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Gen Z Would Rather Time Travel Than Deal With Whatever This Is

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01.05.2026

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Gen Z Would Rather Time Travel Than Deal With Whatever This Is

At the core of all of this is a yearning for something that feels more human.

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There’s always a fraction of every generation who insist they were born in the wrong era, romanticizing some mostly imagined past where everything was simpler, better. Usually, those people are idiots. Right now, though, given the state of things, I totally understand where people who think that way are coming from, even if the past they’re romanticizing was more or less the same kind of trash with a different set of causes and villains. I say all of this because, according to a recent NBC News survey, a massive number of Gen Z young adults would genuinely prefer to live in the past rather than deal with the present.

Nearly half, 47 percent, of Americans aged 18 to 29 said they’d choose the past if given the option, according to NBC News. Only 38 percent would stay in the present, and a small minority are willing to risk looking forward to........

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