As kids, there were all sorts of things adults told us with utmost confidence that many of us never questioned. After all, adults seemed to know everything, so it seemed logical to take what we were told at face value. But as an adult, it’s pretty easy to see just how wrong some folks were.
Someone asked millennials to share what they thought was the biggest lie ever told to their generation and netizens didn’t hold back. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the ones you agree with most and be sure to add your own thoughts and experiences to the comments below.
#1
Discussing your salary with coworkers is wrong.
Image credits: jgasbarro
#2
The food pyramid and that different areas of the tongue taste different flavors.
Image credits: Square-Hedgehog-6714
#3
You can be anything you want to be.
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#4
Let’s just say I haven’t gone blind yet.
Image credits: Impossible_Memory_85
#5
"This will be on your permanent record.".
Image credits: AnAnonymousParty
#6
That millennials created participation trophies. You son of a b***h, I was 7 in 1988 when my summer baseball team placed second to last in league play and every player was literally awarded a trophy. I PROMISE you, at the age of seven I did not have the resources to order trophies for myself and all my teammates.
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#7
Take out student loans to pay for your degree, and you'll definitely get a job making enough to pay off the loans.
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#8
If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.
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#9
Work hard and you’ll be promoted.
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#10
Bread being the most important food, according to the food pyramid.
Image credits: Scrolling_Stoner
#11
>”You won’t always have a calculator in your pocket.”
What about the entire internet?
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#12
You will write all your papers in college in cursive.
lol, I say. Lmao.
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#13
Follow your dreams.
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#14
Leaving the lights inside the car on will get you a ticket.
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#15
If your a good driver and don’t have any claims your insurance rates will decrease over time.
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#16
“You’ll become more conservative when you’re older.”
That’s b******t.
Image credits: ANotSoFreshFeeling
#17
Hard work will bring success. Total b******t. This is literally what you tell exploited workers. They told our parents and our parents told us believing them.
From personal experience, its all about how liked you are and your ability to convince people to say yes when asking for more. I am executive level and manage people with certifications and better marks in school than I have. This wasn't because I was smarter or anything. Its because when I started here 5 years ago, I decided I was going to play the social angle and its surprisingly effective. I dressed like them, talked like them, walked like them. It wasn't long where they considered me one of them and treated me as such.
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#18
That our future was going to be so much better than our parents. We were all going to be high paid white collar workers and the economy was going to keep growing fast enough to make that a possibility for everyone. Lol, instead our life expancity is going down while retirement age keeps going up and isn't even keeping up with inflation.
I used to worry more about it but I'm starting to think it's the boomers that need to panic as they lose control of the vote and the younger generations finally want their pieces of the pie.
Image credits: SoggyGrayDuck
#19
Weapons of mass destruction.
Image credits: SPFCCMnT
#20
"You need to have a 4 year degree so you don't end up a trash collector." So now the job market is saturated with bachelor's degrees for things that used to need a high school diploma, and trash collectors make $30 an hour.
Image credits: YouwillalwaysNeil
#21
Have kids, they said.... it'll be fun they said.
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#22
Quicksand is a common thing and knowing how to escape it will likely save your life one day.
Image credits: akronguy84
#23
Don’t talk to strangers on the internet. Don’t get in a strangers car.
Today- use the internet to hail an uber so I can get into a stranger’s car.
ETA- but really though stranger danger was really overblown when we were kids and has made society more insular and crappy. .
#24
Walk in with a good attitude and a presentable outfit and you'll be hired on the spot.
#25
Hard work will pay off.
If you're a good person, a good thing will happen.
If you're loyal to a company, they'll be loyal to you.
Money can't solve all your problems. ( This is one the biggest, I've yet to have a problem I wouldn't solve with just a little bit more money)
A good education will get you a good job.
If you don't react to bullys, they'll go away.
No harm in asking.....(Yeah, coming from that guy here, nobody likes that guy)
Adult's know what they're doing (turns out no one does)
High school is the best days of my life.
Honorable mentions, quick sand, amnesia, Bermuda triangle.
#26
That the United States was built on a system of checks and balances and that the President was not a king.
Image credits: Liquid_1998
#27
Cannabis won't ever be legal.
It's the only real job I've had in my adult life lol.
#28
If you work hard and do everything right, you will have the freedom to live the way you please, without fearing for your safety and necessities.
#29
That you couldn’t eat a vegetable or fruit seed because a plant will grow inside of you (curious to read if this was something too in other countries).
#30
You must drink milk all day everyday or your bones will snap in half.
#31
My wife works in a female-dominant field, and she can count on multiple fingers the amount of women with kids who have graduated college who regret making their kids go to college and get a degree. Now in debt, living at home, can't find a "good job" that's related....
#32
That America is the land of the free.
#33
“You can be whatever you want.”
“You are special.”
“If you go to college you’ll have a good life.”.
#34
Hard work will be rewarded.
Technology will make the future better.
Turns out they were just breeding a generation of labor batteries.
#35
"Video games will rot your brain!"
Still don't know if that one was true or not. I wasn't allowed to play video games and occasionally encounter people my age who function like dementia patients.
#36
Recycling products. Felt like I was taught that it was a proven system as a kid .
#37
College degree is everything.
#38
It’s not so much we were given bad advice, the world just changed at such a dramatic rate that the advice was outdated. What worked for our parents was no longer relevant.
Personal computers did not even exist when my parents went to college. By the time I was in college, everyone had a super computer in their pocket.
I would argue Millennials are the most equipped generation for change. A.I. is just another thing that is going to change life and we will just adapt with it.
#39
That wealth will trickle down. Still waiting.
#40
College. Absolutely. Never went to college, and I make $35 an hour as a water treatment plant operator in Alabama.
#41
Pensions, probably. And that I’d make a lot of money with a college degree. Even with a PhD I’m not making a ton. Granted, I could, but I would hate my job.
#42
Contribute to your Pension and 401K. You’ll be rich when you retire.
#43
“Just work hard and you’ll have everything you want”
I work my a*s off on a daily basis and I am poor and chronically depressed.
#44
Be loyal to your job and they will stand behind you 100%….. cue the Great Recession early in my career… luckily, it showed me early on that loyalty to a company is BS. I’m loyal while there but if I get an uneasy feeling at some point, I’m looking out for myself.
#45
Working 9 to 5. Don’t know a single person that works 9 to 5. That’s only 8 hours a day.
#46
You'll miss childhood as an adult.
Turning 34 in a few months. I don't miss childhood one bit.
#47
"Kindness is contagious"
Then the boomers go elect someone who makes fun of the physically disabled, calls soldiers losers, etc etc. Turns out kindness isn't that important to them.
#48
With liberty and justice for all!
#49
A few off the top of my head as a 40-year-old (U.S.):
America is the greatest country in the world.
Iraq had something to do with 9/11.
That we all would be living a better life than our parents because of technology and how great our country is.
Our freedom is better than the freedoms of other countries.
Y2K.
That the 2nd AMENDMENT should never be AMENDED.
Marilyn Manson had ribs removed to suck his own d**k.
#50
That was all of us, don't let the boomers and Gen X forget that their the reason why all of us have college debt.
#51
Oh, my god. Where should I start?
"Work ethic."
"Work culture."
"Work-life balance."
"Hard work."
"Smart work."
"Work loyalty."
"Meritocracy."
"Low-skill work."
All of that is pure, absolute B******T.
#52
The food pyramid and the whole anti-fat movement that arose from it.
#53
Working hard gets you ahead in life and attendance matters.
#54
Everything was a lie.
#55
Get a good job with a company with a pension and stay there your entire career and it will pay off in the end.
