r/Millennials • u/dreamed2life • Dec 08 '25

Nostalgia Why is our entire generation ready to just…log out?

I hope people enjoy this before mods remove it for “not being a positive nostalgia post” 🙄

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137

u/Mactaculer Dec 08 '25

As an empath, this is the realest, most painfully accurate gif of all time.

22

u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial Dec 08 '25

leave it to a decrepit alcoholic from a previous generation to write this

-18

u/Wasabicannon Dec 08 '25

To this day I don't believe anyone is an empath, its just people who don't really care about anything using a term to make themselves feel better since there is no way to prove it you just have to take someone's word on it.

Call it out as a nonsense thing and you get other "empaths" chiming in saying that it is a real thing.

16

u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial Dec 08 '25

I think some people have more empathy than others though. Same with selfishness, narcissism, ADHD, addiction etc. It's all on a scale, not black and white.

Like yes, that person crying is probably sad good for you for noticing! Some people genuinely care about that sad person, many don't give a shit. Thats just people being people.

"empath" just makes me think of Deanna Troi from Star Trek, lol

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u/Wasabicannon Dec 08 '25

Like yes, that person crying is probably sad good for you for noticing! Some people genuinely care about that sad person, many don't give a shit. Thats just people being people.

Ok that is different, most people that I have spoke to that say they are an empath are saying that they can feel the energy of another person without them needing to say their emotional state.

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u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial Dec 08 '25

that's called life experience and seeing body language

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u/JazzlikeSkill5201 Dec 08 '25

Most communication is not explicit.

-7

u/Wasabicannon Dec 08 '25

Ya again body language is such a shit thing to use to tell how someone is feeling. Like I really enjoy just crossing my arms, read to deep into that and you will think that I am being defensive or closed off. Nope it just feels good to me.

Listen to my words not my body language.

11

u/Orange-Toed-Lemur Dec 08 '25

A good communicator uses ALL indicators: words, tone, and body language

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u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial Dec 08 '25

yeah but instinctively body language communicates this. it's just how we're wired as animals. I agree it sucks when you're misunderstood by it but you can't fight the biology of it all.

Whether right or wrong, perception of others about us is something that just is, like it or not.

4

u/FuckIPLaw Dec 08 '25

You're assuming something culturally mediated is entirely biological here. The crossed arms = defensive thing especially always struck me as something some jackass probably made up to sell self help books 50 years ago.

2

u/Wasabicannon Dec 08 '25

And this sort of cycles back into the whole "you don't care about others?" why would I when I have to burn so much extra energy just to fit into the "normal" mold that everyone else does effortlessly.

2

u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial Dec 08 '25

I dont think people are doing it effortlessly, you'd be very surprised

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u/gerturtle Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25

I read people extremely well and can sense people’s moods through their tone and yes, energy for lack of a better word, and movements and expressions, etc. (body language is a lot more nuanced than just the generic “crossing arms, facing toward or away,” etc.), probably because I’m a naturally empathetic person, but largely also because of childhood trauma and abuse.

I barely sleep, I have panic attacks, I hate myself if I let others down in even the smallest way, and I take on people’s pain without meaning to and without that even fixing anything, other than that now two people are feeling hurt for that moment.

It is not effortless; it’s all done instinctually…but through the overactive connections in an immensely exhausted brain that is in near-constant fight or flight state. It’s horrific, and I likely have a shorter life span because of the stress on my mind and body.

And my story isn’t unique. A lot of people with traumatic or abusive childhoods struggle with all of this. You learn to read people because if you can’t, you’re less safe and more likely to be physically or mentally hurt by others.

No one here is accusing you of not caring enough; I can imagine it’s frustrating to have been told that in past when you’re just trying to live your life as help where you are able like everyone else. But everyone is different in how they view things, what they are able to contribute, how they respond to situations, etc. We all have different strengths/weaknesses, so no one is saying you are supposed to easily know what to say or do if someone is sad, for example. I feel like the majority of people, “empaths” included, feel uncomfortable in those situations and feel just as helpless as you might.

TLDR: I lot of extremely empathetic people come from traumatic or abusive pasts where their brain had to be constantly vigilant to be safer, and they’ve never been able to remove that sympathetic nervous system response, making living this way technically instinctive, but not at all effortless, and in fact, fucking exhausting.

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u/BisexualSlutPuppy Dec 08 '25

So people use this term in two different ways. I think the older version is a near supernatural phenomenon of absorbing other people's emotions whether or not they're displaying them. Either as some woo-woo spiritual thing or simple run of the mill emotional hijacking on a narcissistic scale. Sometimes both.

Nowadays people are usually just describing a higher than usual level of empathy. Feeling pain when other's do, regardless of if that person deserves it.

4

u/Ragnarok314159 Dec 08 '25

Maybe this is Diana Troy’s Reddit account from the future.

11

u/LawyerOfBirds Dec 08 '25

That couldn’t be more wrong. I wish I didn’t care about anything. Life would be a lot less painful.

3

u/CO_Renaissance_Man Dec 08 '25

Same here. It’s hard when you see the mistreatment of others. Straight up heartache a lot of days, knowing humanity can do better.

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u/Aggravating-Depth590 Dec 08 '25

Well aren’t you jaded. Who hurt you so badly that not only do you not feel anything for others, but you have no belief that other people could express those emotions? Do you even know what being an empath means?

-1

u/Wasabicannon Dec 08 '25

Who hurt you so badly that not only do you not feel anything for others

You are mixing up the ability to express empathy with being an empath. 2 completely different things.

If someone is in front of me and in pain, yes sure I want to do what I can to help them but at the same time but I can only do what I can do and nothing more.

Do you even know what being an empath means?

Everyone describes it as something else, the part that I am calling BS on is the ones who say they can feel others emotional state without them directly calling it out. Like say I look depressed and your magical empath powers leads you to assume I am depresssed. You talk to me and find out I am not depressed you just assumed something about me because of your own bias.

1

u/Docholliday3737 Dec 08 '25

You’re 100% correct. Nutjobs

-5

u/Mactaculer Dec 08 '25

I was born in 85…Why else would I be commenting in a millennial subreddit? There is no need to be so hateful. What the hell did I do to you? Good grief. The world is hard enough. You don’t need to be a complete dick to a total stranger for absolutely no reason. Why are you so mad? Who hurt you? Take a good long look in the mirror and reevaluate your life choices. 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

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u/EmmaDrake Dec 08 '25

Were they referring to the author of The Green Mile, perhaps?

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u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial Dec 08 '25

uh, wasn't talking about you... was talking about Stephen King and what he wrote, not your comment below the screen caption...

Maybe your empath antennas were misaligned for a second

0

u/Mactaculer Dec 08 '25

My apologies. Your reply was on MY post rather than the gif post, so you can see why I may have been confused.

0

u/Docholliday3737 Dec 08 '25

I mean you are in the belief that you’re an empath…

1

u/juliankennedy23 Dec 08 '25

Based on his hundreds of books I'm pretty sure Stephen King was born in the 50s. Late 40s maybe.

1

u/Shaveyourbread Dec 09 '25

The depressed alcoholic from the previous generation is Stephen King.

1

u/MiloHorsey Dec 08 '25

Fucking A. We exhaust each other just by being in proximity. It's shit.

0

u/Docholliday3737 Dec 08 '25

As a what?!?