Between Google and my mama, there are still a lot of things I, as a full-grown adult, have not learned to do, or did not know I needed to know how to do. Sometimes adultier adults act like when we turn 18 we are handed a guidebook to teach us how to fill in a tax form, what a tax form even is, how to deal with the government, what to do if we get into trouble with the law, etc. That’s why I breathed a millennial sigh of relief when I learned about AllShitAdult.com.
Millennials are known for their ingenuity and concern with social justice, so it is not surprising that someone would put those two together and come up with a site to help their counterparts who either did not have parents (either present or at all) to teach them things, parents who were unapproachable, or access to resources necessary to learn certain life skills. With subject headings like “Shit, I’m pregnant,” “What’s an LLC?,” and “Credit,” the site addresses many questions that do not have simple answers found on Google or just by asking around.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbNOlnKg3RZ/?taken-by=kehlani
AllShitAdult’s intro mentions that “in the United States alone, approximately 170,000 young adults (annually), between the ages of 18-24, experience homelessness.” As someone who is not even really sure how she manages to pay rent, have the Internet and cable, AND eat in a month, I get it. Adulting is hard, and I’m not talking about getting your oil changed and cooking your own meals adulting. I’m talking filing taxes, bringing up your credit score, “what kind of doctor do I need to see for this?” adulting. It’s frustrating to not know who to ask certain questions, to be afraid to ask questions for fear you will be judged, referred to as “spoiled,” or punished, and to be expected to magically know how to do things you’ve never heard of, or have only heard of 10 or more years ago in high school.
We get it: ‘ye olde generations walked barefoot uphill in the snow dragging your siblings in homemade sleds made out of wood you chopped down yourselves to get to town and sell onions for ten cents each. That probably sucked and we’re all so proud that you learned how to do things alone. However, many of us grew up in a generation where most of what we’ve had to do has been automated, online, or heck, done by our parents either because we were spoiled or because, conversely, we had to become adults too soon in other ways.
Because the generations before us that worked very hard and desired to shield their children from certain facts and duties of life, millennials have had pretty dope childhoods. Now, we’re adults, and there are some responsibilities we need a little help completing. AllShitAdult.com sure beats deciphering government Web sites, Google, or judgy faces. Whether our ignorance is our own fault or someone else’s, who cares? Resources are good. Why oppose them. If you’re not a millennial, try and go back to the days when you were trying to get on your own two feet and empathize with us. Don’t hate; educate.
