We all slip into shorthand when we talk about age groups— “kids these days,” “OK, boomer,” and the rest of the greatest-hits playlist.
Yet every time I coach cross-generational teams, I’m reminded that most friction boils down to simple misreads, not malicious intent.
Below are the nine blind spots I see most often. As you read, ask yourself: Where might I be filling in the blanks with outdated assumptions rather than fresh facts?
1. “They’re glued to their phones and missing real life.”
Yes, Gen Z scrolls more than any cohort in history.
But from their perspective, the phone isn’t a wall—it’s a window. Friendships, activism, and even part-time jobs happen through that little slab of glass.
Generational labels matter only because they are useful and convenient for understanding each other.
In other words, the device is just a tool; the deeper driver is community, the same longing every generation feels.
When older adults frame screen time as addiction, they often miss the creativity, collaboration, and real-time feedback loops humming beneath the pixels.
2. “Job-hopping means they’re disloyal.”
Remember when you stayed at one company for a decade because that’s where the pensions were? Those days are gone.
Today, switching roles is how young professionals stitch together skills, mentors, and—crucially—salary bumps that outpace inflation.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant points out that the Great Resignation grew out of “questions about the meaning and role of work,” not a simple fight over remote offices.
If work itself is evolving, hopping is less about loyalty and more about survival—and sometimes, purpose.
3. “They expect promotions without ‘paying their dues.’”
What looks like entitlement is often transparency.
Thanks to sites like Glassdoor and salary-share conversations on TikTok, younger employees know exactly what their peers earn.
When they ask for faster advancement, they’re responding to data, not daydreams.
Ask yourself: If I had known my co-worker across the hall made 20 percent more for the same job back in 1985, wouldn’t I have knocked on HR’s door sooner?
4. “They can’t handle face-to-face conflict.”
Gen Z and Millennials grew up hashing things out in comment threads before they could legally drive.
Online arguments may look chaotic, but they teach rapid-fire perspective-taking: you post, someone pushes back in seconds, and you have to respond or refine.
When younger staff shy away from in-person showdowns, it’s rarely fear; it’s habit. They’re used to asynchronous rebuttals they can think through.
Offering written follow-ups or structured agendas often unlocks bolder feedback than a surprise hallway ambush ever will.
5. “They overshare mental-health struggles for attention.”
Older generations were taught to armor up and “leave problems at the door.”
But silence never cured anxiety—it just pushed it underground. The younger set treats mental health like dental hygiene: preventive, routine, and worthy of discussion.
The next time someone mentions therapy or burnout, try responding the way you would if they said, “I’m getting a flu shot after work.”
Curiosity beats skepticism every time.
6. “Remote work makes them lazy.”
Home offices don’t equal hammocks. Studies repeatedly show that knowledge workers log more hours remotely than in the cubicle era.
What younger staff crave is flexibility—latitude to hit the gym at 10 a.m. if they’ll be on Slack until 8.
When managers equate chair-warmth with commitment, they alienate talent that could otherwise thrive.
7. “They’ll never own homes because they buy lattes.”
A thirty-year mortgage once cost three times a graduate’s starting salary. In 2025, that ratio tops eight in many cities.
Blaming oat-milk cappuccinos for vanishing affordability ignores structural shifts: stagnant wages, student-loan debt, and limited housing stock.
Younger adults invest in experiences partly because the traditional asset ladder now dangles out of reach.
8. “Pronouns and identity talk are just trends.”
For Boomers, identity was often private. For Gen Z, it’s conversational shorthand.
Using preferred pronouns isn’t about fragile egos; it’s a quick show of respect—no different from learning to pronounce a colleague’s name correctly.
You don’t have to grasp every nuance of gender theory to say, “Got it, thanks for letting me know.”
9. “Short videos prove their attention spans are gone.”
Scroll culture rewards brevity, but that doesn’t mean depth is dead.
Younger audiences routinely binge multi-hour podcasts on history or long-form YouTube essays. The real shift is format, not focus.
They prefer choosing when to dive deep rather than sitting through whatever’s on the nightly news.
Pew Research numbers back this up: 96 percent of U.S. adults aged 18–29 own a smartphone, compared with 61 percent of those 65 plus—a gap that shapes how each group consumes information daily.
If learning now starts in quick clips and expands into rabbit holes on demand, maybe attention spans aren’t shrinking—they’re just retuned.
Final thoughts
Every generation inherits a world the previous one couldn’t fully imagine.
Misunderstandings arise not because anyone is wrong-headed, but because our reference points differ.
When I catch myself rolling my eyes at a TikTok trend, I try to zoom out: Where was my head at 22? Probably obsessing over things my parents didn’t get either.
Bridging the gap starts with swapping judgment for genuine curiosity. Ask a younger colleague why that meme resonates. Let your niece explain why she chose freelancing over the corner office.
Listen first, label later.
The payoff? Fewer stereotypes, richer conversations, and a workbench of ideas we might have missed if we stayed inside our generational silos.
After all, progress rarely comes from preaching to the mirror; it blooms in the space where perspectives meet.