I Did Not Open My Own Book for Seven Years
I was afraid to open it for seven years. Nearly every line I wrote about Millennials is being said about Gen Z right now.
Read the full essayFull show notes
Nearly every line I wrote about millennials is now being said about Gen Z.
An organization wanted a few dozen copies of Cracking the Millennial Code, the book Ryan Vet wrote in 2019. He hadn’t opened it in seven years. This week he reads it again, finds that it described the Generational Pendulum before it had a name, and explains what a new printing, with bonus digital resources and a full works cited, adds. It also hit the USA Today bestseller list seven years after publication. Thank you to everyone listening.
In this episode:
- The fear of reopening your own old work, and what Ryan found when he did
- How the 2019 manuscript described the Generational Pendulum before it was named
- The Generational Blur, and why Pew Research Center’s 2023 step back from generational labeling came four years after Ryan’s argument
- The loneliness numbers Ryan published in 2019: 30% of millennials always or often lonely, 22% with no friends, and how the U.S. Surgeon General (2023) and the American Psychiatric Association (2024) echoed them
- Why the book is now a USA Today bestseller seven years later
Go deeper: Read the full COLLIDE essay at ryanvet.com/collide/i-did-not-open-my-own-book-for-seven-years, and subscribe to COLLIDE at ryanvet.com/collide.
About Ryan Vet
Ryan Vet is a USA TODAY bestselling author, futurist, and international keynote speaker whose insights on generations, culture, and the future of work have been featured in Forbes, Financial Times, ABC, NBC, and CBS. His research helps leaders understand emerging generational patterns and anticipate societal shifts before they fully unfold.
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