The Gen Z Perspective

What does our generation stand for? Reflections on a generation of confused dreamers and workaholics

Quarantine has caused what I’ve called a quarter-life crisis for many people of my age. The linearity and structure of school and university are coming to a conclusion, and before us stands the daunting world.

With all this excess time on our hands and relatively few things to distract us, I’ve found that I and many of my peers have been forced to reflect on ourselves and confront our future. What do we want to do with our lives?

It was my reflections that have lead me to wonder about the nature of our generation — Generation Z, teenagers and young adults almost ready to enter the adult world. What do we stand for? Why is the gap between us and other generations so noticeable? What will be our future?

Growing up in the age of the internet, I realize that we see the world through an alternate lens and thus have vastly different values as compared to those before us, and likely those after us.

So from my relatively narrow experience as a lifetime Californian, here’s my Gen Z perspective.

While money, power, and status will forever be desires constant across generations, ours is branded with a search for meaningful work with a side of wealth and status.

The generations before us built a solid foundation to stand upon, and with our basic needs fulfilled, we look towards the future. I’ve had the privilege to live in comfort as a middle-class citizen — my worries were not centered on helping my parents put food on the table, but rather to excel in classes and explore my interests in the world. For most, that means math tutors, after-school sports, debate competitions, music performances, and so much more.

And now that my generation is getting ready to exit our educations, the world is opening up before us. We must decide where in society we want to add our contributions to. How can we innovate? How can we bring value to the world? How can we leave our legacies?

For us, blue-collar work no longer suffices. Growing up around screens that constantly display a variety of lifestyles and occupations, we know what it is like to live for ourselves. We want to carve out our own lifestyles, but not before first defining what success means to us.

I can’t even count how many of my friends, both at university and in my local community, have started up their own businesses or personal projects. It’s a testament to the innovative mindsets of my peers. Especially now with the ability to broadcast yourself, share your work, or start your business through social media and media sharing platforms, everybody wants in on the entrepreneur’s ideal of achieving financial freedom independently.

The world has never been more connected, and my generation is spoiled with access to information and opportunity like never before.

We are in the culture of more.

We are learning more: with school, extracurriculars, and applications, a constant stream of information is flowing through our screens into us at all times.

We are more connected: social media networks are unveiling 2nd and 3rd-degree connections beyond our immediate circles. What’s more, we can reach out to and have a conversation with those people with a click of a button.

We have more opportunities: here are so many paths in life that are open to us, with online courses and social media giving anybody the means to learn a skill and establish a network.

In this day and age, all the resources you need to get what you want is right there on your laptop.

The world is constantly changing, and we all want a piece of the glory that comes with changing the world. We believe our ideas can move stars. We want meaningful work, work with a purpose. It’s not enough to just put food on the table now — it’s about how.

There’s a kicker: the excitement of exploring the world’s vastness is counterbalanced with the simple fact that we only have 24 hours a day to do so.

Whatever absolutely awesome thing that you’re doing right now also begs the inevitable question — what are you missing out on?

It’s that feeling of FOMO that has helped hustle culture spring into the forefront of the youth. How many side businesses do you have? How few hours do you sleep? What sorts of income streams are you managing? As kids just entering the working world, we eat that stuff up.

We love squeezing every bit of productivity out of our days before going out to rage the night away. Work hard, play hard is the mantra that drives the 40,000 kids at my university.

The result? Stress. Anxiety. Burnout. The fear of not reaching your full potential. The fear of not being ‘up to par’. The fear of… running out of time. This is a new kind of lifestyle that is simply too fast for many.

I’ve experienced it first-hand, as I’ve spent my summer somewhat unsuccessfully cramming every waking hour with things that would ‘improve’ myself. Why bother to waste precious time lazing around when we are inside regardless right? Unfortunately, we humans don’t work that way, and I found myself burning out halfway through the summer.

Take care, please.

I’ve noticed that this ‘hustle’ mindset also inflates our egos. Because we are balancing learning with work with whatever projects we all have going on the side — we may think we are being more productive than we actually are. Achieving more things than we actually are.

I admit, this is might be why the generations above us may look down with distain from time to time. Self-entitled and self-important, we must seem like we think we’re the centers of the world.

But at the end of the day, the truth is that this mindset, with all its positives and negatives, will carry our generation far. We are a generation of change and a generation of innovation. Already I can see my peers advocating adamantly for socially conscious issues, especially during today’s climate. I believe the next decade will see us challenging old values and uprooting the outdated ones before concentrating on what we can improve and how we can innovate.

It’s an exciting time to be young. A few words of advice I would like to say as your peer.

Believe in dreams, but don’t live in one.

Do the things you want to do, build the things you want to build; but do it for yourself.

Work hard of course, but don’t feel guilty for kicking back.

Just don’t take yourself too seriously.

That is all.

Related posts:

Arthur Carmazzi said that becoming “a great leader is not a destination, it is a journey. Every new situation we fail in or make the wrong decision for provides a new dimension to our greater…

The journey to healing can be a long road, filled with expectations and costing a significant amount of emotional, physical and financial resource. When we begin our healing journey, many of us will…

Primal humans were nomadic, they moved a lot and found the right place for each phase of their lives and, when circumstances changed, they moved. I think we need to spent a little time of our like…