Gen Z: The 2k Kids Might Actually Be The Best Generation To Ever Exist?

With the power of social media, Gen Z can feel the weight in their voice, and are starting to show the brands how they are different from the preceding generations. Of course this does not necessarily generate only positive impacts, but overall Gen Z seems to be something quite different.

Generation Z, or Gen Z for short, as defined by Pew Research, are the people born in the years from 1997–2010 [1] .

As quoted from Wikipedia: Gen Z is a generation that grows up with the internet and social media; they tend to be abstemious and risk-averse compared to the Millennials (the people born in the years of 81–96) and have preference for workplace flexibility. However, even though it has lower rates of teenage pregnancies and alcohol and drug consumption compared to previous generations, the generation has also been characterized in the media as anxious and depressed. Some commentators attribute these effects to the generation having grown up in a time of social media, smartphones, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing recession [2] .

Gen Z is also a generation that “demonstrated a change in reading behavior” [3] , so I think most won’t make it through this over-2,000-word article. For those who do continue on, today we will run a more in-depth analysis on the generation who will soon become the main labor force, in a society faced with numerous uncertainties, such as population aging and natural disasters.

1. The generation of “good upbringing” and ethical consumerism.

To better understand Gen Z, first we have to talk about their parents. The parents of Gen Z are Gen X (65–80) — the first generation to inherit peace and triumphant atmosphere when they entered adolescence.

Gen X in Vietnam are born in families with multiple siblings. They reached adulthood during the post-war period and actively participated in the movements of leaving hometowns to start a career. Gen X started their careers in the period of marketization reform in 1986, and most didn’t have the opportunity to receive higher education because the education system were facing destitution and difficulties in almost every which way at the time (They were also the last generation to ever experience an actual “life-changing” value of a bachelor degree). In the U.S., on the other hand, the same generation were the first to benefit from globalization, the internet and personal computers; which was much different from what the condition was for their counterparts in Vietnam.

Given the said characteristics, the Gen Xs — the parents of the Gen Zs — were people with great spirit of enterprise and entrepreneurship, unlike the Silents (parents of Gen X) or the Baby Boomers (predecessors of Gen X) whose lives were mostly tied with agricultural works.

In the U.S., Gen X were characterized with a high divorce rate and increased participation of women in the workforce [4] . This was also the first period to mark a shift in culture as the couples no longer valued the practice of avoiding divorce for the sake of the children, instead they started to have the tendency to focus on realizing their personal dream and proving their worth in the society. However, this might be truer for the 8x (Millennials) Vietnamese than for the Gen X Vietnamese.

Unlike their parents, Gen Z are often either single-child or brought up in a family of few siblings — while having lots of relatives. They often enjoy a stable childhood, provided with proper education and adequate nutrition. Therefore, the most noticeable Gen Z characteristics are that they are better-fed and educated, and that they generally have better physical appearance than their parents [5] .

The assessment of “good upbringing” is based on the educational indicators such as the increased rate of literacy [6] , increased rate of college graduations [7] , as well as some other indicators such as the reduced rate of abortion [8] , the reduced rate of drug abuse [9] , the reduced rate of juvenile crimes [10] , the reduced rate of alcohol abuse [11] , and the increased rate of on-time graduation [12] … While these data apply for the youth population of the U.S. and Asia-Pacific region as a whole, I believe it’s still true for Vietnam to some extent, and generally we are experiencing the same trend (this article will specify when to use the data from what region, and the reason why we are doing so, because the data available in Vietnam are tremendouslly lacking and ambiguous).

Generally, people would not employ the more realistic metrics to assess the level of “good upbringing”, but instead denote it as an effect of the generation gap. Or maybe the perceptual conflicts were resulted from the fact that the views learnt by Gen Z are gradually becoming more distinct from the traditional views. This made the preceding generation to consider Gen Z as impudent and unmannered kids. However, these criticisms do not hold too much merit because they are, more than often, intuitive and not exactly objective.

Gen Z is also a generation that seems to be vastly more open and accepting to social progress than their predecessors; toward the issues ranging from abortion right, same-sex marriage, racial diversity… to combating climate change [13] . While this was especially clearly demonstrated among American and Asian societies, the surveys recently conducted by the British Council also have revealed that the youths of Vietnam share the same tendency [14] .

All these characteristics, as some may say, are not inherent to Gen Z, and are largely resulted from the social environment. But even then, we (the people not from Gen Z), have to admit that Gen Z have become remarkably better than the previous generations, at least in terms of social progressiveness.

Spurred by their concerns, the 2k boys and girls also strive to be ethical consumers and pursuers of originality.

Based on the data from the U.S., Brazil and Asian countries provided by Pew Research and McKinsey [15] , and with the regional differences left out, the thing in common of Gen Z from any part of the world is their devotion to originality.

According to McKinsey & Company, while Gen X love luxury goods, and consume the sensation of having high social status; the Millennials consume experiences, festivals, travels and top-end products (flagships)… Gen Z would most likely be attracted by original, limited-edition and ethical products [16] .

For instance, this generation seems to love local brands, and limited-edition products that promise great levels of customization. They are also believers of the idea that there are infinite ways to define one’s personal style, while expressing unyielding disapproval toward the acts of labeling or adhering to predefined standards. The Gen Zs also love using unisex items — which are quite unfamiliar to the preceding generations who love to have a clearly defined identification and standards for “gentlemen” and “ladies”, or “manliness” and “ladylikeness”.

Also according to the survey results by McKinsey, between 76–81% of the people from Gen Z asked said that they would agree to boycott a brand if it is involved in ethical scandals such as gender stigmatization, racial discrimination or environmental harm.

With the power of social media, Gen Z can feel the weight in their voice, and are starting to show the brands how they are different from the preceding generations. Of course this does not necessarily generate only positive impacts, but overall Gen Z seems to be something quite different.

2. The generation of early maturity, anxiety and depression.

Gen Z are the people who grow up with smartphones, wifi and high-bandwidth internet. They are accustomed to the lifestyles of online communication and infinite entertainment from social media, contrary to the people from the Millennials generation, who actually had to learn to adapt to such conditions during their adulthood. Gen Z are the “digital natives”, a generation with very little or no memory of the world before the universalization of smartphones [17] .

Therefore, the inbetweeners of the two generations might be confused by how the Gen Zs can constantly glue their eyes to the smartphone screens. But when all sources of joy, expectation, friends, idols, up-to-date information… of Gen Z all operate on social media, and in the meantime the real world lacks the playgrounds that can meet their emotional needs (and be available)… it suddenly becomes so hard to find a reason to go offline.

Perhaps for the exact same reason, Gen Z is also the generation to suffer the most from eye problems, and to especially frequently find themselves in the condition of tired eyes, or better known as the Digital Eye Strain syndrome [18] . What’s more, these “digital natives” were also shown to more frequently face the state of anxiety, as well to suffer different forms of depression [19] .

Gen Z is also considered as comparably more “fragile” due to the higher number of children suffering from food allergy coming from this generation [20] . Some theories suggested this may resulted from the fact that the kids were subsequently overly sheltered, causing their bodies to not get trained against allergens during their infancy [21] .

However, the high frequency of engaging on the internet is not necessarily completely pointless. Data showed that the Gen Zs know how to make money and achieve financial independence quicker than their predecessors, and some believe that this was a result of their witnessing the struggles of their parents (the Gen Xs) in making a living and running businesses [22] . The 2K youngsters tend to be proficient at conducting electronic business, as well as to know how to convert online influence into financial benefits.

Along with consumer ethics, we may as well place our hope on Gen Z once they start to become the backbone of the economy in the near future. Gen Z themselves also put great trust in each other, believing that they will work together to make the world a better place [23] by means of conversation, instead of by disrupting this system as the previous generations would hope to do [24] .

As for how that would work, we will have to wait to find out.

3. The future of Gen Z.

Maybe you would find this article a little too overwhelmed with the good sides of Gen Z, instead of the bad ones. But it seems that Gen Z have truly done well, because by all the perimeter we can possibly use to assess a child, they have shown outperformed their predecessors. And as the Gen Zs have yet to reach full-fledged adulthood (the eldest members are only 23 years-old), and have not yet started to shoulder the weight of the economy, it is hard to complain or criticize them any further.

However, overall the society of the future shall be quite complicated. The difficulties have started to reveal themselves, while the future prospects are still something quite tricky to fully fathom.

When the Gen Zs and the Millennials grow up, their parents will get old. They are the Baby Boomers and the Gen Xs with many siblings. They used to make up the golden population structure, and once they become old, the population pyramid shall enter the declining stage where the society is filled with elderly people. Gen Z and the Millennials shall be the ones with the responsibility to provide for their own parents (as well as for others’).

The vanishing of a vast proportion of the labor force due to population aging may not result in as many vacant jobs, because many of the traditional occupations shall gradually disappear, and also because AI and automation shall be there to fill the gap. Of course it would also be the time for the emergence of new occupations. However the results of this double-sided equation is yet to be known.

The life which might previously seem easy for Gen Z have also changed as the pandemic entered the scene. Their future is about to become strikingly more uncertain, and not nearly as dazzling and rosy as previously anticipated.

Multiple problems of environment, energy, … are also waiting to be solved by Gen Z. And a clear potential for the future has yet to emerge, as well as it is unclear whether something of similar significance will appear — similar to the way Gen Z’s grandparents discovered steam engines or nuclear power.

Nevertheless, all that we can do (a) for the future, is to keep on believing and hoping.

Because we cannot do anything better anyway. And in such a time, it probably would be wiser to do something positive.

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References:

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/.../where-millennials-end.../

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z

[3] https://www.revistacomunicar.com/index.php...

[4] https://www.latimes.com/.../la-xpm-2011-sep-25-la-ig...

https://www.wsj.com/.../SB1000142405270230354460457643034...

[5] https://www.economist.com/.../teenagers-are-better...

[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

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[13] https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/.../generation-z-looks-a.../

[14] https://www.britishcouncil.vn/.../next_generation_vietnam...

[15], [16], [23], [24] https://www.mckinsey.com/.../true-gen-generation-z-and...#

[17] https://www.pewresearch.org/.../teens-social-media.../

[18] https://www.usatoday.com/.../25/digital-eye-strain/4491611/

https://www.visionmonday.com/.../6/coverstory_VM062016.pdf

[19] https://www.apa.org/.../stress/2018/stress-gen-z.pdf...

Duffy, M. E., Twenge, J. M., & Joiner, T. E. (2019). Trends in Mood and Anxiety Symptoms and Suicide-Related Outcomes Among U.S. Undergraduates, 2007–2018: Evidence From Two National Surveys. Journal of Adolescent Health. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.04.033

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/gen-z

[20] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4119838/

Du Toit, G., Katz, Y., Sasieni, P., Mesher, D., Maleki, S. J., Fisher, H. R., … Lack, G. (2008). Early consumption of peanuts in infancy is associated with a low prevalence of peanut allergy. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 122(5), 984–991. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2008.08.039

[21] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841828/

[22] https://www.goldmansachs.com/.../what-if-i.../report.pdf