There’s a viral trick where, if you ask people to “pretend” to answer a phone, the way they hold their hand will tell you which generation they belong to.

Maybe the same can be said for how they react to seeing a paycheck.

Mom posts hilarious generational moment on LinkedIn

Michelle Boggs, a senior advisor at GoFundMe, recently posted a screenshot of a text from her teenager on the professional networking platform.

The teenager, awaiting a payment of $200, opened an envelope and was surprised to find that it did not contain the cash they were expecting—only a note on a piece of paper indicating that $200 was owed.

The teenager elaborated: “There was no money just on papers that said my amount.”

And that’s when Boggs realized what was really going on: “That is called a check, honey.”

Millennials and Gen X forget just how outdated their upbringing is

The post spread far and wide on LinkedIn, with hundreds of likes and dozens of comments. Many people had stories about their own encounters with Gen Zers who were completely baffled by items and activities that were commonplace just a few decades ago, such as:

Addressing an envelope: “I facilitated a training with consultants, most of whom were 23 to 25. There was an exercise at the end where you write yourself a letter that gets mailed to you in like five years time. They instructed us to tell people how to address the envelope. I thought it was a joke until the guy next to me did in fact turn to me and say, ‘What do I do here again?’”

Saving a file on the computer: “I’ll never forget the day a young one asked me why the save icon looked like that. They’d never seen a floppy disk. I felt my bones creak in the wind.”

Calling a landline: “How about when your 15 year old calls her grandmother and gets a busy signal?”

Listening to music on a stereo: “We did [a run to the dump] with a 00s stereo system in the car and my eldest said ‘what is this Mom, some kind of music machine?’. To them, music is Alexa or Spotify!”

Watching actual TV: “I also recently got rid of cable and I gave them the heads up like ‘hey guys I got rid of cable’ and my son responded ‘what’s cable?’”

How the tables have turned

While the older generations love getting a good laugh out of younger people not recognizing “fundamental” pieces of technology, the comedy definitely goes both ways.

“My favorite moment was when my youngest was in my home office and told me to follow the link to a particular website. I clicked on what I thought I was supposed to click on and he scowled in disgust and said this is why old people get so much malware,” one commenter shared.

Millennials and Gen Xers are often totally baffled by Gen Alpha slang, TikTok trends, Kik streamers, looksmaxxing, ChatGPT, and more. It’s only a matter of time until today’s teenagers are impatiently holding their parents’ hands through crypto, VR, or vibe-coding—in fact, it’s already happening.

In true LinkedIn fashion, Boggs pulled a lesson from the humorous story, one that really does resonate.

“Honestly, teens will keep you humble and if you’re paying attention, they’ll also keep you sharp,” she wrote. “[If something] feels slow, clunky, or outdated we’re not just behind, we’re invisible to the next generation. They’re not learning our systems. We need to learn theirs.”

She’s right. Walden University estimates paper checks will be completely extinct any day now, replaced by direct deposit, Venmo, and other “frictionless” options.

For the business professionals of LinkedIn, the takeaway is obvious. But all Millennials and Gen Xers need to remember that rotary phones and VCRs aren’t coming back anytime soon. Teaching younger generations about a rapidly aging way of life is probably less urgent than learning ourselves where things are heading.

A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a  gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. 

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. 

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. 

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. 

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to  loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. 

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:

Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis 

Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community

Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or  in one of 60   countries where we work around the globe

Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door 

Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore

Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. 

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today. 

Living permanently on a cruise ship seems like a dream of the uber-wealthy. You spend your days lounging on the deck by the pool or touring an exotic location. Nights are spent dancing in the nightclub or enjoying live entertainment. You no longer have to worry about traffic, cooking or laundry. Your life has become all-inclusive as long as you’re on board.

At Upworthy, we’ve shared the stories of a handful of people who’ve been able to spend their lives on a permanent cruise because they’ve figured out how to do so affordably. Or, at least, at about the same cost of living on land. Insider featured the fantastic story of Ryan Gutridge, who spends about 300 nights a year living on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. He only leaves the ship for a few weeks a year during the holidays.

Ryan Gutridge hat 2021 begonnen, auf einem Kreuzfahrtschiff der Royal Caribbean im "Homeoffice" zu arbeiten. https://t.co/uRFeduHG65— Business Insider Leben (@bi_leben) August 10, 2023

Ryan Gutridge hat 2021 begonnen, auf einem Kreuzfahrtschiff der Royal Caribbean im "Homeoffice" zu arbeiten. https://t.co/uRFeduHG65

Gutridge works in IT as an engineer for a cloud solution provider and can do his full-time job right from the ship. “I do meetings in the morning and afternoons, but I can also go to lunch and........

© Upworthy