A TikTok user created a heated debate after suggesting that millennials are aging better than the generations that came before.
Referencing characters from 80s and 90s pop culture, the 37-year-old influencer says his generation – aged 28 to 43 – looks significantly younger than people the same age decades earlier.
Keep reading to learn why the internet is fired up over this man’s statements!
Before Chris Bautista fired shots at people assumed to be Gen X, ages 44-59 years old, he first took a strike at Generation Z, a demographic of people aged 12 to 27.
“I’m going to say this for the Gen-Zers in the back that didn’t hear me the last time. Millennials look fantastic for our age, and you cannot tell us otherwise,” says Bautista, a 37-year-old millennial (ages 28 to 43).
He’s not completely wrong
“I’m about to give you some examples of what it looked like to be my age back when I was young,” Bautista says in the viral TikTok video that’s been viewed by 7.6 million people.
Appearing on the screen behind him is a photo of Ed O’Neill, who before playing the patriarch on Modern Family, was Al Bundy, the crabby dad on Married with Children.
Fans might be surprised to know the seemingly old father was scripted as a 39-year-old in the first season of the hit TV sitcom that ran 1987 to 1997.
Pointing at a photo of O’Neill, born in 1946, Bautista says, “Al Bundy was 39.” Next, an image of Jason Alexander – 30 in 1989 when he first appeared as George Costanza on Seinfeld – pops up and Bautista adds, “31 years old.”
Then, the man shows his viewers the mature cast of Cheers, including Ted Danson (born in 1957), Kirstie Alley (1951), Kelsey Grammer (1955) and the only Gen X star, Woody Harrelson, who was 24 in 1985, his first season.
“Look at them. Literally I’m older than every single one of these people in the photo. I’m a full decade older than Kelsey Grammer,” Bautista says of the actor, who looks much older than his years.
Decades apart
Arguably, Bautista does look fantastic for his age, and furthering his point, he references the 1991 film Father of the Bride with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton. In 1991 when the film was released, Martin was 46 while Keaton was 45, and they both played characters around 45.
“There’s a world in which all three of us went to the same elementary school,” Bautista quips.
Driving home his argument, Homer Simpson then flashes on the screen.
Homer, whose age ranges from 34 to 40 over 18 seasons, “is the exact same age as me.”
After comparing himself to numerous stars from touchstone 80s and 90s TV, the man tells Zoomers, “The difference between us and you is so much closer than the difference between us and them.” Without specifying the generation he defines as “them,” he adds, “And we set a new standard of aging.”
Who set the standards?
Online users, Generations X, Y and Z, engaged in a lively exchange of comments on Bautista’s TikTok page, some taking their shots at other age groups.
“Gen X set the standard and millennials followed,” writes one netizen, disputing that Gen Y started it all.
A second shares, “You know y’all can say that you look young without talking about Gen Z right.”
A third says, “Millennials setting the standards but Gen Z reverting it back, like how are they 21 and look 33. How!???”
Agreeing with that sentiment, another writes, “It’s hard looking younger than the young generation.”
‘Tweakments’
According to Newsweek, the seemingly slower aging process of the generation is likely due to the skyrocketing popularity of “tweakments” – cosmetic injectables spiked 40.6% in the past five years alone – and a better understanding on how SPF helps anti-aging.
“I think we are sort of the first generation where it became uncool to smoke and we discovered the importance of things like SPF,” Bautista tells Newsweek.
And of course, some suspect millennials look so young because they are resistant to growing up.
“Everything that was expected of us to be done in our 20s, we started doing in our 30s. We not only pushed our lives back a bit, but we’ve pushed the aging back as well,” Bautista said.
As for why he shared his theories on generations and aging, Bautista insists he hadn’t intended to launch a generational war.
“It was about me just having fun, not an ounce of me wants to start any sort of argument between generations. It’s all playful, it’s all fun,” he said. “Aging shouldn’t be stigmatized. It doesn’t matter. It is a privilege to age. Just be grateful that you have a beating heart and air in your lungs.”
It’s important to note that all the stars he mentions in his clip are not actually Gen Xers, but Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964)! If Bautista actually referenced TV series with stars born in the years defining Generation X – Friends, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Doogie Howser, M.D – he would have seen a swing in favor!
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