Generational stereotypes often tell us less about age than they do about social class. Many of the traits we associate with different generations actually depend on class background. When people talk about “the millennial childhood,” they usually have a particular upbringing in mind: helicopter parents, tiger parents, heavy parental involvement, and a very sheltered life. Millennials were also the generation that popularized ideas like safe spaces and emotional safety on college campuses in the early 2010s. But when I think about my own childhood, it looked much more like what people associate with a Gen X upbringing. Gen X had very high divorce rates and a lot of latchkey kids. You walked to and from school alone. There was little parental oversight. You’d get home from school at three in the afternoon and your parents wouldn’t return from work until six, leaving hours of free time by yourself. It was a far more autonomous childhood. That’s very different from the stereotype of millennial childhood, where every minute is scheduled by parents with extracurricular activities, supervision, and constant monitoring. Still, when you look at broader generational trends, especially with Gen Z, there are real shifts that began around 2012 or 2013. Many traditional milestones of maturity started to decline. Rates of sexlessness increased. Young people became less likely to form relationships. Fewer teenagers had jobs. When I was growing up, at least where I lived, it was normal for teenagers to have part-time jobs after school or on weekends. Now far fewer do. The same thing happened with driver’s licenses. Fewer teenagers are getting them, which honestly blows my mind. When I was a kid, everyone I knew couldn’t wait to get a license. The whole point was independence. You wanted to get away from adults, see your friends, take a girl on a date, have some freedom. Now teenage boys say things like, “I don’t really care about driving.”