When it comes to understanding the younger generation, chances are it might take the elders a little time. From their fashion choices to slang like “rizz” and “no cap,” some things just don’t translate across generations and that’s perfectly okay. It’s natural for each age group to live in its own cultural bubble. But sometimes, those bubbles collide in the most unexpected and hilarious ways.
Today, we’ve compiled a list of moments where people shared the most hilariously out-of-touch things young people have ever said to them. Some are funny, some are mildly alarming, and a few might make you question reality. If you’ve ever felt ancient after chatting with someone under 20, this list is definitely for you.
#1
“Poor is just a mindset”
Came from a young person who was born into wealth but constantly preached about how it’s all just about working hard and believing in your dreams.
Image source: Sea_Risk2195, Enrique Bancalari/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#2
I asked an intern to help me enter data into spreadsheets for an environmental project we had due soon. This was at an environmental consulting firm.
Them: “I am going to pass on that work task because I don’t see that as something I need to do within the realm of what I plan for my career path.”
Image source: FlowingNotForcing, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#3
The girl that thought a credit card was «free money».
Anonymous:
There was a girl on Caleb Hammer’s YouTube show who thought that the numbers getting bigger on her credit card Bill was a good thing.
Image source: UrbanCyclerPT, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#4
“Rich people have it harder than poor people because rich people are more ‘isolated’ hence lonelier”…
Image source: Notmuch__1, Andrej Lišakov/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#5
This person is only 2 years younger than me (mid twenties) and I was explaining how working full time is the standard for an adult, they thought I worked 5 days a week because I’m “good at that” and insisted most people in the US work like 1-2 days…. They were trying to get my pity by saying I’m just an overachiever who loves work. Not true!
Image source: chonz010, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#6
In college, I had a friend who was looking for apartments near our campus and she came across multiple listings that were close by and under $1000… While showing me pictures she said, “Wow look at this, $800 for this whole house.”
At first I thought she was joking, because I thought there was no way in hell she could think that a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, newly built townhouse would be $800.
I had to hold back my annoyance, as I calmly explained to her that these listings were for bedrooms with shared common spaces around the house.
She looked distraught and disgusted by the fact that people would “lie” on the internet and “lure people in with photos of the entire house, making them believe they could have it all.”
Not the smartest pickle, but she was a nice girl.
Image source: Adventurous-Run-5920, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#7
“What do you mean you don’t have summer off? They make you work during summer?!?”
Yes child. Adults don’t get summer break. You know when you go to the grocery store or the movies all summer? Those people are working. I have to work just like them.
The child was 17.
Their mind was blown.
Image source: Low_Effective_6056, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#8
I work at a university. A 20 year old student came to see me to ask if I would be his dissertation supervisor in the next academic year. I said I couldn’t, since I would be leaving at the end of semester (to work at another university). He looked me up and down with dawning realisation and said ‘Oh right yeah, I guess you are retiring?’.
I was 35 at the time.
Image source: J8766557, Yunus Tuğ/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#9
A teenage girl told me that she wasn’t worried about her GCSE/exam results because she would just marry a rich man. She wasn’t very happy when I asked her what would happen if she couldn’t find anyone who wanted to marry her.
Image source: readlikeanerd, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#10
My work colleague (22m) who still lives with his parents was so confused why i (32f) hadn’t bought a house yet. I had to remind him that I left home at 18 and haven’t had the luxury of living with parents to help save for a house deposit.
Image source: 39wva, Pavel Danilyuk/pexels (not the actual photo)
#11
A 15 year old told me she wanted to join the army when she was older because she didn’t like being told what to do.
Image source: Ok-Masterpiece-4716, Antonio Orefice/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#12
“They won’t arrest me I’m homeless.”
Yeah they will. Do you not see the constant flow of police cars showing up here 3+ times a week.
Image source: anon, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#13
“I guess there are poor people in Jamaica, but they are so happy! They’re used to being poor. They’re not hungry. They can always just eat a coconut!”
We were both around 19 years old and I was at a party at her house. We had just met. After we were done talking I wasn’t invited back, which was fine by me!
Image source: No_Goose_7390, andrzj brown/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#14
I’ve worked in education since 2008. The number of kids who literally think they’re gonna make it to the NFL, be a TikTok star, etc is mind blowing.
Image source: 544075701, Andrej Lišakov/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#15
So I grew up in the South… middle of nowhere. Like, real nowhere. You know the kind of place where the gas station is also the town hall and possibly a daycare? That kind of nowhere.
Our town was so small, I graduated in a class of 35 people. And that included two dudes who didn’t technically go to school, but they’d just been hanging around so long we figured, you know what, give ‘em a diploma. They’ve earned it. Just… by being here.
They didn’t even pave my road until I was about 13 years old. Even then they only paved it about 3 houses past mine because not enough people lived further down the road to support the cost of paving the whole road.
So one night, like most Southern teenage boys do, we’re out by a bonfire, drinking’ some beers we definitely did not legally purchase. And we start talking’ about the “World’s Richest People.” And this was back in the day, before Elon Musk, before Bezos… back when we thought the Ask Jeeves guy was a real butler who just lived in the internet.
So someone goes, “Man, Bill Gates. That dude is loaded.”
And across the fire, from the shadows, someone just yells, “Bill who?!”
Like they’d never heard of him. Which, I get it—we were in a town where I’m sure some people still thought microwaves were magic. So someone tells him, “Bill Gates, man. He invented Windows.”
Now, to most of us, that made perfect sense. We got it. Microsoft…Windows probably 95 at that point, maybe 98 who knows?
But not to this guy. He sits for a second, takes a sip of his beer, looks around real serious… and goes,
“Well… no wonder he’s rich. I mean, if we didn’t have windows… we’d all just freeze.”
And here’s the thing—I can’t even argue with that logic. I mean, he’s technically not wrong. But also very wrong. But also—maybe kind of a genius for even coming to that logic on his own?
I don’t know. That’s the South for you. This guy may not have understood not one thing about computers…but he definitely understood the enormous importance of insulation and keeping warm.
Image source: nickg420, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#16
Overheard from 19 y/o coworkers, “i think i’m going to wait to get botox until i’m old, like 25.” i’m not sure what they think is going to happen in 6 years, but if they lay off the tanning beds and the vapes they should not be needing botox.
Image source: censorkip, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#17
“Millennials never take responsibility for anything, the housing market, environment, economy. They blame everything on boomers.”
Image source: Asherwinny107, Vitaly Gariev/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#18
If the lottery system has so much money, why can’t they just cut everyone a big check instead of making you pay to play.
Image source: Nothing-tralala, EyeEm/freepik (not the actual photo)
#19
It was a Reddit poster, so I guess he wrote it rather than said it. He thought because I didn’t pay to listen to music I was pirating it even though I clearly wrote in my post I watch music videos on YouTube or listened to the radio. He didn’t understand that musicians distributing music in that format got their money from advertisers rather than from subscriptions. The whole thing would have been hilarious if it hadn’t been so sad the younger generation thinks the only legit way to consume content is through subscriptions. They have no clue how to be frugal and find free and completely legal means to listen to their music.
Image source: mekat, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#20
I told a couple of 18 year olds that I don’t have Instagram. They called me a liar and said if I didn’t want to be friends, I should just say so.
Image source: jarboxing, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#21
I had a new temp tell me he doesn’t get why I wouldn’t give my social security number on the phone to the power company in the staff breakroom. He laughed at me and said I was being too paranoid and no one cares what some government number is.
Image source: Pm_me_clown_pics3, Andrej Lišakov/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#22
“You mean phones couldn’t take pictures?”
Image source: sentman9, Yunus Tuğ
#23
Are social security benefits really that important to you?
Image source: Accomplished-Leg8461
#24
You’re old. You don’t need more money. If they only knew.
Image source: jtd0000
#25
I was once stuck having to sit next to two kids on an airplane. This was when they still served decent snacks. I was taking the chocolate out of my snack box when the girl next to me asked for it. She said that her dad had told her that adults really didn’t like those things, and she should have it since she was a kid. She also said that reading books was a waste of time, and only math mattered.
I ate my chocolate and read my book.
Image source: UltraRunner42
#26
Little cousin thought fast food jobs were easy. Then he got one to make his own money. He quit in a week.
Image source: Sharpshooter188
#27
Young girls think earning $80,000 – $100,000 a year is ‘average’.
Image source: beigereige
#28
Was giving a health assessment to a teen girl, had to rule out pregnancy as an alternative explanation for her complaint
Me: any chance you are pregnant?
Her: no
Me: when was your last period?
Her:3 months ago
Me: are you sexually active?
Her: yes
Me: are you using any contraceptives or protection, not including the pullout method?
Her: no
Me: why do you think there is no chance of being pregnant?
Her: ….i don’t know anymore.
Image source: Murky-Magician9475
#29
Told me that he will never go to work and will instead make money by investing. I asked where he will get the money for investing a large enough sum to live off of it.
Image source: tommykiddo
#30
Talking to a kid at the dog park, and he asked me where I lived. I pointed to my van, and he said, “Why don’t you sell that and buy a house “. Who’s going to tell him? I live in San Diego FFS.
Image source: Foundation-Bred, Elisabeth Jurenka/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#31
We had a tornado hit our area last year. My coworker was unaffected by the storm, but when they went on vacation they told me, “it was nice to put all the destruction behind us”
Sorry everyone else’s misfortune has brought you so much misery…
Image source: Datiptonator002
#32
I once showed a kid an old wall phone I that I still have, it was the first one we ever got that replaced the rotary phone in our house. And he asked me how do I take pictures with it?
Image source: CatboyInAMaidOutfit, Jace Miller/pexels (not the actual photo)
#33
Playing minecraft on a casual online build server, because you know: adults also game as a hobby.
Someone in the server was just chatting, asking how old everyone was and what their day job was. Turns out nearly everyone was between 20 and 40 years old at that time, ranging from students to researchers, to programmers, to clerks, to scientists, all types of occupations.
Except for one young girl who replied to this:
“OMFG, you’re adults and you’re playing games?! I’m 11 years old and I’ve done more with my life than all of you.”
I told her to please please please remember her comment so she could laugh about it 20 to 30 years later.
Image source: JanusChan
#34
Told me he wanted to become a farmer because that seemed like a “chill easy job”. I think his only experience was from playing Farmville on his phone.
Image source: Psychotic_Jester, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#35
When I was a step mom to a teenage boy and caught him stealing money from us I got his dad to take his phone away for a period of time. He flipped out before going to school one day and said “what am I supposed to do in class??” I said “idk learn? Listen to your own thoughts?” He said “YOU TRY LISTENING TO YOUR OWN THOUGHTS”
Actually now that I’m saying this, at this stage in the game that’s pretty freaky 😂.
Image source: potsandpole
#36
A little girl asked me if I was a princess.
I’m a guy and at that time I was obese and I had long hair. I guess she was convinced Maui from Moana is a princess.
Image source: ARNAUD92, JSB Co./unsplash (not the actual photo)
#37
“I don’t go to the doctor or dentist so I don’t need health insurance.”
Said by my 25 yo stepdaughter when I advised her legally at 26 she’d need to have her own insurance.
Edit.
To give more context.
We were talking about therapy, which she was wanting to do after a long discussion. But she didn’t want to pay for it and we, her parents, offered to cover what wasn’t covered by insurance.
She is a grown adult all on her own when she left for college. For the first couple years of college she’d have visits for healthcare when she came home until she said she didn’t want to go anymore and refused. As a legal adult we can’t control whether or not she goes for healthcare.
Image source: FruityStrawberry3119, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#38
I’m not sure if it counts as ‘out of touch’ as it’s just ‘massively dumb’ but I have to tell someone.
Apparently until he was 23, my cousin believed islands floated on water. One day I told him we were going to a Greek island on vacation and he got this big happy face as he proudly said “Did you know islands are actually stuck to the seabottom? They don’t float! Sometimes they have thousands of miles of rock below them!”. He looked so proud of sharing this revolutionary fact.
We were with some family members. All of us looked at him with a look that said “are you for real?” and we said that yeah, we knew. We’ve always known. Everyone does. It didn’t shame him as much as it should’ve.
Image source: DwarfDrugar, Marek Okon/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#39
A teenager once told me, “I don’t understand why you don’t have TikTok”. I explained that I prefer to spend my time reading books and they responded “But…why?” The sheer lack of understanding of alternative interests was pretty out of touch.
Image source: WestCaterpillar6623
#40
Debating at this Christmas party, it was my cousin’s in laws. My mistake for debating children, I’ll admit to that(they were highschoolers). Anyways I was stating facts and frustrating them, their epic comeback was “you don’t know anything, how many Instagram and tik tok followers do you have.” So my points were invalid because I have 100ish followers on Instagram, all of which I know and they had thousands of followers liking their thirst trap photos.
Image source: throwthatoneawaydawg, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#41
‘You guys need to learn to adapt.’
New colleague said to us. DURING a management/staff meeting about her atrocious work ethic.
Image source: 1whoisconcerned
#42
“I don’t care if I get Covid…. “ till she did, she regretted it then.
Image source: South_Hedgehog_7564, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#43
My 12 y.o. nephew said “you don’t need to get me anything at all for my birthday! We can go shopping at the mall or you can give me money.”
Have you been taught what “anything” means?
Image source: Aggravating_Sun4359
#44
We had a young guest speaker at work who was there to speak to us about mental health. She advised us that if there was a task that we weren’t up for, to tell our bosses that we weren’t mentally equipped to complete that task that day.
For the record, we’re teachers. And her examples were tasks such as lesson planning, grading, and talking to students—the main point of our jobs.
Image source: IllustriousCabinet11
#45
Someone last week said people that rely on social security & public transit are “parasites and selfish”. Absolutely insane and unhinged take.
Image source: fatkidwithahat
#46
The person didn’t say it to me — but in this Sam Seder debate with young people, he asks a young woman if she believes in divorce, and she says something like — no I don’t, they can get rid of the right to divorce — at 20 or something. Lots of dumb things said in this video but I thought that takes the cake.
Image source: RGOL_19
#47
My cousin who is now 44 and still thinks this when he was younger he told me “people in south america are so happy they get to work in paradise at these cool resorts and they are all smiling and love it.” 🤦🏻♀️ Yes, because everyone in south america works for resorts and makes american money. And still they are worked to death for low wages. I saw a girl crying on a cruise ship because she hadn’t seen her family in 2 years.
Image source: Abyssus156
#48
My Niece and Nephew who come from a well off family. “This is your house? It’s really small. Why don’t you go buy a bigger one?”
“You should tell your house keeper to clean that up”.
Image source: Stanky_Nips
#49
My brother thinks sick days should be illegal because he’s never had to take one. He’s never had a job that wasn’t WFH.
Image source: thepoptartkid47
#50
“My life would be easier if I was older”.
Image source: Due-Musician-4460
#51
“I wanna go back to an easier time like the 50s or 80s when things like this didn’t exist” ignoring that a lot of ppl didn’t have civil rights spanning those decades.
Image source: SeeYouInTrees
#52
“Once I learn guitar I’ll release a demo and get a recording deal.”
Image source: LiquidSoCrates
#53
I was a TA for my biology/anatomy teacher in high school. He was close to retiring, and I asked him what was the dumbest question he’s ever been asked.
He said a freshman girl on the first day of biology class (her brother graduated valedictorian last year) if Black people have black skeletons. She was not kidding.
Image source: Cbrink67
#54
I work with kids who have aged out of state care, 1 kid said to me recently that he couldn’t pay for his own bus ticket, from his allowance 300 euro a week with no bills, because he has subscriptions to pay for. He will have bills in a few mths, reality is gona hit him hard i tell ya.
Image source: IndependenceNaive751
#55
Well. I’m also pretty young, just turned 20 and Im in university on scholarship + financial aid. I also work to cover what my scholarship doesn’t and just various living expenses.
My roommate my freshman year was a kid of a retired cop from upstate NY. One time I come home tired from a double (I waited tables at the time) and said I was tired, they then said I should just “quit my job” 😭.
Image source: Tight-Active-4361
#56
When I was 17 I was in a “hippy phase” and told my parents I’d be happy living in a tent… basically homeless. In my head I was picturing peace, no bills, all happy, and no worry… I cringe now 🤣
Thanks Mom and Dad for sticking though all my phases… They were a lot!
Image source: TheArts
#57
I’m a step-parent to two middle school boys, so there’s a million of them, but my current favorite is when SS14 (8th grade), talked to us for 40 minutes (!) the other night about how we should take him to Las Vegas for spring break because he could win lots of money, because he knew how to beat the house at all the games (he saw it on YouTube).
He finally gets to the end of all this (his dad had long since moved on to cleaning the kitchen), and I say, “that is a really dumb idea.” And get up to help in the kitchen. He says, “mama would let me do it!” To which my husband replies, “you’re with her for half of spring break. She hasn’t said anything about you guys traveling. She probably already said no.”
… she had. He spent the rest of the night pouting.
Image source: Sehmket
#58
I was clearing some old stuff out at work,a young guy said ‘oh that’s cool, you’ve got a 3D print out of the ‘save’ symbol…
It was a floppy disk.
Image source: jamesq1986
#59
In the pandemic, from a professor/physician also married to a physician to a group of graduate students: “I know this working situation is hard, but just take one of your spare bedrooms and convert it into an office. It will create some separation of space.” Like. You know what your university pays graduate students. (To boot – this was in Boston, so super high cost of living.) How many bedrooms you think we got??
Image source: Imaginary-Clerk3826
#60
My 16 year old niece saw my CD collection and asked why I had so many vintage music discs.
Image source: Naughty-Sweetheart
#61
It just blows my mind how many Redditors under 30 complain on this platform about feeling old and used up or they feel like it’s too late to find another path in life. Apparently feeling old is something for young people to do. I’m 40+ and feel like my life has just begun.
Image source: Historical_Guess2565
#62
“Helen Keller wasn’t both blind and deaf. How did she learn to speak?”
Gurl there is a several movies and books and articles and chunks of history about this.
Damned TikTok.
Oh yeah, she was also in nursing school.
Image source: carolinethebandgeek
#63
I had to stop using cursive at the last place I work because most of the staff who were all under the age of 25 didn’t know how to read it.
Image source: spytez
#64
Recently, on this very platform, a U.S. member of Gen Z told me “Gen Z refuses to work hard for a mediocre life.”
Which I think is both a fair sentiment and simultaneously *completely* out of touch with what life can be like for a human being on Earth.
On one hand: the system in the U.S. and Canada is [messed up]. It’s fair to be angry at stagnant wages, the increasing cost of living, the erosion of competent government and rights. It’s fair to want something better and to be angry at the way things are.
On the other hand: really? You refuse to work hard for a mediocre life? Tell that to someone living in poverty. Tell that to the people around the globe who live under seriously oppressive governments or in war zones, making way less money than we do in the U.S./Canada, getting by on their hard work and making do with what they have.
I agree with the sentiment that things should be better. For everyone. But “refusing to work hard for a mediocre life” doesn’t solve those problems. Life isn’t fair for many of us, and crossing your arms and huffing *doesn’t fix it.*.
Image source: MatTheScarecrow
#65
I was asked if I wanted the senior discount at 36 years old. Yes, I took it.
Image source: Beautiful_explosion_
#66
“100,000$ isn’t a life changing amount of money;”
Boy shut up and do your homework.
Image source: anon
#67
Just about everything a person under the age of 18 has ever said to me about politics has been pretty much nonsense no matter what side it aligned with. You don’t pay taxes, you don’t have a job, you dont have responsibilities, statistically you probably didn’t even vote in the one election you were old enough for, and all of your info is from tik toks by an equally unqualified teenager. I don’t [care] what you think about pretty much anything. I have one little cousin who’s obsessed with Andrew Tate and Elon Musk so he’s immediately tuned out, and another one who says she has time blindness so she’ll be on disability forever and we need more support for people like her. I don’t need their input.
Image source: anon
#68
“Hey Dad why are you not afraid of planes? Didn’t you and mom and a bunch of other people have to run when they were crashing them everywhere?”
We live in Ohio.
Image source: Substantial_Army_639
#69
“Ok Boomer” I’m GenX.
Image source: Boomslang505
#70
My kid asked me the other day if I saw the WW2.
Image source: ruiddz
#71
My daughter thought the original Top Gun film was in black and white because it was the 80s.
Image source: SolipsismCrisis
#72
“if you don’t like Taylor Swift you hate all successful women”.
Image source: Foodworksurunga
#73
“Kendrick Lamar is the greatest rapper of all time”.
Image source: LukesLostRightHand
#74
It’s not fair that just because he (industrial electrician) went to school and studied gets paid that much more than me (working as a barista).
Image source: Slackerwithgoals
#75
“The only people who don’t live in houses are the poor.”
So condos, apartments, and $1M penthouses are for who? Her mom taught her never leave your parent’s home to live in an apartment, stay until you can afford a house. So many of us will never be able to move out, I guess. And not everyone can stay with their parents that long as an adult.
Image source: Alltheprettydresses
#76
My oldest son was listening to music and said “hey Mom, is this Bob Marley?”
It was “Mr Bombastic” by Shaggy.
Image source: ohlovely
#77
My daughter asked why I didn’t buy more money? Stupid 4 year old.
Image source: biglious
#78
The fifteen year old daughter of a friend once thought about joining the Army so that she and her boyfriend could get married and stay together with free housing. If you knew either of these kids, you’d laugh at the idea of either of them in the Army.
Image source: tesseract4
#79
That you’re pathetic if you’re near or over 30 making $80k a year. Hope he’s a barista at Starbucks now with his CS degree lol.
Image source: Rude-Illustrator-884
#80
My daughter told me I’m going to raise all her children and she’ll just live in my house with her wife and only help sometimes.
Granted, she’s four, so I let it slide.
Image source: Magnaflorius
#81
An adult in their teens assuming I, an adult with a decade on them, had never made my own money before.
literally one of the most insane things I’ve ever seen someone assert with zero basis.
Image source: No_Craft_569
#82
“I want to go into management” – multiple 20 year old interns who come in having no idea how any company business gets done.
Image source: albertnormandy
#83
18-22 year olds saying I “look good for my age.” I am 27. Twenty seven.
Image source: anoncheesegrater
#84
All the twenty year old girls thinking they’ll marry a 7ft billionaire bodybuilder.
Head on down to applebees see what you find.
Image source: LifeguardEuphoric286
#85
Told he didn’t want student loan forgiveness for anyone while also benefiting from a recent free tuition program.
Image source: aphshdkf
#86
“If the corporations had just been willing to give up two or three months worth of profits, there wouldn’t have been a pandemic.”
Image source: dottmatrix
#87
That it “doesn’t really matter who you vote for because it doesn’t impact your daily life.”
yes, he was a straight, white, cis, man 🤪.
Image source: silly_lilguy
#88
“I’m NOT taking a job at Orange Theory… I have a cOlLeGe DeGrEe!” – an unemployed recent Psych undergrad with restaurant and retail experience to me.
Cool.
Image source: Creepy-Floor-1745
#89
I need to browse Instagram to know what is happening in the world.
Image source: anon
#90
She was insisting that Gen Z came up with the term “PLUR” and it was cringy that Millenials and Gen X’ers were using it. Sweetheart, the term PLUR was used before you were a twinkle in your father’s eye.
Image source: Cool_Ranch01
#91
Years ago a sorority girl in a study group said that non-traditional students (with kids and jobs) whined too much about being busy. “They don’t know what busy is. We have functions!”.
Image source: anon
#92
My coworker 25, never held a job for a year, [bad] French engineering school background, has told my manager, 10 YOE after PhD, overall high performer, that it is unfair he makes more money than her.
Image source: anon
#93
Something about a skeeball toilet, I think. I wasn’t really sure what he was saying tbh.
Image source: colemorris1982
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