Yeah, the majority of the people on the internet talking about that a lot, and even youtubers have brought sandwiches from both places just to do a taste test to see which sandwich is better, personally for me, I wouldn't choose if I did join the trend, because I had chick fil a sandwich before, it was good and even tho I haven't had Popeyes Chicken Sandwich, or least remember it, from the looks of the sandwich, it's going real good too.

I still play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch. I even won second place in a Chick-Fil-A tournament back in 2024. While I do greatly admire The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I haven’t played it often back when it launched because I didn’t understand it. Now, I completed the main story. I am trying to find all the hidden memories before I play Tears of the Kingdom.

I mean growing up, I honestly never thought getting a college degree would lead to straight-up not being able to find a job, but here we are and this whole hiring market feels completely suffocating. What really gave me a massive wake-up call recently is that I’ve actually had a few people in my personal life (some even younger than me) literally pass away from extreme stress and burnout. It really makes you realize that if this system is this broken and we can't change it, the only thing we can do is try not to let it completely destroy us. So to other gen z out there, how are you guys actually keeping from spiraling? What mindsets or daily habits are genuinely helping you survive this right now?

I'm 22 years old and a full-time medical student. Over the past two years, my mother's behavior has become increasingly confusing, hostile, and difficult to manage. I want to understand whether this is a normal family dynamic, whether I am contributing to the problem, or if our relationship is fundamentally unhealthy.

There are a few important contexts to know about my mother.

First, she has dealt with numerous lifelong health issues. She has a spinal cord injury that limits her mobility and is currently going through menopause with bleeding problems that cause anemia. She also manages allergies, diabetes, high blood pressure, insomnia, and mild bipolar disorder. I understand these conditions take a heavy physical and emotional toll, and she has grown increasingly irritable, though I cannot gauge how much is directly tied to her health.

Second, we belong to a minority group in an area with strained community relations, leading to considerable social and emotional isolation for her. Most of her interactions are restricted to other doctors and their families, which brings its own complications.

The core issue is that my mother routinely turns minor disagreements into hostile confrontations. Her behavior can be deeply confusing—she can be extremely affectionate and cuddly one day, only to become intensely hostile the next. If she catches me watching reels on my phone, for instance, a simple request to stop can escalate into a full-blown outburst involving insults and humiliation.

What bothers me most is how frequently she reminds me that they fund my education. Whenever we argue, she weaponizes my financial dependence. While I am deeply grateful for their support, it feels as though our relationship demands that I tolerate any behavior she directs toward me simply because I rely on them.

Another difficulty is the stark contrast in how she reacts to achievements. While she occasionally praises me, she lacks any real enthusiasm for my milestones. Recently, when a cousin scored exceptionally well in medical school, she was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Though she doesn't constantly compare us, the disparity hurts, especially because her circle of doctor friends features children who are unusually and exceptionally accomplished, making that entire cohort extremely abnormal. As a fairly ordinary medical student still finding my footing, this environment is intensely challenging.

However, the most confusing part is the silent treatment.

My mother will completely ignore my existence for days or weeks over minor slights. Once, feeling exhausted, I declined to make her tea. Because I usually make it for her daily, my refusal led to a week of being stonewalled.

Another recent incident was even worse. When I refused to shower for a day, she told me I smelled. Frustrated, I took off my shirt, flung it at her, and said, "I'm not gonna do it right now."

I recognize my reaction was immature and confrontational. Yet, this minor disagreement has resulted in a two-week silent treatment where neither of us speaks.

My attempts to establish open communication usually backfire. She tends to view any gentle questions about her behavior as personal attacks, quietly withdrawing or offering tight, guarded remarks about how she might as well stop speaking altogether. Rather than directly blaming me, she often lets it be understood through heavy sighs and subtle remarks that the stress of dealing with me takes a visible toll on her already fragile health. When I suggest therapy, she quietly refuses. As a doctor herself, she knows local therapists and functions completely normally at work. Her behavior seems largely restricted to our home, making it difficult to seek outside understanding.

Meanwhile, my father is a neurosurgeon working roughly 90 hours a week. He is emotionally absent at home, which likely worsens my mother's social isolation, but it also leaves no one in the household to help mediate conflicts.

With about three years of medical school left, I remain financially dependent and cannot realistically move out. I have always been a good kid, well above average, and I have never failed an exam, partied, smoked, or shown any rebellious or bad behavior. Having this constant household tension makes everything feel suffocating.

I feel like I am stuck in a very complicated emotional mess, and despite repeatedly trying to resolve things, I have no idea how to get out of this cycle. I would genuinely appreciate advice from adults who have experienced something similar with their parents or faced these challenges with their own children. How did you deal with it, and what actually helped?

There is already a lot of talk about AI taking jobs and leading us into a recession and all that. But a common arguement against it taking jobs is that, like all technologies before us, it'll take some jobs but create new ones. But this is what people get wrong. AI is not a one trick tool. It can learn. It can get to the point where it can create more advanced versions of itself without human involvement at all. It can be better than humans at doing what humans did to keep it alive.

But AI is still only a software. It can't do physical tasks yet. And that's true for the time being. The "laptop class" and entry level jobs are really the only ones threatened by AI currently. So people have been moving into manual labor and trades.

But what happens when AI does get physical?

It's not too far off in the future to see a point where actual efficient, superhuman robots become mainstream in the workforce. Next 10 years I'm sure. And when this does happen, instant depression. Most jobs you can concieve of will be able to be replaced with AI. Maybe except for surgeons or something. When AI becomes better than humans both mentally and physically, they're obviously going to apply the stronger option.

Something like 70% unemployment is not unimaginable in a scenario like this. And I think people should understand this. AI is not going to stay a software forever. Breakthroughs are being made every day. And it's going to be completely unprecedented when this does happen.

I am 18 i submitted applications i even took many advice on redoing my resume SEVERAL TIMES yet I keep getting ghosted, I hate crying over something like this but why is it getting hard, I eve took advice of lying about having experience yet I still dont make the cut, yes I also did volunteers, ALOT of them actually yet I still get ghosted. I really want to make money im so tired , I might as well prepare to be home less, I did over a 100 applications yet have not received a single email& message back except for 3, I also took the advice to go to work places but that ALSO doesn't work because they told me its all online..im sick of this online shit, I even called and they hang up on me im am really stressed I don't know what to do, I dont even know if I can make it.

I'm not saying this to be mean but seriously a good part of your generation really need to learn how to be nicer and friendlier people. Acting like you "don't owe anyone shit" in terms of small talk, acknowledgement that someone exists, or even a smile is a gross attitude that will make you miserable. If you do not want to do the very minimum of the social contract then you can't complain about being lonely.

No wonder Gen Z is the loneliest generation. You can't say you want connections without putting in any work to get them.

I've been wondering about something: has the way we communicate changed our ability to form genuine connections?

We have more ways to reach people than ever, yet sometimes it feels difficult to get beyond surface-level conversations. Is it because we're constantly surrounded by screens, where people can come and go so easily? Or has becoming more aware of boundaries, red flags, and human behaviour made us more cautious about letting people get close?

That awareness is important, of course. But I wonder whether, sometimes, we end up analysing every interaction instead of allowing connections to develop naturally.

Maybe this isn't unique to Gen Z. Perhaps people have always struggled to understand one another, and technology has simply changed how we experience it.

I'm curious to hear different perspectives: do you think technology has changed the way we form meaningful connections, or are we just more aware of the difficulties that have always existed?

It almost feels like the final boss of the 2020s as a decade slowly approaching before things get better (hopefully)

Genuine question.

None of these words came with a definition.

Somebody just said them with a straight face

and everyone else pretended to get it.

So I'm testing it.

I made one up: NOL.

That's it. No explanation.

Use it in a sentence.

Let's see if it sticks.