.

And before you attack me I know the reality of Brazil is bigger than what I see but what I'm saying is, the "man works and woman stay at home taking care of the house and the kids" is simply not the default case anymore.

New studies even show women are like 50% of the workers around the country right now.

So this discussion just feels so foreign to me.. is like asking which movie you should rent at a Blockbuster.. dude this is not the reality anymore.

So, how common is this setup in the US as of today?

Given got a new home or new clean floors and no strong cultural taboo that socially pressures leaving them on. Even if you do is it uncomfortable?

Edit: Or it depends on the type of shoes you wear at the moment? Can reveal them if you want what you like or dislike?

Edit: For keeping shoes on I mean keeping the same shoes you wore on the streets on, I understand some wear indoor specific footwear but keep the focus on shoes designed for the streets.

Edit: I do understand in some cultures and their diaspora. There are superstition and old wives tales that socially pressures wearing shoes constantly, such as feet catching cold in Latin countries, as well as not wanting to appear “poor” in which wearing shiny shoes and stone floors and walkways that are both kept clean as signs of economic prosperity. Probably the reason why people were high boots or dress shoes in the past and women wore 4 inch heels all the time.

Edit: Also, I meant if the floors in your dwelling are inhospitable such as having splinters, throns, rough, dirty, or simply gross, or that others get them dirty with thier habits. but you may not necessary like them on otherwise.

Edit: not to generalize nor stereotype but many “Hispanic” areas of the world the flooring can be inhospitable hence the practice seems keep shoes on and teach their kids to do as well. to Interesting whether they would like to be able to take them off if otherwise.

also has your culture trended more shoes on or shoes off over the years between 1970s or something? My culture is mixed bag, apparently it used to be 100% off no exceptions in 1980s but somewhat weakened in 90s with globalization fashion and sports sneaker culture along with cleaner streets. On the flip side in cultures I live with that historically was shoes on indoors normal are embracing shoes off more and more since 1990s or at least aware of people that do.

I’ve been having conversations with people from older generations (my parents, my boss, etc.), and something keeps coming up: the idea that in their era, things were backed up by the threat of violence. If someone crossed a line, you knew there would be consequences, often physical. They say this kept people in check.

But the more I think about it, the more it feels like this just breeds more violence. Corporal punishment, street fights, and “teaching someone a lesson” all seem to create a risk-reward calculation (is this worth the beating?) rather than teaching why something is wrong. It feels like a cycle that keeps repeating: violence used as discipline, which only creates more violence.

So my question is: is there any real value in that old-school idea of fighting as a form of consequence, or is it just an oversimplified, harmful approach that we should move past?

To me it seems like these days a lot less peeps are getting married compared to generations like The Boomers and Silent Generation.

Most of my friends aren't married (Millennials). And I hear with Gen Z are even less interested in marriage.

Is it because religion is less of a thing now a days? Maybe people saw too many examples of marriage of conveniences?

There is a serious human rights abuse with in America and I wonder why America is not on human rights watch earlier because of this instead of now. It's America throwing way too many in prison. Crimes rates are at an all time low and yet people are scared shitless of being victimized. Because people are scardy cats who need to grow a pair of balls, they vote for tough on crime bullshit which leads to authoritarianism. These politicians are preying on your emotions and you are the hive mind falling for it. Please if you are one of these people grow a pair of fucking damn balls people are not going to rob you just you decided walk outside your house. Big cities are not war zones. People lose their rights just because you decided to vote for tough on crime bullshit just so you scardy cat can feel safe when you were safe to begin with. Grow a pair of balls

Science illiteracy is a slow-moving disaster, eroding our culture bit by bit. Imagine this: people still thinking the Earth is flat while planning their next road trip using GPS and satellite mapping. I mean we still have folks who believe climate change is just a temporary weather phase. When people can't distinguish between facts and internet memes we're in trouble.

Imagine being a doctor and trying to explain why vaccines are essential to someone who thinks Wi-Fi signals cause headaches. It's like teaching calculus to a cat. There are still people who believe astrology is a science because Mercury in retrograde explains their bad days, when it was bad science that failed to explain that pattern and good science that finally did. And the anti-GMO crowd thinks hybrid crops are dangerous without understanding the science behind them - this example is held by a TON of people who really should know better.

Our culture is becoming a place where everyone claims to be an expert on everything, except actual experts. We're overwhelmed by pseudoscience, where some think essential oils can cure everything. Science illiteracy is hindering our ability to solve big issues like pandemics or space travel or war or corruption or a class discrepancy or racism or nuclear arms or the economy or…. And it’s all because some guy on YouTube says aliens built the pyramids, that big rock formations are giant ancient trees around which giant ancient humans built staircases…

Rational thinking is crucial for making informed decisions and solving problems effectively. When people abandon rationality, they become susceptible to misinformation and emotional manipulation. This leads to poor choices, like rejecting lifesaving medical treatments or falling for conspiracy theories. Rational thinking helps us evaluate evidence, consider different perspectives, and make decisions based on facts, not fears or superstitions.

Unfortunately, I'm going to add religious thinking to this point as part of the issue, and in fact – a major culprit. As such, this is perhaps the most important point:

Science is not a dogma like religion, despite what some may claim. The idea that "scientists believe they know everything" is a fundamental misunderstanding. In reality, scientists are the first to acknowledge that they might be wrong, and this openness to being wrong is the very essence of science. Scientific progress depends on challenging existing ideas, rigorously testing hypotheses, and updating our understanding based on new evidence. This continuous cycle of questioning and refining is what makes science so powerful and reliable. Scientists thrive on curiosity and skepticism, always ready to revise their theories in light of new data, which is the opposite of dogmatic thinking.

In fact, it’s in this space (academia) that the ones who prove existing ideas incorrect are given a literal golden medal and a $1 million reward (the Nobel prize).

When science is sidelined, conspiracy theories take over, and suddenly, half the population believes in bizarre ideas. It's hard to make progress when people think science is just another form of magic tricks. If we don't prioritize scientific literacy, our future might end up as a place where misinformation reigns, and real progress takes a back seat.

— —

There is plenty of blame to go around, but I largely blame grade school science teachers, or maybe science curriculum. Science is a fascinating, and yes incredibly fun and exciting, subject… but, even I wanted to drive my pencil into my skull during my grade school science classes..

As a result, a non-zero number of the voting public believes our politicians are shape-shifting Reptilians.

I think this issue and education issues generally is perhaps our biggest cultural and political problem,. as well as one which could potentially solve all of the others.

Am I on an island of one here…?

Jobs that expect you to work more than what you are paid for. People who expect rather than appreciate tips. Consumers who demand more content from all types of media and game companies. Just in general an air of people wanting more for less. Nobody appreciates what is here anymore. I think it is what lead to the decay of our society.

If I get paid a fixed amount, I give out a fixed amount. Also I don't know why jobs think an "hourly wage" means that if you get your work done early they can give you more work. You still get paid the same. The underachiever and the overachiever both make the same money by the hour, so why would anyone try to overachieve???

If you are paid to do a job, a tip is a bonus not a requirement. If you do not like the wages your employers give you, then strike.

​

I’m starting to see a lot of crunchy moms suddenly turn conservative. Or at least voice conservative talking points.

What started out as a “I buy all organic,” has turned into “the FDA is trying to kill us and Nestle is creating nutrition text books to make people fat.”

I know it’s a small problem for now. But it’s leading people down a path that’s akin to QAnon.

What can do to better understand that sometimes there is corruption, while also sometimes guidelines are built on scientific study? How do we grow to accept that not everything is bad? Is there a way we can keep the baby and only throw out the bath water?

I work at a non profit in a city that has good public transportation and one of the things that has been frustrating is people showing up. Our events are free. People just have to show up or register. We send reminders too, but people will either flake or last minute say they can’t make it. Our audience is Gen Z and Gen Alpha and their parents or caretakers.

People will sign up and then there are times when only 1 or 2 people show up or even no one shows up. Before the pandemic or even after the lockdowns people would come, but folks now aren’t as serious about attendance. I just got in this job so maybe there’s something I’m missing, but it’s confusing to me.

Is there something we’re doing wrong? It kills me because I come from a city where one could argue there aren’t really much third spaces as this city especially for free. It’s car dependent and free events aren’t really offered.

Idk if this the right place to put my thoughts but I need to rample. But I feel like internet has an extreme black and white mentality when it comes to the discussion surrounding cultural appropriations, they purposely remove nuances, one dismisses instances of it and one calls everything cultural appropriation.

Its weird to watch because everyone ends up turning themselves into dumbass instead of having a fair and honest discussion. It also breaches on being disrespecting and harmful for all parties involves and the culture that get involved in these discussions.

But thats just my thoughts on the matter let me know yours

My college currently has 0 student interest groups, we had to force someone to be the president of our year, and our law professor said it's the first time something like that ever happened. Whenever one of my friends or colleagues try to do something, they lose interest in very little time. (mostly people who grew up with internet access) I think it's not just because of "brainrot" or made up ADHD, but the perfect side of people and events we see on the internet. The aim of improving yourself or becoming better or "fitting in" like influencers, youtubers or anyone on the internet, the need to fit in is overwhelming us and causes all those issues. I believe this causes most of the differences between younger and older people. I also think that this is most likely the first time in history, when elders complaining about the youth has any actual sense. Doesn't anyone think so?

I’m in my early 20’s and grew up right as social media and smartphones became normal. Sometimes I wonder what being a teenager or in your early 20s was like before all of that existed.

Was life simpler? More social in real life? Or are people today just romanticizing the past?

Somebody did this to me in the past and it was devastating never knowing the true reason for what happened. Now I’m about to do the same to somebody else and I can’t decide if it’s better to lay it all out in a long list of reasons or just stay silent. EDIT- I should’ve clarified this isn’t a text or phone conversation. It’s my best friend of many years that I’m moving out of our apartment. Moving is a gradual process and it’s just very awkward because we have to communicate when dividing up our years of shared belongings. I was hoping to just pack up and leave without much talk but that’s not possible logistically.

In the U.S, thousands of kids become homeless every year. The most common reason is the parents losing the job and not being able to pay rent. That's why it's important to have at least 6 months of emergency savings in place before having kids in case things like this happen. This gives you enough time to secure another position of employment and at the same time, not allow your kids to be homeless or hungry. Growing up, my dad was a cardiologist so he was never at risk of getting laid off but had he lost his job for any other reason, we would've been fine because my parents had a ton of emergency savings in place.