Lately, there’s been a bit of a social media feud. A battle of the generations, if you will. I figured I’d write a lighthearted examination of this silly trend that is somehow gathering the ire of many online Millenials.

There have been a few viral tweets, including a recent one with over three-hundred thousand likes, that have been screenshotting TikTok comments made by members of Gen Z ridiculing Millennial stereotypes. Mostly it’s poking fun at such trends like “adulting,” Buzzfeed quizzes, skinny jeans and the fascination with Harry Potter houses. And apparently, it seems that a lot of these Millennials took this very seriously and personally.

I don’t often go on TikTok, usually once per week for maybe about 10 or so minutes. But these last few weeks I have been glued to this ridiculous app as I’ve watched too many “diss tracks” aimed at Gen Z, and all of them have awakened within me a very visceral second-hand embarrassment. Hearing fully-grown adults freestyle rapping and recreating show tunes to defend their intense love of skinny jeans, Eminem and animal emojis is both unbelievably hilarious and morbidly fascinating to me. 

I think perhaps the most hilarious aspect to me is the actual age discrepancy between the two groups. I say this is Millennials versus Generation Z, but this is more like very angry 30-year-old Glee superfans versus dancing 14-year-olds who just aren’t as into Chrissy Teigan as they are. Most of us in our twenties are just looking on with bemusement at the young’uns’ actions, and pure embarrassment at the actions of our seniors.

The reason why this is such a big deal to many Millennials is that they’ve had a death grip on the cultural climate of our modern day for so long. So many of their tv shows, bands, movies and books have had such a hold on our media discourse such as Harry Potter, New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Friends and many more, but nowadays a lot of Gen Z-aimed media has taken over and become dominant in the general public.

Millennials have taken their parents’ place as the older generation that the kids of today poke fun at. This is just an inevitability of life. The generation after Z  will surely make fun of our obsession with stanning people, our fashion trends, our texting language and whatever else we enjoy. And that’s okay. It’s okay to grow up and become the “lame” ones. It’s the circle of life, and we should all accept it.

I think the most fatal flaw in these Millennial responses to Gen Z is that they have broken the one rule that must be upheld when arguing with teenagers. Well, technically there are two rules since the prime rule should be not to argue with kids who are way more technologically literate and tuned in than you. However, the other rule is when you argue with teenagers over petty differences, do not — under any circumstances — let said teenagers know that you care way more about what you’re arguing about than they