Reddit’s r/Millennials subreddit recently exploded with responses to a simple question: “What do you think was the biggest lie told to our generation?”
The answers? Thousands of upvotes, thousands of comments, and one resounding theme: millennials were misled on everything from college and careers to finances, parenting, and even what happens when you crack your knuckles.
One of the most popular responses captured a major workplace myth: “Discussing your salary with coworkers is wrong.”
The follow-up? “I love it when facilities try to discourage it. Always a good laugh.”
Education and Career Promises That Fell Flat
Many said they were pushed into college with the belief that it was the only way to have a successful life.
A top comment said, “Take out student loans to pay for your degree, and you’ll definitely get a job making enough to pay off the loans.”
Others echoed the sentiment that they were steered away from trades, only to see people with no degrees earning more and living with less debt.
Some noted the absurdity of early school advice. “You’ll write all your papers in college in cursive,” one wrote.
Hard Work Doesn’t Always Pay
The belief that working hard would naturally result in success took a beating in the thread. One person wrote, “Hard work will be negated by someone who is related to a board member and they get the promotion instead.”
Another said, “Put your head down, work hard, and you will get promoted—said no CEO ever.”
Loyalty to employers? That was another myth.
“Be loyal to your job and they will stand behind you 100%,” one wrote sarcastically, adding that the Great Recession proved otherwise.
The College Trap
Beyond the financial burden, several commenters mentioned the disconnect between getting a degree and finding meaningful employment.
One person said, “It doesn’t matter what you major in, you just need a degree,” calling it the worst advice they followed.
Another recalled, “I remember A teacher specifically saying ‘Take out as many student loans as they’ll let you. It’s the best deal on a loan you’ll ever get.'”
The Food Pyramid, DARE, and Other School Myths
Multiple people pointed to nutrition and drug education as deeply flawed.
“The food pyramid is responsible for a tsunami of diabetes and obesity,” one person said.
Others mentioned myths from the DARE program, like marijuana shrinking your brain or getting offered cocaine on the way home from school, something many joked never actually happened.
Parenting and Life Advice
Comments about having kids ranged from exhausted sarcasm to heartfelt honesty.
One wrote, “Have kids, they said… it’ll be fun, they said,” while others acknowledged the joys and strains of parenthood.
Several pointed out how women in particular were told they could “have it all”—career, kids, marriage, without any meaningful support.
And of course, some of the childhood warnings turned out to be just plain strange.
People mentioned being told that swallowing a seed would grow a tree in their stomach, that cracking your knuckles would give you arthritis, or that turning on the dome light in a car was illegal.
The System Itself
A larger undercurrent in the thread was about institutional lies.
“America is the greatest country,” was mentioned as a myth that doesn’t hold up when comparing healthcare, housing, or retirement to other countries.
The Iraq War and the idea of “weapons of mass destruction” came up multiple times, alongside the notion that Social Security and pensions would be reliable safety nets.
Others brought up the illusion of meritocracy.
One top comment read, “Class mobility. That money is a result of working hard and not being born on third base.”
A Generation That’s Had Enough
What started as a nostalgic thread ended up becoming a kind of group therapy session for a generation that’s lived through 9/11, the Great Recession, the student debt crisis, housing shortages, and now economic uncertainty all over again.
While some commenters tried to defend older advice as being valid “for the time,” the overwhelming tone was clear: a lot of the guidance millennials grew up with simply doesn’t apply anymore.
In the end, one user summed it up best: “Almost everything we were raised to believe. It’s such a long list that I don’t know where to start.”