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Elder millennial reveals what people get wrong about her generation in the 2008 recession

She also theorizes this is why Gen Zers might have a harder time.

Photo credit: Canva

Millennials have already been through one. Could another be on the way?

Social media is teeming with theories that a recession similar to 2008 is upon us. For millennials specifically, this time period helped give them the nickname of “the unluckiest generation” as it affected student loan debt, the impossible feat of buying a home and starting a family, and the lack of available jobs—especially ones worthy of those expensive degrees.

And yet, Jenna Rohlfing, 39, argues that people get "millennial culture” during this time, really, really wrong. Why> Primarily because people don’t take into account how a lack of social media actually made a lot of the struggle much easier to navigate, which could be concerning news for Gen Zers.

In a video posted to her TikTok, Rohlfing first depicted the scene for many millennials during 2008. Yes, they had to provide their own health insurance (or go without health insurance and hope for the best), as well as pay for their rent, but what they weren’t buying were cosmetic procedures, high end hair products, skincare and makeup…i.e. the things that are marketed to Gen Zers on a daily basis.


@jennaleighstl We were ugly and poor in our Forever 21 club gear. Okay? #millennials #millennialsoftiktok #momsoftiktok ♬ original sound - Jenna-Millennial Mom


“If you had ‘nice’ makeup, you might have gotten it at Clinique but your mom was buying it for you,” she said.

In an interview with Newsweek, Rohlfing expanded on this idea, saying that millennials, most of whom only made around $40K at the time, “didn't have large-scale social media to influence us into purchases or compare our lives to other people,” whereas Gen Zers, who grew up fully immersed by technology and influencer culture, “face a lot more pressure both socially and economically to keep up."

Judging by the comments, Rohlfing is certainly not alone in her thinking.

“Millennial culture was less status obsessed.”

“Real. ‘How did you survive?’ Maybe because there was no influencer culture and we could be poor in peace.”


Poor Help Me GIFfrom Poor GIFs


“We weren’t being influenced to buy something new everyday.”

“I think one of the best things about the 08 recession was we didn't realize what we were missing. No social media to rub it in our faces.”

Furthermore, what was considered healthy during 2008 was drastically different than today, Rohlfing argued. Back in her day, noshing on cheap “Lean Cuisines” was perfectly acceptable, whereas today there is more pressure to buy organic produce.

“We had a real $1.00 menu. THat’s how we survived lol,” one millennial quipped.


Kinhkills Mcdonalds Memefrom Kinhkills Memes


“No pilates, no group exercise classes, you had a DVD of some cardio nonsense and maybe a $30/month gym membership and no cute workout sets!” another said.

Still another recalled, “I remember once paying for a McDouble and a McChicken with a Ziploc bag of dimes. DIMES.”

In essence, Rohlfing seems to be saying that, by and large, millennials weren’t up against the same levels of consumerism that many Gen Zers face today, making whatever possible recession looms already a different animal altogether.

According to some experts, the recent tariff announcements and escalating tensions between the U.S. and trade partners indicate not the return of a recession, but of stagflation, which is a combination of two undesirable economic conditions—high inflation + slow economic growth. You can also add high unemployment rates to the mix. This is also a different factor from 2008's situation.

But, really, now that we are all in a social media driven world full of pop-up ads everywhere you look, every generation can probably benefit from really aligning purchases with their priorities during this time. For millennials, those priorities probably align with some kind of Disney memorabilia.

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How a shoe repair shop bouncing back from tragedy can be a model for a new economy.

True
CNBC's The Profit

Ronda Morrison runs a shoe repair shop in Detroit. It's a family business dating back over 60 years.

And with a name like "House of Morrison Shoe Repair," they obviously want it to stay in the family. That's where Ronda's 25-year-old nephew Keenon came in.

Ronda and Keenon Morrison. Image via New Economy Initiative/Detroit Lives!/Vimeo.

Keenon had worked with Ronda in House of Morrison since he was a kid, learning the ropes to one day run the business, as his grandfather and aunt had done before him.

All GIFs via New Economy Initiative/Detroit Lives!/Vimeo.

But tragedy struck the family, and House of Morrison's future took a turn.

On the July 4, 2014 holiday weekend, Keenon and his 16-year-old brother Kalen died in a car accident. Reeling from the loss, Ronda began to lose her will to keep running the family business.

"My plans went totally down the drain with his death," Ronda told the Detroit Free Press. "When that happened, the House of Morrison's fate was on the chopping block."

Ronda pushed on, deciding that getting back to work might help her cope. And it turned out her timing was perfect.

Before the accident, she'd applied for a $10,000 small business grant with the Detroit New Economy Initiative (NEI). Amid the grief over the loss of her nephews, she had completely forgotten about the application.

But two days after Ronda returned to work, she got a letter.

She took it as a sign that House of Morrison was meant to persevere.

With the money, Ronda can do more than keep the business open. She can help others learn the trade.

The grant gives her a chance to do more of what her father always wanted for House of Morrison. "I'm going to do exactly what my father did," she says. "Open his door to train people out of the community."

Their proposal included launching an apprentice program for members of their community struggling to find work, investing in business software that will help them be more efficient, and opening new locations once they've built up their customer base.

Small businesses like House of Morrison are working to rebuild Detroit through people-centered enterprise.

In 1950, Detroit, a manufacturing powerhouse, was the richest city per capita in the United States. As people flocked to job opportunities in the Motor City, the population swelled to over 1.8 million.

Detroit in 1942. Photo by Arthur Siegel, U.S. Office of War Information/Wikimedia Commons.

But free trade gave companies a way to boost their profits by moving manufacturing operations to countries with cheaper labor and fewer regulations, putting millions of American workers out of work.

And Detroit was in the middle of it all.

The city saw an exodus as the jobless became economic refugees in new cities.

In 2010, the population had shriveled to just over 700,000. And in 2013, Detroit became the largest American city to declare bankruptcy.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

Since then, Detroit has become a canvas for creative ideas to spur urban renewal.

And groups like NEI are helping by funding small businesses, like House of Morrison, that "represent the innovation and ingenuity of Detroit's small business market."

As the country continues to bounce back from the Great Recession, we should look to Detroit for ways to do it that go beyond the conventional economics that brought the city and the country to their knees in the first place.

Watch NEI's profile of House of Morrison:

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Is the economy as bad as most Americans think? New figures tell an interesting story.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released employment statistics for October 2015.

37 states added jobs and unemployment rates fell in 40. That's good news, right?

Job seekers wait in line for a chance to apply for a job on a massive urban development project in Miami. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

And if you're a glass-half-full type, here's something else you'll be happy to hear:

25 states have reached pre-recession unemployment rates.

It's been eight years since the recession started. 8.7 million jobs were lost before the recovery began. Now, we're halfway back to where we were before the sh*t hit the fan.

Building a new economy means transforming the world.
And that's the work of optimists.

It's a long-overdue benchmark, though perhaps we should have expected that. This was, after all, the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Click on a state to see its unemployment rate as of October 2015:

Click on a state to see the percent change in its unemployment rate since the beginning of the recession:

The Economic Policy Institute calls this a "bittersweet milestone" because it means we still have a ways to go.

It's important to note that what we've been dealing with isn't just a jobs crisis — it's a plague of inequality that needs more fundamental fixes, says William Greider:

"At some point, it will become obvious that our economy will not truly recover until American capitalism is refashioned, stripped of its self-aggrandizing excesses and made to serve the interests of society rather than the other way around."

Still, with some estimates finding that 7 in 10 Americans feel pretty crappy about the economy, reaching this halfway point is a moment worth lifting up.

President Obama shakes hands with former Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor after signing the JOBS Act into law. Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images.

68 consecutive months of job growth — the longest streak on record — ain't nothin' to sneeze at. Plus, the Obama administration has managed to crank up the jobs machine exactly where his opponents say they want it: the private sector.

Politically, that's pretty impressive. But it's been argued that the recovery would be stronger if we put at least as much attention on the public sector. According to EPI:

"Our genuinely pressing spending problem is a decline in spending on public investments relative to our needs, which can reduce future economic growth and contribute to growing inequality."

We were in a deep hole, and we're still digging ourselves out. Steadying the labor market is a big part of that.

When we can peek over the edge, perhaps we'll finally be able to reimagine how things work. In the meanwhile, let's remember to celebrate what wins we can. Building a new economy means transforming the world. And that's the work of optimists.

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