Idowu: I’m still partial to cola cubes. There’s a sweet shop in Greenwich that sells old-fashioned sweets. Whenever I pass it, I go in to buy some cola cubes. What is the one thing you wish you had known before you were 30? Gibson: I think the question might be getting at the fact we hold on to old ways of doing things. When I’m in the car, I can’t do litres of fuel per 100km, because I don’t know what those numbers mean. I still use miles per gallon. Have you changed opinion politically since you were a young adult? Richards: I have definitely got more conservative, with a small C, as I’ve got older. [She laughs.] I had some fairly radical thoughts as a young person. You try not to, but you do harden your opinions on certain things – and sometimes that’s a good thing, because you won’t be swayed by other people. But some people think whatever they think is absolutely right and they sort of keep on at you, until you agree with them. Idowu: Another mistake we made was listening to everything our teachers and parents told us and believing it. Because half the time they were saying things knowing full well they weren’t going to happen. I think today’s children are a lot more challenging of what adults tell them, which is a good thing.

There is, of course, inherent professional risk around such vocalisation. Research shows that many employees, especially of older generations, withhold disclosure of mental-health struggles; some also express worry about their viability as a job candidate or fear workplace stigmatisation if they’re seen as emotionally unstable or vulnerable. Tata: Oh God, that’s a good one. Invest, invest, invest! Multiple streams of income. That’s it. You can’t just have a nine-to-five job any more. You have to do lots and lots of different things. As a mother of two Millennials, I’ve noticed differences between their generation and mine. Like how they prefer to spend money on travel, amazing food and experiences rather than physical things like homes and cars. These aren’t negative qualities—just different.Idowu: Because the tyres might burst. What I mean by that is that we have to think ahead and plan for possible eventualities. A lot of generation Z, they leave everything to literally the last minute and don’t think about the possibility of anything going wrong. But we were brought up in a generation where things could go wrong. Technology wasn’t reliable. Cars weren’t as reliable. Electrical stuff wasn’t reliable. So we had to leave plenty of time in case things didn’t go right. That’s carried over in our attitude. How do you even use a paper map? It’s still difficult for many people to be open about their mental health issues—I’m not saying stigma is completely gone. But at least it’s not a totally taboo subject, like it was when I was growing up. I’m thankful Millennials are helping to break that stigma barrier a little further. I’m so glad my daughter doesn’t feel alone. Richards: When I was younger, the attitudes towards women who got pregnant out of marriage were awful. The world sort of fell in on them. It was also hypocritical, because there would often be illegitimate children in families, but everyone pretended that wasn’t the case. Another big mistake I lived through was how we treated gay people. People had to pretend and it caused such pain and distress. So, how careful should workers of all stripes be about these posting trends? It’s a fine line to walk – and one that we may not yet know enough about. Along with not seeming supportive of employees, Kimberly O’Brien, an industrial-organisational psychologist and professor at Central Michigan University, says that any employer that decided to bring up an employee’s social media posts about mental health would be risking a messy legal battle. “Looking at an employee's social media and making a work decision based on what they post falls under employment law,” says O’Brien. Gibson: I think they’re much more aware and have a greater empathy and understanding of people’s journeys. So I use words like sensitive in a positive way, not in a Piers Morgan snowflake way, because they’re not snowflakes. They’re resilient and adaptable and more aware of their world’s issues. Why do you hate selfies?

Idowu: Well, I wouldn’t want to live next to one, put it like that. I wouldn’t say I find them ugly. I think I find them intriguing. I actually prefer windfarms to solar panels. They look a bit more elegant, if I may say. Having these massive solar panels looks strange in the beautiful countryside. What is the difference between pennies, shillings and pounds? Look outside your main career for income. I think it’s called a “side hustle” now, right?’ ... Tayo Idowu. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian What mistakes did your generation make – and what can gen Z learn from them? Richards: Getting your foot on the property ladder if you possibly can is a good idea. Paying into a pension. It’s awfully boring and, of course, when you’re at that age, you never think you will need it, because you never think you will be old, but age does come. And travel. Meet new people, educate yourself about different cultures. That will set you up for being a decent, balanced person.Idowu: It depends how you define sensitive or privileged. I know some young people and for them the thought of going out to work in the summer holiday is like: maybe after I’ve rested for a long time. In our day, the idea of getting a paper round was the norm. So, definitely in terms of privilege, for some of them I can feel that. Idowu: If I’d known before 30 that as you get older you have less energy, I would have had my children much earlier. Because what you don’t want is when you take your son to school and people say: “Is that your grandad?”

Idowu: I think it’s a massive and amazing tool for creativity, because you have to encapsulate so much in such a short space of time. What do you think of the rising awareness of mental health – and do you wish you had the same awareness when you were younger? Tata: I don’t even have a clue, because I just go on Google and type what I have to find. That’s one advantage with technology for me, because I can’t see properly anyway. Kay Parker: Taboo: Sacred, Don't Touch (a book where she talks about her past career in adult movies and her experiences with the Metaphysical) O’Brien says we’re witnessing that change in real time. “It takes a long time [for it to translate], because the decision makers in the workplace are not going to be typically Gen Z and millennials. I wonder if these stereotypes [about young people] are going to make people go, ‘Oh, well, they're just younger, and part of being young is to be dramatic and angsty’. Or if they're going to say, ‘Look, you're a liability.’ But I'm not really seeing any trends on that.”Idowu: We don’t hate selfies per se. It’s the volume of them. Would you have chosen to live your life differently if you were born in our generation? However, Selwood says he’s not worried about the risks – and research suggests he’s not the only member of Gen Z who agrees. Gibson: For me, saving has always been very important, but I went to university at a time when there was no student debt and housing was affordable. But – and it’s a huge “but” – if you can, start a pension early. It’s called compounding. If you start a pension at 21 and retire at 65, that pension has been going for 45 years, and a very small sum can become a substantial sum. The state pension isn’t enough to live on, sadly. But I recognise how that advice is just not practical for so many people who are paying eye-watering amounts of rent. Why do you always get to the airport so early? Richards: Absolutely not! [She looks horrified.] My sons aren’t gen Z, they’re in their 30s, but they can’t buy homes. House prices have been crazy over the past 20 years. Both Hibbs and Strohschein express optimism that changes in how we discuss mental health, pioneered by millennials and taken further by Gen Z, will contribute to greater progress around both mental-health and disability accommodations. They suspect we’re reaching a moment of de-stigmatisation in which employer expectations around mental health are shifting, expedited in part by the coronavirus pandemic’s normalisation of disability accommodations.