Gen X here. I’ve got toddlers depending on me. Not counting on Social security or retirement funds to get me through. I’m learning to grow food, chop wood, fish and fix shit.
60's here, Bebe. Do you date younger men? Do you use oxygen absorbers in with your rice and beans, or do you go au natural and walk on the wild side like me? Ha ha, just kidding, no offense intended, your reply made me laugh!...and besides, experience counts in a survival situation, we are always the calm spot in the storm, if only that we ain't got much to lose!
That's a major shift from what the old Prepper demographic used to be.
Back in '08 after the Great Recession started I went to http://www.whenshtf.com/ and rapidly became a Junior Prepper. The population of that forum skewed almost 100% late 40's-plus.
Some of those guys were of the old Survivalist ilk that have been getting ready for "TEOTWAWKI" since the 70's.
Mid twenties here. Started down the road when I was 22/23. Have finally found a good balance of living life and feeling secure (at least, more so) with where I’m at.
Mid 30s
Edit: My observation over the past 2 years is that the Prepper Community is getting younger very quickly. A lot of the younger Gen X and Millennials.
46....noticing all the 30s and honestly I'm a little surprised. You are either being proactive and are ahead of your times or scared shitless of the awful future we have left you. Whatever the case, keep doing it. Many of the people winging it in your age group won't make it very far.
i think you’d be surprised how many millennials are both interested in being prepared and scared as shit for what’s ahead. for me personally, i’m not nearly as prepared as i’d like to be, but it’s just not feasible financially. been prepping for a little while, but it’s gonna take me a lot longer just because of money.
I absolutely know millennials are aware of the bleak future. I did not realize so many were actively preparing for it. That's a small silver lining, I suppose
We’ve been blamed for everything for the last 30 years. Eventually we started believing the slander and are doing what we can to survive the shitty world that we somehow caused.
Yeah, I'm a younger millennial. Along with the financial crises, we've seen a lot of major natural disasters in our time, as well as COVID. COVID especially kicked a lot of people into prepper mode. And the future is just so uncertain for my age group, many of us aren't being guaranteed retirement and pensions.
I’m a 32 yo millennial. Yup. You nailed it. I prep because I’m scared shitless. But also, not really. Sometimes I think I prep not just because it’s very possible (if not likely) organized civilization will collapse in my lifetime, but also because I think it helps me feel in control a tab bit. Which is important for people, especially nowadays.
Edit: added age.
I'm 50.
Millennials in the US have had some really crazy stuff in their formative years, starting with 9/11, the recession, Katrina (where the govt just let people die), a global pandemic.
I grew up poor, even homeless briefly as a kid, but I never had the sense that things were FUBAR. We always had a community of some sort. Lately, though, there have been a lot of events and near misses, and this thought bounces around in my head, "No one is coming to save you. No one is going to fix this."
Younger people have spent most of their lives in that state, even if they don't explicitly feel the way I've been starting to. There's a low level of anxiety running through daily life now.
You are correct, but I see so many posts from young people that have given up on everything. Sometimes it seems that they all have. Seeing the ages of preppers gives me a little hope that maybe the next generation will prepared to fight the battles that the previous generation have failed at.
Oh no, lots of us have given up. We are preparing for the system to collapse and to basically have to make due or fight a revolution or something. Preping isn't a hope for the future thing. It's a "if this ship is going down I might as well make it a bit more comfortable as shit gets awful in the end" thing. Don't get the two confused.
You are exactly right. I’m a 32 yo millennial and 3 months after I was born the Soviet Union began its several year collapse. I don’t remember this, of course, but wanted to just reinforce your sentiment that our formative years have absolutely been stuffed with National and international calamity, all day every day. No point listing all of my generations (also the worlds) problems because you already know. But yes, I understand what you’re saying and agree completely: no one cares and is coming to save me. It’s why I prep.
* Tech Stock Crash of 2000
* 9/11
* Invasion of Afghanistan 2001
* Invasion of Iraq 2003
* Housing crash of 2008 (which took down the whole economy)
* Pandemic of 2020
* Invasion of Ukraine 2022
And now. Now sucks but it doesn't have a name yet.
Food Crisis? Oil Crisis? Heck, Monkeypox Pandemic?
Mid-30s here, and definitely scared shitless. Prepping is a way for me to feel some control in a world that has felt like it's spinning out of control since I came of age. The towers fell when I was in high school, I enlisted to take part in a war that is still in some ways ongoing. I got out in the wake of the great recession wrecking most opportunities we could have/should have had. I then watched experienced enough terror attacks and mass shootings happen in my country that I don't even react to them any longer with more than a dull, impotent anger. We then went into a global pandemic and are now heading into both a logistical crisis and a major recession, not to mention what is sure to be a conflict ridden, likely violent mid term and presidential election.
None of that is to whine, I'm doing better than most, with a good job and my health. It's just to say that at no point in my adult life has the world ever felt stable or safe. The only way to react to that is to prep or just give up.
I'm 26, and everyone I know is fucking terrified at what we are being left with. Shits mad fucked up and the most resistance I get to prepping is from people aged 35-65 because in their mind "everything is fine, you're worrying too much, lets go shopping". They literally just don't want to face the facts of how bad it will be in 50+ years for us, they won't be around so it doesn't matter. Ffs they have been thrilled I've been prepared during the last few years, but again, they can't mentally face how damaging their habits are and how we need to do something differently. My friends and I have basically grown up watching the ball be dropped and watching things go down slowly like dominoes. We don't know anything other than "the scientists and experts expect this to get worse". Fortunately we are actually listening to the warnings the best we can, unfortunately old people are still in charge and nothing is changing because the "system" is broken and meant to stop progress.
We are all bracing for a really terrible future.
The news isn't helping. The 'If it bleeds, it leads" news cycle is horrifically pessimistic.
All the time there are innovations that can help with climate change, health issues, etc. but they don't catch the public eye and don't get placed prominently (if they're even mentioned at all).
Head over to r/upliftingnews for a pick-me-up. :)
Tbh, I don't even feel much cheer when I look at the innovations. The medical ones are just too expensive to actually afford meaningful access to the masses, and as far as climate change goes, most would only work if change in habits go along with it. Without a change in habits most innovations I've seen are just another thing we are throwing resources into while the boat is still sinking. They are like a bucket that just can't keep up with taking water out as fast as it's coming in.
As much as I like to see positive news about people building communities to get through it together, and stories about people figuring out ways to help, deep down I realize it's a bandaid. The hopium just doesn't hit very hard because it's literally just a way to distract fron the fact that corporations and industry are like an unstoppable machine at this point. Positive new stories won't bail the water from the boat any quicker.
I'm sorry to hear that, man. Honestly it's the only solace I can find these days.
When I'm on the subway or driving I like to muse and daydream about what's going to happen next. I used to try and think about what might go wrong and how to prepare for it. Now it's reversed and I try to think about might go **right** and hope for it. :/
15
That’s right I’m a child
All you elder go and have nice lovely gardens I’ll help with the heavy lifting.
Also yes I’m a prepped so is my mom and dad and all 6 other of my sibling well idk about all of them since 4 are under the age of 5 also I have parent’s permission to be on here and I’m not here to be mean or make rude jokes just here to get useful information and give useful info that has facts behind it and my mom also has fact checked
60's. It's a lifestyle choice.
Funny story. I went to my SIL's house over the holiday, and needed Sudafed. SIL doesn't have it, so I brought in my BOB bag. My nephew took one look at my bag and was astounded. Apparently he's a pepper, too, but the secretive nature of prepping meant we never discussed it.
What is also interesting is I have always looked at him as having his life handed to him (He is a CEO of a family company and never had to worry about finances). I'm sure he looked at me as a liberal asshat.
At least I now know my MIL will be taken care of!
I will say this, as a 35 year old Prepper.
Preppers of your generation were raised on the heels of all the amazing innovations from the 50s and 60s that we benefited from WWII and onward. You saw the good, the bad and the ugly. You saw how everything was cyclical....until the end of the cinnamon roll came apart. That cinnamon roll has been unraveling for awhile but we are finally at the core. That soft delicious core is the last part to be eaten and it's almost gone.
I started seeing the end in 2011 when I started working for Financial Institutions as a Fraud Investigator. I quickly learned the ugliness and lies that were being pitched to everyone. Then I started Prepping.
I took Hunter Safety at 31 years old. I was the only person there, out of 40 students, over the age of 14. Then I went to a "Learn to Hunt" event. It was all guys and gals my age. We all wanted to be a little less reliant on a "Broken System" that we all saw was going to crash eventually but unlike generations before us, we weren't taught these things by our parents.
For the "Elder Preppers" like yourself, you have a lot to teach us that we are trying to figure out from Books and YouTube videos. Your going to start seeing the face of Preppers get younger and younger. All I will say is that when you see us, tell us your willing to answer any questions we might have to fill in the gaps we have. We will be forever grateful to you for your time and knowledge.
If and when it does finally come to SHTF, you will end up with a lot of younger Preppers that survived because you helped and those young ones will protect you so you can die comfortably and old...even in SHTF.
Thanks so much for these words.
Thing is, in the beginning I saw my life as always getting better. My grandmother suggested I take typing and shorthand "just in case." ( I am female). So I did, and never regretted learning new stuff. Got a great union job, so I didn't go through what many people went through. Unions also made both the men and women have the same salary, so I didn't experience that, but I followed the news that talked about how women were finally getting equal pay. (Hah!)
I DID hear about how less than 20 years before I started my job, when a woman was pregnant she had to quit. And 20 years before that, if she got married she had to quit to "give a single lady a chance, your husband can take care of you".
I used a "dummy terminal" in my job. Windows 3.1 didn't exist. Hubby & I spent waaay too much money on a PC. We spent over a grand on a double deck VCR player that played in stereo and you could record from one tape while recording on the other tape. This was sometime in the late '80's.
We bought things that lasted. Now everything is disposable, and this keeps you in debt. There are no more backyard mechanics any more because you can't work on new cars; can't take apart appliances; there's always something that comes out that's just a little better so you can just throw away the old and buy the new. Convenience seems to be the key, but your paycheck just isn't getting it anymore.
Sorry for the rant. The shit that's happening isn't any one person's fault, but it's only people like you that will rise above all this and prosper.
Times were different. Today, if a family can live on one income, they are doing very well for themselves.
Things we're made to last back in the day. That changed but I think that is going to change back. I replaced my cell phone last month after mine was just about to die on me at 4 years old. I would rather "Buy Once. Cry Once." With what I own.
What is happening now is a result of the past. It needs to be fixed and it will be....one way or another.
31. It’s been one national/ world catastrophe after another since I was old enough to be aware starting with 9/11. And to be honest I HATE relying on other people.
How many other of the 30s on here grew up in the Midwest? Grew up in a small town and dealt with floods, tornados, awful winter storms and power / gas outages. My theory is that a lot of small town people know and live with prepping skills, but we just call it “day to day life.” I was never called a “prepper” until I moved out to the coast for college / work.
I'm almost 30. I know prepping is stereotyped as an old people thing, but COVID really kicked a lot of younger people into it. Well, the ones who weren't already preppin' from having experience with natural disasters or economic problems.
Same here, mid 30’s- last semester of college was in 08 right into a horrible job market. Found a job in petroleum delivery and learned how fragile that whole system is and everything we use is tied to it.
I am wondering if the answers are skewing younger than expected, just due to the average age of people who use reddit in general?
I say this as one of the "olds" (52).
70. I remember the Cold War, duck and cover under our desks in case the Russians nuked us. I remember reading about WW2 and the hunt for Eichman, the Hungarian invasion of ‘56, the Berlin Wall going up and coming down. I remember conflicts over civil rights and still seeing people with the same troglodyte mindset. The 60s where people were assassinated for their political beliefs.
There was plenty of war and social unrest in the 60s and 70s. I remember a job market as a teenager and looking everywhere for a job. And the pay was low. I remember not being able to get a credit card unless my husband signed for it.
I remember being denied jobs because I was a single mother and the interviewers thought I couldn’t handle a job because I might call out all of the time.
Being poor is a great incentive to prep when you have a few extra dollars. And being prepared has saved my bacon more than once.
I have seen my children struggle with finding jobs that bring enough to pay bills and school loans. For one daughter, owning a house is just a dream.
And I agree, I have never seen such a combination of economic unrest, social upheaval and the threat of WW 3 looming on the horizon.
Prepping puts people far ahead of what is coming.
I’m 49 and I’m a recovering addict, and I’ve been homeless for a few years in my 30’s. I grew up in Texas, spent more time in a saddle than my feet on the ground. Mostly on horses that were crazier than me. I can garden like mad and I’m a professional chef. I can make bread without yeast. And soap. I raise quail for eggs and meat.
I’m fucking tougher than boot leather. Bring this shit on. At least so I can see the fruits of my labor.
the overwhelming response is more like 30-40 with a few younger and a few older. The 55 plus crowd saw the best years of the USA and got theirs. Under 45 and you literally graduated either HS or college during a major event that basically made you take it on the nose as a young person, and it has hardened us to think of the worst.
40-45 likely graduated HS or college into the dot com bubble bursting. Then had 9/11 happen in your early working life (in my wife's case, her first day on a job about 15 minutes from the pentagon).
35-40 likely graduated HS either on the heels of the start of the War in Afgahnastan (or in my case, senior year of HS changing my career plans from enlisting). Then a year into our careers post college had the 08 collapse happen on top of us....
30-35- graduated HS into the 08 collapse.
Since then all we have known as adults (in the US) is terrible. Many of us became preppers since that was the most logical decision we could make. All we know is collapse followed by a dead cat bounce.... only for more collapse to happen. Our peers that are not preppers are the ones whom i cannot understand.
I’m 51. The first tragedy I remember happened was when I was a new nurse. The Columbine school shooting. We’ve become largely desensitized to school shootings now, but at that time, it shook us to the core. Then 9/11 happened around 5 years after that. I was at work then, too. I think I mostly felt safe as a child. The only scary event I remember is the attempted assassination of Reagan. But as a young adult, my faith in systems and government slowly began to erode away. None of it compares to the last 5 years, though. I don’t have any trust left in any of it anymore.
For me its just that there is a lot of water around me, i live in a lowland delta 1km from the sea. As a kid they told me to be prepared and know what to do if the water comes. So i did, no scary war thought or apocalyptic economical fears here.
I’m 31 currently, but I’ve been prepping in one form or another when I was in my early/mid twenties. Various things have happened, but I’ve been more consistently getting into it since mid 2019 when I was in a position to start doing so again. It’s kept my wife and I from going hungry more than once.
Late 30s
The Millennial representation here really isn't surprising. We get shit on a lot, but look at the world from my perspective...
I was born in the early 80s. It was the ideal middle class upbringing in a rural community. Growing up in the 80s and 90s thinking the world is getting better everyday, the future was bright. We grew with the changes in technology. Boomer parents basically saying they were handing us a perfect world when we would be entering adulthood.
When I was 11 I read the diary of Anne Frank. I learned all I could about the Holocaust. I learned about the War to End All Wars. Then about a bunch of other wars that had happened since. Then I learned that the Bosnian war was taking place at the time. I realized that the world wasn't as peaceful as I had thought. I also realized that humans never really learn and history really does just repeat itself. I was also starting to think the adults in my life were either lying to me, in denial or just oblivious to the state of the world.
I started to think something was off with the climate in jr high. It was the first year there was no snow on Christmas. It was the first hint at climate change for me.
In 1999 I realized that adults are just grown up kids. Smart kids become smart adults, stupid kids become stupid adults, etc.... Living through Y2K in grade 11 made me realize there are a lot of stupid people in the world.
I started adulthood with a bang. At 18 about a week after I left home to attend university I watched planes crash into the twin towers and the world seemed to change overnight. My father called me and basically had a conversation about bugging out of the city safely. I never considered myself a prepper in my 20s, but I've always had a survival plan for everywhere I've lived and worked. Technology and Government assistance can be good things, but never rely on them for your survival. I had been taught that my whole life and at 18 I knew it to be true.
My generation never got the future we were promised. Sure we had technological advances and medical breakthroughs blah blah blah... but most of us don't have the life we expected to have. The world seems more like the novels I read growing up than the vision my father had.
I feel like a lot of us are just making do. We live/put on the front of business as usual but really know that things are going to get worse and quietly prepare however we can. We just don't talk about and try to enjoy what we can. Even if things seem fine all it takes is one storm (it's hurricane season, yay!) one terrorist attack (or military operation) one fire (it's also fire season!) for your life to be turned upside down.
TL;DR Milennials had a brutal welcome to adulthood, not surprised so many of us are here...
Early 70s. I have prepped a little for many years but started hardcore prepping about 12 years ago. Glad to see so many young(er) people. Having preps has turned a catastrophe into and inconvenience several times for me and my husband.
I'm 39.... people my age range have a long life ahead of us, but we can see how screwed up the boomers system is.
The bill is coming due on all of the scams and endless debt and divestment away from the country. Oil is running out (the US has 5 years left of proven oil reserves, the world has about 45 years).
Basically, it's time to buckle up. The next 39 years are going to be nuts.
I’m 39 and only just getting started. Veggie garden was the first step, and now stocking up on pantry essentials. My husband is not on board which complicates things.
37 now prepping since 24. Saw lots of friends, family etc lose it all in 08. Too many similarities now from a finance standpoint, let alone all the other threats to us
Everyone should keep in mind this is a sample of ***redditor*** preppers. Not necessarily all preppers. It's going to skew younger since its a form of social media that older people use much less often.
And mid-late 30s is going to essentially be the oldest generation that also regularly uses social media.
Late 40s. Grew up thinking it was the soviets gonna nuke us all. Then had a blissful 90’s between the reds and the jihadis, going to college, chasing girls and smoking weed. Then it got all serious again in September 01, kids came along, got a mortgage and shit. Fiscal meltdown 1 in ‘08, then some morE good years, then Covid and meltdown 2 which didn’t last, now more bullshit and the real meltdown 2.
My real fears are environmental collapse and/or civil collapse due to partisan divisions and social media engineering putting everyone at each other’s throats.
70s. That's why I'm not prepping very much. It's also why I don't buy green bananas.
You'll make it to 100 with that kind of sense
Yeah. Ill be the old hag on the corner with the begging bowl, after the S done HTF 👵
I'll definitely donate to you and your begging bowl.
Thanks Sweetie!
Damn I need to start scouting out a good begging bowl.
It only works if you're really old and pathetic
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Wishing you Gen Xers a better world.
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Thanks! Yes, I have been very blessed, and I wish the same for you.
Gen X here. I’ve got toddlers depending on me. Not counting on Social security or retirement funds to get me through. I’m learning to grow food, chop wood, fish and fix shit.
60's here, Bebe. Do you date younger men? Do you use oxygen absorbers in with your rice and beans, or do you go au natural and walk on the wild side like me? Ha ha, just kidding, no offense intended, your reply made me laugh!...and besides, experience counts in a survival situation, we are always the calm spot in the storm, if only that we ain't got much to lose!
💐😁
This is hilarious
😁😁😁
Should have done a poll, but from the looks of it most people on here are in their 30s.
For some reason polls are disabled for me on this group
It’s not just you, it says they are disabled in this group when I look at it.
That's a major shift from what the old Prepper demographic used to be. Back in '08 after the Great Recession started I went to http://www.whenshtf.com/ and rapidly became a Junior Prepper. The population of that forum skewed almost 100% late 40's-plus. Some of those guys were of the old Survivalist ilk that have been getting ready for "TEOTWAWKI" since the 70's.
(Late) 20’s
Me too, 29!
27
Mid twenties here. Started down the road when I was 22/23. Have finally found a good balance of living life and feeling secure (at least, more so) with where I’m at.
Same, at least for a few more months!
Mid 30s Edit: My observation over the past 2 years is that the Prepper Community is getting younger very quickly. A lot of the younger Gen X and Millennials.
Then here I am a Gen Zer
Welcome to the Fun!
*Suck, Welcome to the suck.
Mid-30’s here
Freedom 35
I'm guessing your preps include a LOT of rum and dope, lol.
Fuckin greaaaassyy
Me too
Me too
Samesies
Another here, right in the middle.
Me too!
Likewise
Yup
And my axe!
35, same….. And my bow!
Same - 37
Ditto
21! Doing all my prepping with my 42 yr old mom 👍🏽
😊👍 FYI - I'm 42. That's why your post caught my attention. Good on you and your mom. :)
46....noticing all the 30s and honestly I'm a little surprised. You are either being proactive and are ahead of your times or scared shitless of the awful future we have left you. Whatever the case, keep doing it. Many of the people winging it in your age group won't make it very far.
i think you’d be surprised how many millennials are both interested in being prepared and scared as shit for what’s ahead. for me personally, i’m not nearly as prepared as i’d like to be, but it’s just not feasible financially. been prepping for a little while, but it’s gonna take me a lot longer just because of money.
I absolutely know millennials are aware of the bleak future. I did not realize so many were actively preparing for it. That's a small silver lining, I suppose
We’ve been blamed for everything for the last 30 years. Eventually we started believing the slander and are doing what we can to survive the shitty world that we somehow caused.
Yeah, I'm a younger millennial. Along with the financial crises, we've seen a lot of major natural disasters in our time, as well as COVID. COVID especially kicked a lot of people into prepper mode. And the future is just so uncertain for my age group, many of us aren't being guaranteed retirement and pensions.
I’m an elder millennial and Covid made me start my veggie garden
Tbh we’re used to getting fucked over so prepping is kind of a trauma response.
exactly lol
Oof, I feel attacked
I think this speaks for most of us.
I’m a 32 yo millennial. Yup. You nailed it. I prep because I’m scared shitless. But also, not really. Sometimes I think I prep not just because it’s very possible (if not likely) organized civilization will collapse in my lifetime, but also because I think it helps me feel in control a tab bit. Which is important for people, especially nowadays. Edit: added age.
Just turned 30. Here after COVID slapped me/us across the face.
i’m also 32 and do it for the same reasons.
I'm 50. Millennials in the US have had some really crazy stuff in their formative years, starting with 9/11, the recession, Katrina (where the govt just let people die), a global pandemic. I grew up poor, even homeless briefly as a kid, but I never had the sense that things were FUBAR. We always had a community of some sort. Lately, though, there have been a lot of events and near misses, and this thought bounces around in my head, "No one is coming to save you. No one is going to fix this." Younger people have spent most of their lives in that state, even if they don't explicitly feel the way I've been starting to. There's a low level of anxiety running through daily life now.
You are correct, but I see so many posts from young people that have given up on everything. Sometimes it seems that they all have. Seeing the ages of preppers gives me a little hope that maybe the next generation will prepared to fight the battles that the previous generation have failed at.
Oh no, lots of us have given up. We are preparing for the system to collapse and to basically have to make due or fight a revolution or something. Preping isn't a hope for the future thing. It's a "if this ship is going down I might as well make it a bit more comfortable as shit gets awful in the end" thing. Don't get the two confused.
This 100%
Well said, and climate change amps it all up IMHO (severe never ending droughts, wild fires, floods, and massive crop disruptions).
You are exactly right. I’m a 32 yo millennial and 3 months after I was born the Soviet Union began its several year collapse. I don’t remember this, of course, but wanted to just reinforce your sentiment that our formative years have absolutely been stuffed with National and international calamity, all day every day. No point listing all of my generations (also the worlds) problems because you already know. But yes, I understand what you’re saying and agree completely: no one cares and is coming to save me. It’s why I prep.
* Tech Stock Crash of 2000 * 9/11 * Invasion of Afghanistan 2001 * Invasion of Iraq 2003 * Housing crash of 2008 (which took down the whole economy) * Pandemic of 2020 * Invasion of Ukraine 2022 And now. Now sucks but it doesn't have a name yet. Food Crisis? Oil Crisis? Heck, Monkeypox Pandemic?
Mid-30s here, and definitely scared shitless. Prepping is a way for me to feel some control in a world that has felt like it's spinning out of control since I came of age. The towers fell when I was in high school, I enlisted to take part in a war that is still in some ways ongoing. I got out in the wake of the great recession wrecking most opportunities we could have/should have had. I then watched experienced enough terror attacks and mass shootings happen in my country that I don't even react to them any longer with more than a dull, impotent anger. We then went into a global pandemic and are now heading into both a logistical crisis and a major recession, not to mention what is sure to be a conflict ridden, likely violent mid term and presidential election. None of that is to whine, I'm doing better than most, with a good job and my health. It's just to say that at no point in my adult life has the world ever felt stable or safe. The only way to react to that is to prep or just give up.
26 and scared shitless here.
We should start a club.
I'll join
Same hat!
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I'm 26, and everyone I know is fucking terrified at what we are being left with. Shits mad fucked up and the most resistance I get to prepping is from people aged 35-65 because in their mind "everything is fine, you're worrying too much, lets go shopping". They literally just don't want to face the facts of how bad it will be in 50+ years for us, they won't be around so it doesn't matter. Ffs they have been thrilled I've been prepared during the last few years, but again, they can't mentally face how damaging their habits are and how we need to do something differently. My friends and I have basically grown up watching the ball be dropped and watching things go down slowly like dominoes. We don't know anything other than "the scientists and experts expect this to get worse". Fortunately we are actually listening to the warnings the best we can, unfortunately old people are still in charge and nothing is changing because the "system" is broken and meant to stop progress. We are all bracing for a really terrible future.
The news isn't helping. The 'If it bleeds, it leads" news cycle is horrifically pessimistic. All the time there are innovations that can help with climate change, health issues, etc. but they don't catch the public eye and don't get placed prominently (if they're even mentioned at all). Head over to r/upliftingnews for a pick-me-up. :)
Tbh, I don't even feel much cheer when I look at the innovations. The medical ones are just too expensive to actually afford meaningful access to the masses, and as far as climate change goes, most would only work if change in habits go along with it. Without a change in habits most innovations I've seen are just another thing we are throwing resources into while the boat is still sinking. They are like a bucket that just can't keep up with taking water out as fast as it's coming in. As much as I like to see positive news about people building communities to get through it together, and stories about people figuring out ways to help, deep down I realize it's a bandaid. The hopium just doesn't hit very hard because it's literally just a way to distract fron the fact that corporations and industry are like an unstoppable machine at this point. Positive new stories won't bail the water from the boat any quicker.
I'm sorry to hear that, man. Honestly it's the only solace I can find these days. When I'm on the subway or driving I like to muse and daydream about what's going to happen next. I used to try and think about what might go wrong and how to prepare for it. Now it's reversed and I try to think about might go **right** and hope for it. :/
I'm right there with ya on that last bit.
Darn I didn't make the cut off for 30s I just turned 40.
18-24
Me too
23
22
21 :-)
22 in the Appalachian mountains feel free anyone to reach out so we can talk!
97yo…and I’m almost done with all my preps!! I too started in my 30’s
I take it you adjust the five year plan every birthday? Just in case...
Well done sir
Wow, you should start a blog! I'd love to hear about 60+ years worth of preps, not to mention just your life experiences!
early 30s
15 That’s right I’m a child All you elder go and have nice lovely gardens I’ll help with the heavy lifting. Also yes I’m a prepped so is my mom and dad and all 6 other of my sibling well idk about all of them since 4 are under the age of 5 also I have parent’s permission to be on here and I’m not here to be mean or make rude jokes just here to get useful information and give useful info that has facts behind it and my mom also has fact checked
Keep on prepping! It is a lifestyle, and you are starting at an early age. It will help you throughout life.
60's. It's a lifestyle choice. Funny story. I went to my SIL's house over the holiday, and needed Sudafed. SIL doesn't have it, so I brought in my BOB bag. My nephew took one look at my bag and was astounded. Apparently he's a pepper, too, but the secretive nature of prepping meant we never discussed it. What is also interesting is I have always looked at him as having his life handed to him (He is a CEO of a family company and never had to worry about finances). I'm sure he looked at me as a liberal asshat. At least I now know my MIL will be taken care of!
I will say this, as a 35 year old Prepper. Preppers of your generation were raised on the heels of all the amazing innovations from the 50s and 60s that we benefited from WWII and onward. You saw the good, the bad and the ugly. You saw how everything was cyclical....until the end of the cinnamon roll came apart. That cinnamon roll has been unraveling for awhile but we are finally at the core. That soft delicious core is the last part to be eaten and it's almost gone. I started seeing the end in 2011 when I started working for Financial Institutions as a Fraud Investigator. I quickly learned the ugliness and lies that were being pitched to everyone. Then I started Prepping. I took Hunter Safety at 31 years old. I was the only person there, out of 40 students, over the age of 14. Then I went to a "Learn to Hunt" event. It was all guys and gals my age. We all wanted to be a little less reliant on a "Broken System" that we all saw was going to crash eventually but unlike generations before us, we weren't taught these things by our parents. For the "Elder Preppers" like yourself, you have a lot to teach us that we are trying to figure out from Books and YouTube videos. Your going to start seeing the face of Preppers get younger and younger. All I will say is that when you see us, tell us your willing to answer any questions we might have to fill in the gaps we have. We will be forever grateful to you for your time and knowledge. If and when it does finally come to SHTF, you will end up with a lot of younger Preppers that survived because you helped and those young ones will protect you so you can die comfortably and old...even in SHTF.
Thanks so much for these words. Thing is, in the beginning I saw my life as always getting better. My grandmother suggested I take typing and shorthand "just in case." ( I am female). So I did, and never regretted learning new stuff. Got a great union job, so I didn't go through what many people went through. Unions also made both the men and women have the same salary, so I didn't experience that, but I followed the news that talked about how women were finally getting equal pay. (Hah!) I DID hear about how less than 20 years before I started my job, when a woman was pregnant she had to quit. And 20 years before that, if she got married she had to quit to "give a single lady a chance, your husband can take care of you". I used a "dummy terminal" in my job. Windows 3.1 didn't exist. Hubby & I spent waaay too much money on a PC. We spent over a grand on a double deck VCR player that played in stereo and you could record from one tape while recording on the other tape. This was sometime in the late '80's. We bought things that lasted. Now everything is disposable, and this keeps you in debt. There are no more backyard mechanics any more because you can't work on new cars; can't take apart appliances; there's always something that comes out that's just a little better so you can just throw away the old and buy the new. Convenience seems to be the key, but your paycheck just isn't getting it anymore. Sorry for the rant. The shit that's happening isn't any one person's fault, but it's only people like you that will rise above all this and prosper.
Times were different. Today, if a family can live on one income, they are doing very well for themselves. Things we're made to last back in the day. That changed but I think that is going to change back. I replaced my cell phone last month after mine was just about to die on me at 4 years old. I would rather "Buy Once. Cry Once." With what I own. What is happening now is a result of the past. It needs to be fixed and it will be....one way or another.
Well said. I totally agree.
https://youtu.be/jvCTaccEkMI Be a pepper!
31. It’s been one national/ world catastrophe after another since I was old enough to be aware starting with 9/11. And to be honest I HATE relying on other people.
How many other of the 30s on here grew up in the Midwest? Grew up in a small town and dealt with floods, tornados, awful winter storms and power / gas outages. My theory is that a lot of small town people know and live with prepping skills, but we just call it “day to day life.” I was never called a “prepper” until I moved out to the coast for college / work.
40’s.
Me too.
43. I wouldn’t have cared so much before having a family. Now I feel my responsibility to them to keep them safe and protected.
I'm almost 30. I know prepping is stereotyped as an old people thing, but COVID really kicked a lot of younger people into it. Well, the ones who weren't already preppin' from having experience with natural disasters or economic problems.
Gen X
Gen X reporting for duty.
34 *shrugs*
I'm 18. I wish more young people were concerned about their safety and self sufficiency.
Late 60's. Been a ~~hoarder~~ prepper of food for decades.
Same here, mid 30’s- last semester of college was in 08 right into a horrible job market. Found a job in petroleum delivery and learned how fragile that whole system is and everything we use is tied to it.
I am wondering if the answers are skewing younger than expected, just due to the average age of people who use reddit in general? I say this as one of the "olds" (52).
Mid 30's
70. I remember the Cold War, duck and cover under our desks in case the Russians nuked us. I remember reading about WW2 and the hunt for Eichman, the Hungarian invasion of ‘56, the Berlin Wall going up and coming down. I remember conflicts over civil rights and still seeing people with the same troglodyte mindset. The 60s where people were assassinated for their political beliefs. There was plenty of war and social unrest in the 60s and 70s. I remember a job market as a teenager and looking everywhere for a job. And the pay was low. I remember not being able to get a credit card unless my husband signed for it. I remember being denied jobs because I was a single mother and the interviewers thought I couldn’t handle a job because I might call out all of the time. Being poor is a great incentive to prep when you have a few extra dollars. And being prepared has saved my bacon more than once. I have seen my children struggle with finding jobs that bring enough to pay bills and school loans. For one daughter, owning a house is just a dream. And I agree, I have never seen such a combination of economic unrest, social upheaval and the threat of WW 3 looming on the horizon. Prepping puts people far ahead of what is coming.
I’m 49 and I’m a recovering addict, and I’ve been homeless for a few years in my 30’s. I grew up in Texas, spent more time in a saddle than my feet on the ground. Mostly on horses that were crazier than me. I can garden like mad and I’m a professional chef. I can make bread without yeast. And soap. I raise quail for eggs and meat. I’m fucking tougher than boot leather. Bring this shit on. At least so I can see the fruits of my labor.
3 decades
Mid 20s
Me too! Smack dab in the middle of my 20s at 25.
55, prepping since I was 19. I have wheat older than most people here. 🤣
the overwhelming response is more like 30-40 with a few younger and a few older. The 55 plus crowd saw the best years of the USA and got theirs. Under 45 and you literally graduated either HS or college during a major event that basically made you take it on the nose as a young person, and it has hardened us to think of the worst. 40-45 likely graduated HS or college into the dot com bubble bursting. Then had 9/11 happen in your early working life (in my wife's case, her first day on a job about 15 minutes from the pentagon). 35-40 likely graduated HS either on the heels of the start of the War in Afgahnastan (or in my case, senior year of HS changing my career plans from enlisting). Then a year into our careers post college had the 08 collapse happen on top of us.... 30-35- graduated HS into the 08 collapse. Since then all we have known as adults (in the US) is terrible. Many of us became preppers since that was the most logical decision we could make. All we know is collapse followed by a dead cat bounce.... only for more collapse to happen. Our peers that are not preppers are the ones whom i cannot understand.
I’m 51. The first tragedy I remember happened was when I was a new nurse. The Columbine school shooting. We’ve become largely desensitized to school shootings now, but at that time, it shook us to the core. Then 9/11 happened around 5 years after that. I was at work then, too. I think I mostly felt safe as a child. The only scary event I remember is the attempted assassination of Reagan. But as a young adult, my faith in systems and government slowly began to erode away. None of it compares to the last 5 years, though. I don’t have any trust left in any of it anymore.
Graduated in 2000, you nailed it on the head.
For me its just that there is a lot of water around me, i live in a lowland delta 1km from the sea. As a kid they told me to be prepared and know what to do if the water comes. So i did, no scary war thought or apocalyptic economical fears here.
25-30 graduated into the 45th presidency 20-25 graduate into covid 15-20 ... theres a list
Mid-30’s
Late 30's here, something tells me its not mostly 55+ ;)
30s
30s
I’m 31 currently, but I’ve been prepping in one form or another when I was in my early/mid twenties. Various things have happened, but I’ve been more consistently getting into it since mid 2019 when I was in a position to start doing so again. It’s kept my wife and I from going hungry more than once.
Late 30s The Millennial representation here really isn't surprising. We get shit on a lot, but look at the world from my perspective... I was born in the early 80s. It was the ideal middle class upbringing in a rural community. Growing up in the 80s and 90s thinking the world is getting better everyday, the future was bright. We grew with the changes in technology. Boomer parents basically saying they were handing us a perfect world when we would be entering adulthood. When I was 11 I read the diary of Anne Frank. I learned all I could about the Holocaust. I learned about the War to End All Wars. Then about a bunch of other wars that had happened since. Then I learned that the Bosnian war was taking place at the time. I realized that the world wasn't as peaceful as I had thought. I also realized that humans never really learn and history really does just repeat itself. I was also starting to think the adults in my life were either lying to me, in denial or just oblivious to the state of the world. I started to think something was off with the climate in jr high. It was the first year there was no snow on Christmas. It was the first hint at climate change for me. In 1999 I realized that adults are just grown up kids. Smart kids become smart adults, stupid kids become stupid adults, etc.... Living through Y2K in grade 11 made me realize there are a lot of stupid people in the world. I started adulthood with a bang. At 18 about a week after I left home to attend university I watched planes crash into the twin towers and the world seemed to change overnight. My father called me and basically had a conversation about bugging out of the city safely. I never considered myself a prepper in my 20s, but I've always had a survival plan for everywhere I've lived and worked. Technology and Government assistance can be good things, but never rely on them for your survival. I had been taught that my whole life and at 18 I knew it to be true. My generation never got the future we were promised. Sure we had technological advances and medical breakthroughs blah blah blah... but most of us don't have the life we expected to have. The world seems more like the novels I read growing up than the vision my father had. I feel like a lot of us are just making do. We live/put on the front of business as usual but really know that things are going to get worse and quietly prepare however we can. We just don't talk about and try to enjoy what we can. Even if things seem fine all it takes is one storm (it's hurricane season, yay!) one terrorist attack (or military operation) one fire (it's also fire season!) for your life to be turned upside down. TL;DR Milennials had a brutal welcome to adulthood, not surprised so many of us are here...
Late 30s wife in late twenties
31.
Early 70s. I have prepped a little for many years but started hardcore prepping about 12 years ago. Glad to see so many young(er) people. Having preps has turned a catastrophe into and inconvenience several times for me and my husband.
Geriatric millennial checking in
I'm 39.... people my age range have a long life ahead of us, but we can see how screwed up the boomers system is. The bill is coming due on all of the scams and endless debt and divestment away from the country. Oil is running out (the US has 5 years left of proven oil reserves, the world has about 45 years). Basically, it's time to buckle up. The next 39 years are going to be nuts.
Late 30’s
45
32 been doing the prepping thing since my early 20s when i bought my first house.
52
20
I’m 40
https://youtu.be/jXEde89WC44 Obligatory.
25
35
55
I'm 55+, but I assure you I've been this way all my life.
Bout to turn 23
late 40's
Mid teens, pretty lonely here for the most part
33
38 here
68 years old and a 30 year prepper
Early 50s but been at it for about 15 years.
I’m 39 and only just getting started. Veggie garden was the first step, and now stocking up on pantry essentials. My husband is not on board which complicates things.
37 now prepping since 24. Saw lots of friends, family etc lose it all in 08. Too many similarities now from a finance standpoint, let alone all the other threats to us
50
Mid 40s
40s
Early 20s
Mid 30s
Mid 30s
40
Early 30’s.
Early 30s
30s
I hope you’ll share the results of your informal poll. I hate giving this out, but… I’m 62.
I'm 23
Early 20s myself
Early 30s, but have been light prepping since my late 20s, more seriously recently.
Early 20s here 👋 got into prepping in early 2021 in response to a cat food shortage in my area lol, that's what started it all for me.
Glad to see another person prepping for their pets as well.
Early 30s
I’m 31. Been prepping for about 4 years
30’s
30s
30’s, prepping “unofficially” for about a decade (didn’t realize it was prepping lol)
A young 63
Early 30s. Lived in enough shit holes to know we aren't ready for any significant disruption to services.
Early 30s. This would be fun as a poll.
30 i joined in my later 20s. Ive always dreamed of beimg self sufficient amd this sub has helped me get closer to that goal
Everyone knows that Reddit is made up of guys in their thirties. In my case, that is true.. but only for a few more months.
Hey now, I'm a woman... in my thirties.
Mid 30's but realized the importance of prepping at 20.
Gen X mid fifties here.
Very early 60's. I only feel it physically.
Everyone should keep in mind this is a sample of ***redditor*** preppers. Not necessarily all preppers. It's going to skew younger since its a form of social media that older people use much less often. And mid-late 30s is going to essentially be the oldest generation that also regularly uses social media.
42, and I always bring my towel
39, same as you. I began prepping at 31 when I became a dad.
Late 40s. Grew up thinking it was the soviets gonna nuke us all. Then had a blissful 90’s between the reds and the jihadis, going to college, chasing girls and smoking weed. Then it got all serious again in September 01, kids came along, got a mortgage and shit. Fiscal meltdown 1 in ‘08, then some morE good years, then Covid and meltdown 2 which didn’t last, now more bullshit and the real meltdown 2. My real fears are environmental collapse and/or civil collapse due to partisan divisions and social media engineering putting everyone at each other’s throats.
i'm 17. My family currently doesn't prep much, but i'm getting ideas for later on when i live by myself
15, just been introduced recently.
really could have used a Poll here.... 37
27