Posted on 04/08/2025 10:41:11 PM PDT by Libloather
Ghosted on dating apps, rejected by colleges and passed over for jobs — rejection isn’t fleeting for Gen Z. In fact, it’s becoming a defining feature of their collective identity.
As young adults come of age in a culture shaped by hyper-curated digital existences, political tumult and cultural and economic instability, a new pattern has emerged: Gen Z is facing more rejections at more critical life stages than any recent generation.
What happens when the entire group begins to internalize “no” as the default response?
Author Delia Cai says Gen Z egos or their alleged “sense of entitlement” isn’t what’s at stake — rather, it’s “our expectation of agency in an increasingly mediated world.”
Last month, she wrote a Business Insider article telling the story of one largely anonymous Gen Zer named Em, recounting the hundreds of rejections they’ve faced while looking to pin down their next opportunity for a potential breakthrough.
Last month, she wrote a Business Insider article telling the story of one largely anonymous Gen Zer named Em, recounting the hundreds of rejections they’ve faced while looking to pin down their next opportunity for a potential breakthrough.
Living with a loved one while scraping by on a few hundred dollars a month from contract work, Em lamented living a life they feel is “not worth living at the moment.”
But Em isn’t alone, and the article explores the rejection factor that may be largely fueling many of the titles Gen Zers wear to make them the “unhappiest generation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Ask me about the Great Recession which, contrary to what you hear in the corporate media, began in 2007 in the job market and did not end until 2015. That’s NINE years”
That would not have effected GenZ.
𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯 𝘡 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 10% 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥/𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘺 𝘊𝘢𝘵.
I’d argue that it’s not just Gen Z girls, it’s also at the very least Gen X, and Millenial women as well. I’m in my 40’s, and I’ve just walked away from dating at this point, I’m just going to focus on preserving my health and being the best version of myself, because no matter what I do, it never seems to be enough for modern women.
Yep. No worky, no eaty!
Which was exactly my point. They're not the first generation to regularly get rejections, get smacked around, etc etc. The Great Recession was THE worst economy since the 1930s. It affected primarily Gen X and Millenials who were not as senior and not as well entrenched in their jobs as Boomers were. Recessions tend to hurt younger and less well established workers the most.
It either works or solves the problem in a different way.
A good solution all around.
Good points.
I don’t know who has the political will to make the tough choices to reform disability or work requirements for benefits.
These welfare and disability programs are traps!
They guarantee you subsistence living and dropping off means often working for less. Very hard to get off the dole, once you in.
These programs, part of the misguided “compassion” need to be reformed from ground up!
The writer denies that there is a bruised “sense of entitlement” but that is exactly what she is describing. Entitled to an easy life, entitled to an effortless job that pays lots of money and is interesting and rewarding, entitled to a house maybe better than the one they grew up in. Entitled to have people fawn over them and tell them they are special. As always, the antidote to bruised entitlement is humility. Nobody is entitled to any of the above.
“All we ever see is BAD stuff; they NEVER write about the good ones.”
All the Gen Z I have seen work for Musk and they are top notch. See the DOGE Team. Then the problem comes in where other Gen Z’ers condemn them for helping to save America.
Yep, I sent out 50 - 100 resumes a week while on unemployment just after 9/11 occurred (the requirement was 3 per week). I would send follow-up letters, make calls, etc. Over the course of the first 3 months I got maybe 5 calls to discuss an interview and actually landed 3 interviews. All of the offers made would’ve cost me money to accept (by the time increased insurance costs, commute costs and times, parking fees, etc. and less than half the wages I was getting prior to being laid off were considered). I made more on unemployment, which was shocking to me. I did finally have to accept the most reasonable offer I got - it was still $10 per hour less than the job I previously had, but I could wait no longer.
It took me several years to recover from that experience.
The article says that Em is “living with loved ones”. Fine, the young women are being sheltered. But the young men who want to find their niches in life are walking away empty handed while young women reject them for offering them no future. It reminds me of the societal changes imposed by the Vietnam draft.
Went down a YouTube rabbit hole for a bit, till it became too depressing.
Women claiming men don’t want anything to do with them but when asked what do you bring to the table in a relationship they often sweep their hands across their bodies and say “this”.
What really becomes sad is the 30-50 year olds who no longer have “this”, and realize their plight.
7 million young men don’t want to work
They just want to bang on the drum all day.
The participation trophy youth finally finding out what losers are. Seems appropriate.
I hit that spot in my life in 1985 when about to graduate college. Swore off dating (college women were nuts) to focus on my engineering career and start building up a nest egg. Darned if I didn't meet a wonderful woman at church about 9 months later in the little town I'd moved to for my new job. Contrary to my goals we fell in love. We've been married for 37 years.
No real reason why a new word had to be invented with the same meaning and same number of syllables.
Very insipid.
Agree, and my Gen Z son would agree. I keep telling him to do a study abroad for a broad. Some nice Eastern European girl would be perfect.
It’s not 2000. The young women over there are on instagram and watch netflix, too. Higher caliber young guys there have money, cars and good jobs. It’s still possible for an American guy to meet a nice average girlfriend but nobody is going over there to pick up a hot mail order bride anymore. Study abroad does sound awesome, though. FRegards.
Seems to have been written by a 20 year old, who got rejected for a prom date.
Although, a generation raised by nutjobs, in public schools, being indoctrinated with leftist ideology their entire lives, has little hope of realizing how the real world works.
They think men can become women, all whites had slaves, all blacks were slaves, Capitalism is evil, and America is to blame for everything.
How would we expect anything else?
Hunger isn’t a motivator. For several decades in the United States, obesity correlates with income - the poorer you are, the more obese you are.
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