Did Millennials Really Live In Paradise?

June 30, 2025

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By Holly Trantham

When you write about the same topics for almost an entire decade, you get a very interesting perspective on trend shifts. I joined TFD in September 2016 — back when we were still very naive about our political future, when the idea of Donald Trump taking our highest singular office not once, but twice, was a completely unfathomable joke. I actually remember coworkers signing off of Slack that election day with a tongue-in-cheek “see you when Hillary’s president!”, fully expecting nothing but a maintenance of the political status quo. And like so many others in my circle, I sobbed myself to sleep that night. TFD went offline for the day, regrouping that Thursday with an overwhelming vibe of dread. 

Looking back, I know there were plenty of people who saw that disaster coming a mile away, and for whom 2024 was a similarly inevitable conclusion to a “left” party that refuses to actually platform progressive values. (It’s eerie to read Chelsea’s post from that period post-2016 and find so much of it still relevant to our post-2024 election era.)

In the nearly-9 years since Election Day 2016, our content has certainly shifted, but a few themes have remained entirely consistent: how a work-obsessed culture does not serve us, how overconsumption is leading us down a dangerous path, how wealth inequality is arguably the biggest societal and economic issue of our time, and how millennials (and beyond) have been set up to inherit progressively worsening economic outlooks, despite a media landscape that often paints a much more optimistic picture. We are constantly dissecting generational stereotypes and workplace trends, from the girlboss era to the “quiet quitting” of the COVID years. The overall theme: in America, things are bad and getting worse, unless you come from the 1 percent. And as much as our cultural landscape changes, that message has been consistent. 

So it’s very interesting now to see the burgeoning social media trend of romanticizing the 2010s. Because when we look back at the post-Great Recession, pre-Trump/COVID era, something is very clear: the vibes were unmatched. Obama being elected felt like such a seismic, irreversible culture shift. Even our pop culture fed us optimism propaganda: Parks & Recreation made us believe that politicians were, first and foremost, public servants, while Hamilton rewrote our relationship with history. And looking back, it wasn’t complete bullshit: in our young-adult lifetimes, we saw the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the federal legalization of gay marriage, and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, as imperfect as it’s been. 

Did we, as millennials, actually live in a paradise we took for granted? We certainly had no idea what was coming — Roe vs. Wade, for just one example, felt like the impermeable law of the land. This is the question we dive into in our latest video essay. And real talk: any time we tackle anything political (or even just political-adjacent), our content underperforms expectations and YouTube makes it impossible to market it properly, despite ample engagement from our subscriber base. We know this kind of commentary is what you guys want from TFD, so of course, it’s endlessly frustrating when it feels like the platform is working against us! We wanted to make sure you saw this latest installment — check out the video in full below.

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As a frequent backpacker/kayaker, I've tried my fair share of water shoes and honestly my favorite are my classic Tevas. They're lightweight, quick drying, and so comfortable. I find that it's difficult to swim in anything sturdier like Chacos, and I've had my Tevas for 3 years now and they're holding up just fine. I actually feel bad for my Chacos because I almost always leave them behind. 

Something else I bring to every single outdoor activity is my Rainleaf Microfiber Towel. It's super compact, dries in like 5 minutes, and somehow never smells weird. I also use it to hide from the sun, it's just so versatile. 

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The Society at TFD is our members-only community with access available on both YouTube and Patreon. Joining The Society is the best way to directly support TFD! The Society offers the exact same things on both platforms, so choose whichever one you prefer!

We offer 3 tier options:

The Society at TFD Lite: $2.99/month

• Monthly office hours with Chelsea to chat and get your personal questions answered

• Access to our monthly book club hosted by TFD Creative Director, Holly

• Illustrated tech backgrounds every month

• Access to Society Discord

The Society at TFD: $4.99/month — includes everything in the $2.99 tier plus:

• Monthly ad-free extended director's cut videos from Chelsea

• Exclusive members-only events and workshops

• Complete post archive (including exclusive members-only videos of Chelsea ranting on different topics)

The Society Premium: $9.99/month — includes everything from the previous tiers plus:

• Weekly newsletter from Chelsea

• Monthly multi-page workbook/guidebook on a different topic each month

• Members-only capsule podcasts