Gen Z IS living in a different economy than the rest of us. It's a lot easier to weather a storm when you already own a boat than to have to build one while trying not to drown.

Kids today know the world is dying and they see no one in power is stopping it but keeping a foot on the throttle

Jon, I know you are a youngster, but when we protested in the 60s, most of our peers were just angry with us for doing so. They always talk about how active the boomers were in the 60s, but in my experience, most who stood up for human rights were demonized in their communities except in rarified environments. Also, yes, we dove under our desks, but we never witnessed our fellow students being shot in the classroom. Yes, we were in Vietnam, but we didn't have the suffering first hand in most cases. Meanwhile, I jumped job to job in youthful freedom and never worried about where I might stay because there were places to live that were affordable and offered a roof, even if not fancy sometimes, at least it was a roof and a bed. Let's listen to these young people. Let's listen to one another.

As an Elder Millennial myself (born 1983) I'm actually quite impressed by Gen Z. The Gen Z people I know shock me by how self aware and genuinely mature they seem to me. I was NOT as actualized at that same age. It took a while. Which is why it's so infuriating how much our society is failing them. These truly impressive young people...who feel deeply hopeless about the world they find themselves in. Scott Galloway is someone I have _plenty_ of disagreements with, but he just did a TED Talk fairly recently that absolutely hit it out of the park on how America is utterly failing young people. I didn't agree with all of his solutions....though I did agree with most of them, and entirely agreed with his framing of the problems, AND could not agree more with the sheer righteous anger he gave voice to. Worth a watch if you haven't seen/heard it yet...

The difference between the nuclear strike preparedness and the shooter drills is that the nuclear hit didn't happen, the shootings they experience on a shockingly frequent basis.

I think Jon, whom I adore, is seriously missing the mark with this interview. He talks about needing to listen to Gen Z and spend alot of the interview interupting any point the advocate for Gen Z is making before he can get a full sentence out. Frankly, Jon your proving the point a lot of Gen Z say about never being listened to Jon. Even with the things Jon's generation faced, they certainly had MUCH MUCH more means to face it than anyone has today.

I'd love to hear an interview with Volpe by someone who won't interrupt him and trivialize his points.

I didn’t appreciate how Jon spoke over him, and minimized the impact of gun violence on Gen Z. I could not imagine walking into school every day wondering if there would be a mass shooting, and I would survive.

As a Gen Xer, I recall a lot of peers worrying about whether they would ever own a home. Gen Zers are worried about being homeless. That tracks with the trajectory of trends on wages, debt, and other cost of living factors. PS: I love you Jon but using your own kids as anecdotal examples doesn’t address these minimal quality of life issues, young adults growing up in privilege aren’t the young adults he’s talking about.

He’s a National treasure and a I’m 25+ year fan of the man, but first time I’ve ever heard him sound old.

I have 3 kids, 16-21, and I do my best to listen. The one that I believe is most likely to make a looooot of money tells me he thinks he'll never be able to afford his own house. This interview is hitting so hard right now

Jon, been watching you for many years and have never once disagreed with you until this interview. Your host was right and professionally in a better position than you to smell the winds of change in his field. Gen Z do think differently. Depressed they may be due to social media but they are empowered by it as well. Unlike my "drop out" generation they will (begin to) save the world, Roll on November.

In defense of Gen Z... I'm a Gen Xer. Was a housewife and mom all my adult life. My husband (now passed away) left me penniless in a foreign country. (Canada). I returned to the States thinking I knew what I needed to do to start over. But I didn't. I ended up staying with relatives across the USA (Michigan, Indiana, New Mexico, California, New York) looking for some way to actually get a foothold to stand on my own two feet. I was even homeless for some of it. Long story short: This country isn't working anymore. Things that were hard but doable are nearly impossible now. Gen Zers aren't exaggerating or making excuses. They're not lazy or incompetent. It really IS harder to survive now when you're starting from scratch and with nothing.

This is the first time I've heard jon actually sound old. The message was LISTEN to gen z, and jon kept bringing up his generation and making it about himself and his family (who he said he doesn't even know what they like). A lot of older generations i talk to refuse to listen to my problems as a chronically anxious and depressed person and just make it about themselves. "I did this, i had this, so you should do this too." Its annoying, disingenuous, and why you will never understand the strengths and weaknesses of the young.

We are all experiencing the same rain, Jon, but not all of us had a chance to prepare for the storm. -A millennial

As a millennial, gen z is this country's only hope, they didn't get duped into the American dream like us. You have our generation's support!

I’ve never seen John try so hard not to understand

Stewart! You need to listen, Bro. You killed that conversation.

Well, at least he acknowledged that he was in an unbelievably fortunate situation while denying the findings of his guest.

This type of research, and caring for young generations, and having the freedom to criticise the government, vote, and elect. These things have a profound effect on societies and nations, in America and many other nations these things are basic rights and there's no question about them. I've always wanted to live until I see my country, Egypt this way. It breaks my heart that this probably will never happen in my lifetime. I'm only 32, but nothing is gonna change. We deserved a better life, and rights! But seeing such a show makes me happy to even know that this exists... freedoms and research with Democracy and informed citizens are vital for healthy societies and nations.

When I graduated from college in 1970, I moved into an apartment in California that was $50/month. It was minimal as an apartment, but I didn't care. One week at minimum wage paid the rent. Today, my college tuition would have been maybe 10X more, and the apartment I rented would be at least $2000/month. Oh, and there were very few people who were homeless. It is tougher now. The rich are too powerful now.

The core issue is the wealth gap. You can pretty much trace all these gen z and millenial anxiety to that. Until the electorate realize it is not a battle between race or culture war bs, but rather a class struggle nothing is gonna change.

Im a Gen Xer. The kids do have it harder. I love having Jon back but with his interviews he needs to listen twice as much as he talks.

Im glad to agree with the comments for once that Jon was minimizing the "plight of Gen Z" to just algorithms and the same old societal problems that everyone faces. Kudos to John Della Volpe for trying his best to meet Jon where he was at. as someone right between millennials/Gen Z, I was helped by Volpe to look at the importance of actually understanding what events we witnessed during our most formative years and how those in/directly influence our outlook / understanding of current events and politics.

I would suggest Jon actually have some conversations with people under the age of 30 that don't work in his studio.

I think John is really missing the point here. The youth vote was so incredibly important to the last election and by continuing to not understand Gen Z, we may fail the next one and they will have no motivation to vote again. Also, we never had a nuclear armageddon. There actually ARE mass shootings constantly. Really wish he would just let the man speak on this one. I wanted to hear more.

You gotta respect that he doesnt just bring on guests that emphasise his own talking points

How is climate change and knowing our kids' life expectancy is going way down not MORE anxiety inducing than previous generations? This isn't "maybe a nuclear bomb will go off", it's "every day things are getting worse and their effects will be felt by our children...but let's keep making money instead."

Jon touched on something I think is worth talking more about, previous young generation political movements ended as he said when they got jobs. The real thing they got was stability. If you have a job that sustains your living situation and leaves you comfortable you are not going to have nearly as much of a reason to continue in politics. However if, for example, it continuously felt impossible to own a home or have a vision of what your retirement could be, people are not going to stop making a fuss.

Jon, I am a huge fan of yours, but I think you got a couple of things very wrong in this interview. Yes, we had the cold war, and we had Vietnam. But, it is very different watching those things play out on TV - thousands of miles away - versus watching your best friend get slaughtered in the seat next to you or the next classroom. Also, don't trivialize the fact that we had more stable environments where one parent could stay home and parent - versus work two jobs just to put food on the table; where communities were communities and neighbors knew each other. In addition, college was affordable and gave many of us an opportunity for a better life. We could start our jobs with zero $$$ in the bank, not a -$200K loan debt, We also didn't live through a WW pandemic trapped on zoom for 8 hours a day.

i think this entire conversation wasn’t centered enough on how economically we are the worst off generation. I think that is truly the biggest deal.

I think this perfectly example of gen z's point.There wasn't a gen z person brought on to talk about this instead.It was someone who isn't part of our generation and he is looking at it from an outside perspective

Jon I don't say this often but you got in the way of that interview. I want to hear more from him. He told you we need to listen and you did

I watched this interview 3 times now to make sure I'm not misunderstanding, but yeah Jon is doing classic "I'm older and I have seen how everything works and you younger one's just don't know that life is always tough." If there was ever a generation that ALREADY KNEW life is tough, it would be the millenial and gen z generation. People like Jon forget a lot of us are full blown adults, 30s and 40s now. I get more mad each time I watch this, Jon just proved the point the guy was talking about. The Old are insanely out of touch, and the Young who are ACTUALLY living in modern America are not being listened to. Frankly I think we're just going to have to start talking to the older generations in business and politics like they are the actual children, and standing up for ourselves whether they like it or not. They're too brainwashed about their own 'greatness' or something. And that's what you get pops for not listening.

Watching this as a Gen Z person made me feel like I was having a conversation with my most out of touch uncle at Thanksgiving.

Few things bring me more pleasure than watching Jon Stewart back on The Daily Show.

As a late millennial, I agree with a lot of these points for Gen Z. I have said my generation saw a glimmer of a hopeful future before everything got worse and worse from gun violence to the economy to the environment. I believe that has made us feel more defeated and apathetic than Gen Z. Gen Z was basically born into the world on fire. They haven’t seen the hope; so, they are more likely to want to fight to make their own hope. I’ve always been really proud of the ones I see for that.

20 y.o college student here. While I generally agree with Jon and appreciate the different perspective he brings, I believe he missed his mark on this one. Yes, every generation has its own plight, and you’d be ignorant to claim otherwise. No, GenZ (in America, at least) hasn’t seen the battlefield or experienced the horrors of war. Despite this, though, we do face a new, specifically unique and devastating challenge unlike all (yes, all) prior generations - being raised on the internet and immediate connectivity. While one could make the bible look like a short story trying to explain the intricacies of the internets effect on young minds, I’ll limit myself to 2 major points: 1) We see everything - wether it be the most stunning sunset, brutal car crashes (which is in fact pushed by the Instagram algorithm, for some reason), polarizing political videos, or wars unfolding live, we have been exposed and desensitized to the extremes. For what my opinions worth, I see this as a catch 22. Many who’ve made their rounds on the web have been exposed to the far right, left, up, and down, and find themselves well informed and comfortably somewhere in the middle; the internet can be unparalleled source of knowledge, diversity, and truth. On the other hand, as was briefly discussed, modern algorithms are an unprecedented force of psychology, leading many impressionable minds down the depths of echo chambers, which leads me to my second point. 2) Beyond the uber-advanced technology itself, another unique hardship facing younger generations is the age which we receive this technology. I was fortunate to have been raised by “strict” parents, who never allowed an Xbox or any sophisticated technology until I got a PC in high school. Yet now, only a handful of years later, you can’t even go to a restaurant without seeing parents sedate their 4 year old with an iPad. They say you are a product of nature and nurture, with nurture historically being exclusively provided by your parents and social context. Now, though, nurture is being hijacked by the algorithm - which is *literally* designed to be as addictive as possible. Imagine the effect it’ll have on generations who didn’t go through their most formative years without the algorithms thumb on the scale. We truly have no idea what the ramifications of the “iPad kid” generation will be, but as a youth who’s personally grown up in the midst of this technological revolution, I *highly* encourage all parents to either restrict your child’s access to technology, or at least be willing to admit/accept that you alone won’t be raising your child.

I think this generation doesn’t have the opportunity to deal with stress due to constant media consumption rather than sitting with thoughts and dealing with things. Media is also pushing stress in front of us more frequently.

I appreciate tough questions, but I do think there is a difference in the economy of young people today and how it was in generations past. I'm a millennial, and I don't think I'll ever be able to afford a house no matter how hard I work. Jobs that I'm applying for today literally pay the same starting wages as my first "adult" job did in 2008. In generations past it seems like there was hope that you could do okay for yourself if you followed the path. It doesn't seem like that anymore.

This is a rare time I disagree with John Stewart. I have two Gen Z kids, and we talk for hours upon hours This generation has suffered economically to the extreme. JFK being assassinated didn't affect the Boomer generation having food or a roof over their head etc...I am Gen X with a degree in psychology and extensive contact with Boomers too due to my employment...this generation is the first generation NOT white-washed by America's propaganda. They see through b.s. in an uncanny way and are excellent problem solvers. They are very united overall in their goals, and definitely will fight for genuine change more than any youth generations of the past as far as modern history.

I agree with this guy. He's basically saying that: yes, times have always been stressful, but the difference for Gen Z is that they have fewer positive things to be able to balance. Forty years ago, there wasn't the life ruining student debt, non-existing home buying prospects, fear of kids being shot in school, etc... And yes, Jon worried about war and nuclear conflict -- as do we. So the problems are mounting but the reasons to be optimistic, even in different facets of life, are fewer and fewer. I get it.

got to love Jon facing a Harvard head of polling who studied this for decades and wrote a book on it, with his gestalt rofl.

I did NOT expect this kind of pushback from Jon.

I would have liked a longer conversation. There were ideas worth hashing out. And they both pressed each other in a solid way.

The point is - our generation still had the option to learn and eventually get into a job that paid your living, allowed you to build a home etc. The current young generations are quite aware that their future looks bleak - so what do they have to lose?

The difference w Gen Z is they know their worth & they will demand those in power recognize their value via wages & real benefits (not pizza parties). More Gen Zers will listen to, believe, & then take action to advocate for themselves and their more vulnerable peers. As a younger Gen Xer, i enjoy interviewing Gen Z job candidates. They’re not concerned w hierarchies & status. Not a lack of respect imo, they see everyone’s work as equally valuable- including themselves.

I’m a Gen Xer, and came to this interview after it aired. Was reading the comments about how John interrupted and vehemently disagreed, “tried so hard to not understand”; I was confused at first because the first roughly 8-10 minutes are pretty balanced. But indeed, at around the 9 minute mark, John just refuses to engage in the discussion. The point is whether or not Gen Z feels listened to, whether their feelings are valid. The facts and comparison with what other generations went through is irrelevant. Have to sadly agree that John really blew it here.

I think the issue is Jon is too focused on anecdotal evidence. He is rich, his kids probably don't worry as much as the other 95% of america...

Yes Jon rich privileged kids are usually out of touch…

Great convo, I do think Jon is missing how materially different the social/economic conditions are for a young person today and how they intersect. He is almost embodying the issue that Volpe outlines: many generations have a hopeful and nostalgic image of America to aspire to. I dont think that exists for most young people today.

I started crying when John talked about our anxiety’s and deep deep dark depression. He is listening to us

Wish Jon would shut up and let him talk

I liked the comment on how both GenZ and Millennials have shared interests. Millennials seems to be getting forgotten from these conversations. We're in out 30s and have half-a-century ahead of us. Let's build a generational coalition against those who shut the door behind them once they reached success and push this country to deliver its promise of caring for its people. How do we do that? Vote!

It could be that Jon’s points are valid. But it’s hard to have someone say “people doesn’t listen to me. They don’t understand” and then have an older person just talk all over them and tell them what life was like for their generation. Proves their point that people don’t listen.

I feel like gen Z is learning the game faster. I remember as a millennial feeling like the ppl on the news running things were BSing me, but the means to prove it was just being invented. These days gen Z can see through the lies immediately. It’s gonna change things.

I feel like Jon didn't take any of the information in to learn about it but only to reply to it, to argue it. He's straight up saying "We did that too" to every single point like hello? Mr. Volple is there to give you the stats not to try and defend them to you, you can't ask him for the info, have him give you the info and still be like "I disagree with it", it just makes you look like a Republican learning about Climate Change.

Jon, the deaths of civil rights leaders and presidents are traumatic, but imagine the trauma of seeing hundreds of children that look just like you getting shot at school. Imagine what it's like when anyone who has the power to stop such a thing doesn't see that as a problem. Imagine graduating from university with an engineering degree, work experience, and being told you're worthless. Imagine living everyday with no place to talk to anyone, no place to go.

JOHN: I conducted research with a whole team of researchers and a significant sample size. JON: I talk to my kids sometimes.

"Do we really need to talk to the gen z anymore. I watched the tiktok its everywhere" - Jon, RIP 5/15/24

Jon - he is right - we have loaded this worlds problems on the youth without solutions - and huge amounts of them are overly depressed - anxious and more - the amount of information that can hit them at once without any support is incredible - I am mot with you on this one - doesn’t matter if it is imposed - it’s perception- that’s all that matters

I sincerely love the show, but the way Jon Stewart talked with John Della Volpe reminds me the way Fox news anchors talk with scientists that dedicated most of their life's on studying a subject, to the point they basically breath information about the topic, it almost feels like the "Don't look up" movie We all need to have some doubt about everything we hear, but we need to be a little bit more acceptable to what someone, who is basically an expert on the subject of the interview Doubting on what scientists have to say is the main cause Brazil had over 700.000 deaths by COVID, even when studies show that it shouldn't be more than half of that

For me the biggest difference between Gen Z and every previous generation is the internet, not in terms of social media but in terms of access to information. While a lot of that information is false and even the parts that aren't are still driven by the algorithm to maximize engagement, I think just having that access has a massive impact on the psychology of curiousity. When I have a question about something I can immediately access literally millions of perspectives on the topic, I can go down different rabbit holes connected to it and gain such a breadth of understanding just by reaching into my pocket. In the past the information available to people has mostly filtered through the perspectives of the people around them, and that creates a sort of geographical limitation to the perspectives that you have access to. The biggest exception to this before the internet (and television, radio, etc.) has always been books, and the period when those books first became widely available is a period we literally call the enlightenment. The fact that our brains were and are still developing while we had access to this massive conglomerate of perspectives will have implications that we can barely begin to predict, but in my opinion the biggest affect is the realization that our beliefs are just that; beliefs. I think Gen Z's biggest advantage is our ability to recognize the validity of perspectives we disagree with without demonizing them or needing to eradicate them, as ridiculous as that sounds in our modern world. And while this is clearly a one sided take on the affects of the internet, my only hope is that there are more people coming to this conclusion because of the internet than there are people becoming radicalized by the echo chambers it's created. The enlightenment is credited with many great things, but is also credited with things like the Spanish Inquisition. Choose understanding (or don't I guess)

I find it interesting how defensive Jon gets when told that current generation had it harder than Jon's generation. Jon's immediate reaction is an emotional rejection of that statement, followed by a limited list of events and a declaration that some specific young people had it great. The classic "generalizing from the specific" fallacy. Jon eventually comes back with a non-fallacious response, but it struck me as a cover to his emotional response rather than the source of his emotional response.

You're forgetting John . . . this generation has the internet and it is both a blessing and a curse. NO GENERATION has dealt with the amount of conflicting information, outright lies, cyberbullying and so much more

Saw a comment that stuck with me that I think captures how Gen Z and Millennials feel in this moment in history: "Not only does it feel like 'something wicked this way comes' but there is also this feeling that the whole world is holding it's breath. Almost as though we are all waiting for some catalyst or sign or event that puts an end to feeling of being put on hold. This vague, unexplained unease we feel. Something terrible lurking just out of our field of vision but we all feel it closing in. I cannot count the number of people who have told me they wish that whatever is going to happen would just get on with it. That this waiting for the thing in the darkness is unbearable."

I've been polled (text msg) on my phone. They ask a question with multiple choice answers, none of which strays very far then the answer they want

I have a lot of respect for Jon, and I’d love for him to talk with Scott Galloway. He’s a strong speaker, maybe he could help Jon understand the struggles and fears of the future for todays youth.

I want to hear more from this man. He understands. A lot of the people in my generation are not on social media as much as Stewart seems to think. The sample you're looking at on tiktok isn't representative of this whole generation. This man hears us, and I want to hear him more.

I'm not even Gen Z but this interview felt way out of touch. I also hate when people talk about all Americans being united right after 9/11. For Arabs and/or Muslims, it absolutely did not feel that way.

I graduated high school in 1981 and we saw interest rates up to 18% when I was trying to get established in the world. Ronald Reagan came in and messed everything up that's when CEO pay jumped a thousand percent and worker pay went down 40%

One of the best discussions I’ve listened to in awhile, well done Jon Stewart Thank You!

I'm kinda surprised at Jon on this. I was born in 1980, and I think the guest is right about a lot of things with this younger generation of adults coming up now. They never have seen Americans united, and although there was a time I thought I may never own a home, when the financial crisis happened and housing prices plummeted, I didn't have to compete with investors to be able to purchase a house. The amount of real estate that is being bought up by entities that aren't ever planning on living in the house is above anything any previous generation still alive has experienced. It's like going back to feudal days when you had to pay rent to extremely wealthy landholders who basically ran your life. That's what these young people are dealing with now. Rent prices are also skyrocketing because that's how monopolies (and industries with colluding "competitors") work.

what was going on here? Jon either read the book and hated it or just really wanted to share about his trauma from Bobby Kennedy's assassination. was this a meta booomer play? idk.. he interrupted the guest on so many topics we didn't get to hear

Jon Stewart is so great I’m so happy he came back to us

Yes as a millennial we saw September 12th but those of us who were military age felt super betrayed by starting a war that had nothing to do with it. Hence "support the troops" and not the war

I gotta disagree with Jon a little. I think gen z really does have it hard and it's okay to accept that while understanding other generations had it hard

Glad to hear young people are voting in higher numbers than in the past. Gen X'er here asking you to do this again this November. Thank you.

Their concerns are valid, as are their stressors. We need to do better to listen. We need to make educational changes. Add courses that help students deal with life challenges and provide them with tools to help younger generation solve problems. We need to add classes to help regulate emotions. We need better support systems that allows for mental health support. Government programs to help with housing options.

Stewart is excellent at asking questions in the correct context, I knew that man was brilliant the first time I saw him

I will have to say that I saw very little of Vietnam growing up. My parents shielded my siblings and myself from that kind of news. And yes, the Internet is a double edged sword. I grew up living an idyllic childhood where all I had to worry about where school bullies. Today's kids have every horror imaginable delivered to them at the touch of a button.

Find me 1 person under the age of 30 who benefited from student debt forgiveness. It's all gone to older generations who've been paying for 20+ years. Meanwhile, college costs keep rising, minimum wage wasn't risen because of a parliamentarian they could've went around, the housing crisis has made it impossible for anyone not making 60K+ to find a studio apartment, and the job market is an absolute disaster-especially for recent grads with no experience. Do not talk to me about how pro youth this administration has been. Jon's got a pretty big blind spot here. He compared shooter drills to nuclear blast drills. Both traumatizing for sure. But only one of those ever actually happened in real life, and happened a LOT. You didn't watch kids just like you on the news getting blown up by nukes every couple of months Jon. These kids see kids just like them getting murdered all the time, then they see cops afraid to even go in and stop it.

This is a brilliant interview. He is right to push back at the generalized talking points the guest is offering because they are not new. But the guest defends his observations well enough so that something better comes out of the discussion.

Acting through what you're going to do if there's a shooter -- roleplaying -- is, itself, traumatizing. It's also not clear that they're a drill until after. I have a friend who's a teacher whose 11 year old niece called her mom saying goodbye, thinking she was going to die. EVEN THE MOM did not know it was a drill. It's NOT the same. For reference, I'm almost exactly the same age as Jon.

I think one of the biggest issues between younger and older generations is the amount of hope there is for a future. The future was so bright for people in the 80's to have a home and retirement and to not hove the same food insecurities. When there is no hope for the future it's harder dealing with the present.

Jon def had his back up here :) It's hard for older folks to recognize that although, yes, every generation has its rough moments to reference, some truly are worse off than others. It's easy to get really defensive here; it's important to listen to understand, and Jon was not doing that in this interview, which likely reflects his stance outside of the television studio as well. Gen X is no longer the youthful generation - we are our parents, and we need to consider the way we viewed our own parents back then. "Parents Just Don't Understand" - Will Smith, 20 in 1988, 55 now. Jon's 61. It matters.

John you can't argue with him on this one. This generation hasn't ever known a time that America wasn't at war abroad.

I turned this on to watch Jon Stewart, but I got bill Maher dressed up as Jon Stewart.

What I really like about Seth Myer’s interviews is that he asks a question, then leans back and lets the guest answer. I found Jon to be as dismissive about the younger generation’s concerns as many people who are older. Yes, our parents all walked 10 miles to school, uphill both ways in the snow. Every generation has its challenges, but I see this generation as having more than its share in unrelenting waves.

Also, I honestly think this is another example of someone like Jon, who is well meaning, still basing the reality of a generation around the people he's using to seeing everyday, and their kids, who are likely much better off than most. That's a minority with a different problems than the actual majority of a generation whom probably 3 quarters of is living paycheck to paycheck right now. No generation outside of the Great Depression era, has faced this kind of uncertainty, and certainly not people his age. I honestly thought he'd be more open minded on this. What the heck is going on.

It's really refreshing as a gen z person who feels utterly hopeless to see the empathy and understanding of older people in these comments. So many of the elder adults in my life just don't seem to understand that my generation has no hope of accomplishing the things they accomplished. We're so ridiculed for being lazy and detached but if we wait until we've gone to college, bought a house, settled down, had kids, etc. to find fulfillment then we would die before we found it. We have to make do with what we have and realize that our jobs cannot be more to us than a necessary evil to pay bills, and we have to do what we can to preserve our sanity by not giving employers more of us than what they have decided we're worth. If you have decided I'm worth less than one percent of your CEO's salary then why should I give you 100% of my loyalty, effort, and mental capacity? Respect has to be earned and so far I have yet to have an employer who has earned my respect.

I am truly glad that many commenters on this video picked up the discrepancies from Jon in this interview. Gen Z or Millennials who strattle that Generational gap hit many crucial moments in our lives when catastrophe hit markets or attacks changed the world. Which fundamentally affected our lives and decision making processes based on the new reality we faced. These were timed to threaten our abilty to make significant strides in our financial, psychological or even physical well being. Many of us became inherently constrained. Regardless of how much the abilty of our parents or society could help us. The struggle is real, the middle class is shrinking and there is significant issue even for your generation that if a baby boomer's money runs out... your children may not be able to help you in your twilight years.

I agree with John about creating the myth of victimhood of sense of unique suffering but he completely missed it when comparing people of all ages suffering in this economy. You talked about middle age putting kids through college and having to help ailing parents. Maybe if you hadn't cut him off you might have realized only wealthy people put their kids through college now. I'm a 40 yr old, mid career teacher who just had a baby and I will be teaching her to handle money because there is no way I'll be able to substantially contribute to her college even if the price freezes as of now. I now a bunch of other 40 yr old professionals with new babies and few people talk about "putting them through college". Sometimes we talk about if it's worth raising our kids somewhere else so maybe we could afford to buy a house.

"We don't have to agree, we just have to understand". Thank you. That's what Jon needs to internalise.

I wish Jon had let the speaker finish his thoughts/sentences before interrupting. THere’s no harm in hearing someone out, even if you disagree.

Absolutely love this interview by Jon! Always brings in counter questions to see if the arguments are strong enough or not. Poking holes in a derived theory and interpretation of data/survey are key elements of critical thinking. Thanks Jon for bringing the perspective of different situations and expanding it to generations that are tied together as well (remembering we have families).

I'm gen X, I worry about being homeless. Someone at my job was living out of his van the last time I saw him.

John is so tone deaf here it hurts. As gen z the other guy is speaking facts

Agree or disagree with either of them - this is such a refreshing, thought-provoking and respectful conversation. No one shrieking, yelling, constantly interrupting. Go Daily Show!

They needed at least another 30 minutes of discourse. This is such a nuanced conversation. I get Jon's pushback/ cynicism, but was frustrated by his inability to allow the conversation to flow in a way that welcomed us into the conversation. His argument to Gen Z has it tough right now, is we all have it tough right now. Facts lol --- but I didn't have a smart phone in my hand at 9. I didn't see my country catch on fire or our captiol stormed by its own people at 12. I didnt have to learn through a computer for 2-3 years in middle school. It's not the same. Though we're all pretty f***cked up as a result. They've had it the worst. But every one can argue for their generation. He wants us to focus on the individual, because we're not a monolith -- and data research/ media make a whole lot of generalizations off laughably small sample sizes in some cases.