gen z

What ever happened to just going outside and playing with a stick in the mud? Ironically, the people that said that are now the sticks in the mud.

Everybody loves to hate Gen Z. With good reason.

I have four younger Gen Z brothers and I can confirm, indeed, that they are the worst. It’s easy to criticize this generation for being too sensitive, not having any work ethic, and not being able to hold a conversation, but let’s not forget the spiked cocktail of external forces that shaped Gen Z into the angsty incels we know today. I intend to explore one of those forces: the internet.

Let’s step into the shoes of a Gen Z for a moment….

As a Gen Z, you rely on the internet to maintain personal and professional relationships. Having a phone to communicate, having a robust social media page, keeping up to speed with trends online – these are non-negotiables if a Gen Z wants to remain socially relevant. The price of being private or careful about the information you publish online, which many pay to their detriment, is social acceptance.

Right away we can see that there’s pressure on Gen Z to invest their time online. It’s not all bad though. In fact, the internet opens a whole new variety of opportunities that were never available to older generations. For example, on social media you can scrupulously publish content that only shows the best side of you. That photo in another country that shows what an adventurous and cultured individual you are, that moment when the sun was hitting just right and your hair looked perfect and everybody was smiling and happy. In the real world these were fleeting moments, but on your Instagram page they exist forever as an expression of your identity.

Its almost as if the person you can be online is by orders of magnitudes more endearing than the person you are in real life! What’s the incentive for a teenager who is just learning how to express himself to spend time in the boring real world when so much more can apparently be accomplished online?

Video games are another medium the Gen Z uses to substitute the real world (and this is not a shot against video games at all). Think about all the incredible characters you can play, the worlds you can explore, and the things you can build.

The problem arises when kids become conditioned to expect the same level of gratification they experience online, playing their human avatars in the real world. There’s no comparison! It’s an impossible expectation! It’s not a stretch to imagine how the younger generation could become attached to the digital world as reality becomes more obfuscated, followed by being rejected entirely.

Think for a moment about the stifling burden placed on Gen Z by the previous generations.

“Here you go kiddo! The economy is fucked. The job market is fucked. The world is on fire. Enjoy. ”

What a joke. The world is in turmoil and its no surprise that the immature choose to reject it. If this blog post wasn’t heavy enough, I’d like to now draw the parallel of a junkie who can’t handle the pain of the real world and so they turn to drugs as an escape. That’s what the internet provides, an escape.

Finally we get to the topic of cell phones…

Inside the pocket of every Gen Z is a direct connection to their illustrious digital identity. Without it, they feel debilitated and incomplete. A cell phone is a like a digital IV drip – keeping the ego tuned to the right frequency and the mind occupied on anything except for the present moment.

When my little brother sits at the dinner table, he watches videos on his phone while eating, doesn’t participate in the dinner conversation or even acknowledge anyone at the table, and then retreats silently back to his room. Not a word from the parents.

What a perfect example illustrating Gen Z’s harrowing dependency on the digital world to feel normal, and the complicity of the older generations who created the conditions for this to occur.