An Ode to Gen Z
Every generation has its triumphs and shortcomings, but Gen Z has the unique hurdle of changing the entire fabric of systems simply because they were born aware of their corruptions.
I once asked my 12th-grade class of creative writing students what the color blue sounded like. “It sounds like the cracking of ice cubes under fresh water and tastes like wet cement with chalk smudges.” I played “La vie en rose” for them and asked them to write out what they saw for a setting exercise. Rain was trickling down window panes, an elderly couple slowly danced in a buttercream kitchen, smoke furled in a velvety jazz club. I had them create children’s books that parsed down hot-button issues into accessible language for kids and they wrote about conformity via a cactus who doesn’t like the sun and inclusive spaces through the vehicles of bruised fruit aisles. When asked to read aloud for the roles in Fences, seniors elbowed each other to scribble their names in Expo marker on the board. I used to close my eyes sitting at the front of the classroom when the scene that revealed Troy’s infidelity approached. This moment in each class is etched in my brain:
TROY: Rose! . . . I’m trying to find a way to tell you . . . I’m gonna be a daddy. I’m gonna be somebody’s daddy.
When I say that the room rumbled, I mean it. The varsity basketball team stood out of their chairs, and the majority of my female-identifying students nearly threw their desks out of the window. They yelled and gasped in confusion and anger. One student left my room once to “cool off.” It was theater. It was drama. And they craved it. They connected to the emotions of characters in books and plays, and to the gritty and joyful worlds that came to life off the page. Each day felt like glitter in those classrooms; surrounded by swirling teenage brains whose thoughts begged to be written, painted, performed, and published. But I have come to find that I am in a small group of people who absolutely adore Gen Z. I admire teenagers for many reasons, which, inevitably, many folks find ludicrous simply because they may dismiss Gen Z due to age and immaturity.
Every generation has its triumphs as well as shortcomings, but Gen Z has one of the most unique hurdles to manage: changing the entire fabric of systems simply because they were born aware of their corruptions.
I want to make it clear that this generation has many who are apathetic, and many who are not thinking about the things I will be talking about. I also would like to make it clear that each generation has had major hurdles in the ways of economy, social climates, and politics. Having been embroiled in Gen Z’s antics and joys for a decade now, I feel a strong and unwavering kinship with them.
The Millenial Transition
My generation began their elementary years, adolescence, or college days with the news of the Columbine shooting, either watching the Twin Towers fall from their couch at home, from a TV wheeled into a classroom, or from a word of mouth traveling around college campuses. We were then barreled, in our developmental years, into the invasion in Iraq, the invention of the iPhone, a housing recession, our first Black President, the founding of Instagram (innocent enough back in 2012), Sandy Hook, then the Trump administration. Inflation rates are currently running wild, and many Millennials and Gen Zers will never own property or have children because the veil has been lifted on marriage, gender roles, and the environmental impact that is having multiple kids. So Millenials are struggling to breathe in this climate (even reading that paragraph leaves me breathless), but we are not growing up being inundated with the news of our world at each second of each day.
Now put yourself in today’s landscape:
A global pandemic
Constant violence against Black bodies at the hands of police
Mass shootings with pleas for gun regulation and the Senate/NRA in each other’s pockets (the last decade has held the record for deadliest shootings)
The shocking and excruciating news of the reversal of Roe v. Wade
The humanitarian crisis that the U.S continues to fight with each other about: deportation and immigration
A shrinking middle class
A genocide in Gaza and the West Bank
Opportunities for social engagement and connection missed due to the rise of social media, AI, and gaming.
Texts from Gen Z
I asked four of my former students (now 21 years old) two questions:
1. What excites you?
2. What defines your generation? Here is what they responded:
“Ooo I’m excited about the direction of young artists right now, there’s so many unique ideas. I’m also excited about moving. My boyfriend said sarcasm defines our generation, I say irony. Similar and both unserious attitudes I see a lot.”
“Some days I’m really excited about all the cool things that my life has led me to, especially graduating college and moving somewhere I can develop and live as an artist. But then other days I worry that the world I grew up in is no longer and I get really scared. I’m excited about comedy. I’m excited about seeing my family grow and expand too. My cousin’s getting married this week. I know I’m going to be crying a lot. Speaking from my perspective, of course, I think the fact that we keep going is what defines us. There’s a lot of stuff we have been through and more ahead but there is a sense of camaraderie that I’ve found quite beautiful.”
“There’s a couple of things I’m excited about. I’d say mainly excited about time. It is something we know we don’t have a lot of but also something we know very little about as well. With that comes my excitement about not knowing what is next but knowing the direction is always forward because time cannot go backward. What defines my generation is technology in my personal opinion. It runs our life whether we think about it that way or not.”
“Big questions! I am excited about building more self-confidence, getting more comfortable living and traveling independently, discovering and nurturing lifelong friendships, reading becoming a habit/source of joy and wisdom, and going to Rwanda (and possibly Eritrea). I think growing up with the internet and social media (I remember we talked about having all this information but not the realistic strategies to change things just yet) and living through a pandemic as young people are major defining things about Gen Z. I was going to say we’re more open-minded, but I think it’s true for every generation when comparing it to the ones before.”
The Tech Generation Begging to Revert
Just what I had thought: they are not excited by technology. They are excited by what the future holds, how to change it, and learning about themselves. They have watched the world unfold on something they fit in their pocket. The entire world is crammed into one place, and adolescents most certainly have not been taught how to handle technology in a healthy, manageable way. Older generations, mine included, consistently complain about Gen Z’s use of their phones, but have we thought about who invented the poison? Steve Jobs would be 68 years old right now. The founders of Instagram are 41, the same as the founders of TikTok. The founder of Snapchat is 33. Not one of them grew up having the ability to conjure the world in mere seconds. None of us did. But Gen Z does not know life without that technology and the generations who invented it are bashing younger folks for not being able to use it properly. I would love to give all of our 13-year-old selves what they currently have access to and let us run loose with it, unhindered with no guidelines from parents/guardians or adults in the community. We all know how we would handle that.
One big issue is that their brains are still in development. Their squishy, malleable selves are attempting to form opinions and thoughts every millisecond, be it political, or cultural, who to have a crush on, or what to wear. Atrocity, war, and darkness have been a part of each generation- there is no escaping that. The difference now is that it comes in the form of endless, unrestricted consumption.
I feel for these kiddos who know of no other reality, but I have found that they are not hook, line, and sinker on technology either. So many Gen Z’ers have noticed this overload and are revolting against the technology that THEY did not create. According to Statista, “More than 60% of Gen Z used or owned a digital camera in 2019. The digital camera market is also expected to grow about 2% annually through 2028, and it’s likely Gen Z has a hand in it.” They are going back to flip phones, and Y2K fashion trends (which admittedly, older generations have bashed them for). Admittedly, I have made comments about 90’s fashion choices gracing us yet again This generation is trying to tell us something, but we are not looking up. We are not listening.
I remember a presentation that one of my 12th graders did for our rhetoric unit. They had to use all modes of rhetoric (ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos) to expand upon a hot-button issue and solutions specific to their generation. One student of mine chose phone accessibility. She started by saying, “I can’t stand our phone policy at this school,” to which I nearly rolled my eyes, thinking she was going to launch into how we shouldn’t have one. But she dove into the data from the University of Oregon that said, “If you are focusing on something and you get interrupted, on average it will take you 23 minutes to get back to the same state of focus.” She looked her peers in the eyes and said that if you check your phone twice during class, that is 50 minutes of re-focus time. Class dismissed. She looked at me, my eyes welling with tears, saying that our administration needed to institute a school-wide no-cell phone policy. I had never seen a teenager so adamant about restrictions, and it got me thinking about how many others crave that boundary but don’t know how to ask for it.
They want to be taught how to manage their technology, they want to slip back to the days when true connection with people was the norm, and I certainly do not blame them. Folks my age are coming from a place where we knew dial-up internet, floppy disks, desktop computers, and flip phones in our adolescence and even that seems like heaven in comparison to Gen Z’s exposure to these technologies. But this generation is using social media now for an even further unveiling of the truths that are in plain sight, but that older generations have shoved under the rug for decades.
Generation: Advocate
The point (very lengthy at that) above is this: all has been revealed to this generation. They know what racism looks and sounds like on all levels, they fight for the collective liberation of BIPOC and queer folks across the world. They, amongst people of other generations who choose to participate, want spaces to be accessible and safe for everyone in the community. They are speaking out, standing up, advocating, and taking to social media AND the streets to engage. If tech is here to stay, Gen Z wants to be taught how to use it in effective, non-detrimental ways. And so do I.
We have the constant trauma of gun violence in schools plaguing the adolescent mind daily (oop! There it is, that piece has been written), which you’d think would be enough for the general public to ease up on this generation. But nope. Gen Z and Millenials recognize that late-stage capitalism is no longer a game we would like to play. Here are some other possibilities and takes on Gen Z to consider:
A very fun, very important fact: Gen Z — which includes those born between 1997 and 2012 — is the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history, and an estimated 40.8 million Gen Zers will be eligible to vote in 2024. Please read that again. Gen Z is going to change the voting climate in this country, guaranteed. Look for Open Conventions (Ezra Klein’s podcast speaks to this) and the rise of the Independent Party folks!
Even though Gen Z’s sexual activity reports of having less sex with fewer sexual partners, they are starting a sexual revolution that is not dictated by how much or how little sex is happening in their worlds. Conversations about boundaries, consent, and mental health are all on the table when talking about intimacy with this generation, and frankly, that is freaking awesome. Read more here.
Gen Z is mainly concerned with racism, gun violence, and climate on ballots. Get ready NRA, they won’t back down.
To understand and champion Gen Z, we must ask the right questions, and allow them to take the lead even when it might scare the hell out of us to put the future of our society in their scrolling fingered hands. To be in front of a classroom full of Gen Z kiddos is an honor and should always be treated as such. With all of the information presented about Gen Z and the information they must sift through, no wonder brain development is more delayed in Gen Z making erratic and impulsive behaviors run rampant in schools, suicide rates are skyrocketing particularly among teen girls, and socialization is very difficult to come by. Does this not just make you want to give them all big hugs and ask about how their brains are doing?
What Can Older Generations Do?: A Budding Table of Contents
Stop Slandering Gen Z in the Media & Give Them A Chance
Please just take some time to look into these generations. Before you slander, just consider. We are all learning what it means to be human regardless of age. I firmly believe that everyone should be able to make fun of themselves and their generation, so let them do that. We got our own stuff. Every teenage generation has always gotten a bad rap. It is only natural. But maybe we, as older adults, can walk alongside the young ones with open minds, all preparing for a revolution together.
Ask Questions and Actively Listen
Let’s stray away from “How was your day at school?” and “Where are you going to college?” Ask about their friends and why they are best pals. Ask about their good teachers, the movies that stir them, the music they are listening to. Ask them about what occupies their minds daily and what makes their heart beat fast.
Teach Them Pragmatism, While You Learn Fury
As much as I adore them, they are developing little people. So their anger is rooted in social justice but they are angry also because their adult told them they can’t go to a party like we all got angry about. They may be angry about me telling them to put their phone away or that their essay is due next week. How can we channel that natural rage and angst into fruitful change? And how can we, as older adults, get angrier about the myriad of things that are happening in our world?
Don’t Blame Them For Being Addicted to Social Media, We Were the Ones to Invent It
I know I need to learn how to manage my consumption of media. Truly. So if I learn how to be healthy and effective in my media, then my students will know too. They are curious about technology from the early aughts and the 90’s, so show them!
Teach Them the Joys of Socialization and Friendship
PSA to parents of Gen Z’ers (I know I am not a parent, but I am with your children all day every day): it all starts at home. How you teach your adolescent about technology is pivotal to their growth. Join them in limiting your screen time, ask them about who they follow and why, and teach them about credible sources of information and how to read through those (that is not just a teacher’s job). They look to adults for everything, and they notice EVERYTHING y’all. The ways you treat service industry workers, how you navigate conflict resolution, and what you eat/wear/consume are all being watched by these young bucks. So enjoy your friends and bring them along, tell them stories of connection, and encourage them to ride around on bikes as the summer sun dips low.
Model Immersing Yourself in Your Local Community
For children to see adults outside of their teachers and parents getting involved is paramount. Get involved with your community garden or food pantries, take part in volunteer opportunities around your city, and reach out to schools about mentor/tutoring programs.
I have had the immense privilege of being surrounded by this generation consistently for the last ten years of my life. Their minds are swirling with technicolor goodness. They need unsupervised play as children, the freedom to get lost and confused, and the freedom to fail and then remedy. So many of them are kind, inquisitive, passionate, strong, courageous, and unwilling to settle. We have been in the trenches together, and there is no one else I would rather go into battle with.
Resources To Look Into:
On the Cusp of Adulthood and Facing an Uncertain Future; What We Know About Gen Z So Far
Book: Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and the Silents- And What They Mean For America’s Future by Jean. M Twenge, PhD
Gen Z, Aware of its Power, Wants to Have Impact on a Wide Range of Issues
Pedagogy With and Against the Flow: Generational Shifts, Social Media, and the Gen Z Brain
Excellent Ellie as always. You make us all think. Challenge us. Thank you. Those kids are lucky to have you in their world.