Born as early as 1997, this generation precedes Generation Alpha, the youngest named generation as of 2022. Most members of this generation are the children of Generation X, and they follow the Millennial generation. With a rise in the number of students going to college, Generation Z will become the most well-educated generation. They are also the most diverse generation, with nearly half of the members identifying themselves as a racial or ethnic minority.

As the first generation full of digital natives, members of Generation Z have never known what life was like without the internet. Being digital natives has affected the habits of teenagers in Generation Z. While less than 20 percent claim to read for fun, over 80 percent use social media every day. Also called zoomers, Generation Z has had many defining moments in their youth and young adulthood, including the terrorist attacks in September 2001 and the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Who is Generation Z?

Generation Z, or Gen Z for short, are sometimes called zoomers. They are the generation after Millennials and before Generation Alpha. Researchers consider this generation to span from 1997 to 2012. Gen Z was the first generation of digital natives, which means they grew up during the information age. However, those in Generation Z are not necessarily digitally literate. Digital literacy refers to a person's ability to communicate well through digital communication. This type of literacy includes grammar, proper spelling, and the ability to create different designs and audio through technology.

In previous generations, the concerns about youth were often surrounding poor decision-making. Consequences such as unplanned pregnancies or drug addiction were at the forefront of their mind. But the most significant worries about Generation Z are regarding mental health. When asked whether a list of issues was a significant problem among people their age in their community, the top answer was anxiety and depression. Nearly 75% considered anxiety and depression a major problem, with bullying following closely behind.

Generation Z is also more concerned about academics than previous generations. The pressures of getting good grades and high scores on state testing have often contributed to the poor mental health of this generation.

Generational cohorts give researchers an effective tool to analyze the characteristics of people and how they change over time. Pew Research Center studied the Millennial Generation for over a decade before deciding it was time to determine where the generation ended. They hesitated to give the next generation a name at the time, but iGeneration and Homelanders were two early candidates for names.

Where did they get their name?

Generation Z wasn't the only possible name for this generation. According to Webster's Dictionary, "Zoomer" is a word to watch and was considered a possibility for this generation's name.

The Baby Boomer Generation also called Boomers, got its name from the post-war baby boom, which caused most of their births. But before it was a nickname for Generation Z, "zoomer" was used to describe very active Baby Boomers. There was even a Canadian media company called Zoomer Magazine geared toward active Baby Boomers. The word "Zoomer" was officially added to the online dictionary in October 2021 to describe a person born in the late 1990s or early 2000s, also known as a member of Generation Z.

Two other possible names for Generation Z were iGeneration and the Homeland Generation. Author and researcher Neil Howe held a contest on his website back in 2005 to choose the name for Generation Z. Homeland Generation was one of the most popular choices, likely because the parents of this generation kept their kids at home. Even several years after the terrorist attacks on September 11, Americans were still overly cautious.

Several researchers have claimed they coined the name iGeneration. According to Cheryl Russell, a demographer at New Strategist Publications, the prevalence of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad made iGeneration seem like a perfect fit.

Dr. Jean Twenge, a psychology professor and researcher of social generations, claimed to use iGen in her book, Generation Me. Twenge also pointed out that the span between generations used to be longer. However, much like many other areas of American culture, even generations are now hurried.

The name "Generation Z" follows the name of the previous two generations: Generation X and Generation Y. Generation Y isn't a name we commonly hear because it's simply a different name for Millennials. Instead, Millennials is the most widely used name.

There isn't a scientific way to figure out what names will stick for a generation. Some generational names come from an author, and some come from an event like Baby Boomers.

Characteristics of Generation Z

Two sociologists, Judith Treas and Giulia Dotti Sani analyzed the diaries of over 122,000 parents between 1965 and 2012 to study parenting trends and child-rearing. The main subject of the study was how much time parents were spending with their children. The study concluded that parents spent much more time with their children than previous generations. In addition, the amount of time fathers specifically were spending with their children quadrupled from 1965 to 2012.

The number of minutes spent each day increased despite the parents' education levels. However, parents who received a higher education did spend more time with their children on average. This increase in time reflected the more hands-on parenting approach of the 2010s. But critics have expressed that this type of "overprotective parenting" is harmful to children in the long run. The changes in parenting techniques played a large part in who Generation Z became.

Political beliefs

Members of Generation Z tend to be more liberal than previous generations. The amount of youth voting increased in the 2010s, with more members of Gen Z being able to vote during that time.

Generation Z is also more likely to believe climate change is real and to support taking action to mitigate climate change. One of the first political movements Generation Z pushed forward was the School Strike for Climate in the late 2010s. Students intentionally striking from school one day a week to participate in climate change demonstrations led this movement. Initially started in Sweden, the international movement gained momentum in late 2018, and by 2019, students were going on strike in several different countries.

Aside from climate change issues, the members of Generation Z mirrored a lot of the political beliefs of the Millennials. For example, the generation overall is in favor of LGBT rights and equality among genders. In addition, they have been described as progressive, pro-abortion, and approve of a more nationalist approach to government.

Much like Millennials, nearly half of Generation Z expressed that the legalization of gay marriage is good for society. Compared to the number of Baby Boomers and members of Generation X who expressed the same, this number is relatively high. With gender identity in the United States rapidly changing, 35% of Gen Zers claimed they personally know someone who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, and 59% believed that forms should include gender options other than

just male or female. Both Millennials and Generation Z are more comfortable using gender-neutral pronouns than older generations.

9/11

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, affected all Americans but were the defining historical moment of the Millennial Generation. The oldest members of Generation Z would have been four years old when 9/11 occurred. Even though most members of Generation Z were not old enough to remember the attacks, and many were not born yet, they still significantly impacted the generation.

Even those born after 2001 have expressed the fear leftover from the attacks still remains. Many learned about the attacks in elementary school before they truly understood what happened.

Unlike the previous generation, most Generation Z children could not remember a time before there was a fear of terrorism. Some expressed there was a remnant of patriotism from the tragic events of that day, and others say they feared tall buildings because of it.

The Great Recession of 2008

The Great Recession was a challenging economic time and impacted the families of Generation Z. Taking place from 2007 to 2009, this financial crisis started when the housing market started to decline, and mortgages began losing their value. This recession was considered the worst economic period since the Great Depression.

During the Great Recession, the unemployment rate reached 10 percent. Even though this recession was a challenging time for the economy, it still hardly compared to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the unemployment rate reached 25 percent. Moreover, before the recession began, mortgages and other loan rates started to rise again in response to the recession after 9/11. The result of these rising interest rates was the housing bubble bursting.

A housing bubble refers to the rise of housing prices, typically run up by demand in spending. When suddenly houses become available at the same time that demand for them decreases, this causes a sharp decline in prices. This decline is referred to as a housing bubble bursting.

In 2008, the fourth largest United States investment bank, the Lehman Brothers, went bankrupt. The Great Recession caused Americans to lose nearly 8.7 million jobs. Consumer spending was at the lowest it had been since World War II. The Great Recession was not easy for Americans to recover from. The unemployment rate didn’t reach its pre-recession percentage until 2015, and the average household income did not surpass its pre-recession level until the following year.

Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic was a life-altering event for people worldwide. The coronavirus, also known as covid, first came to the United States in 2020. However, the virus was discovered first in Wuhan, China, and attempts to contain it in China were unsuccessful. As a result, the World Health Organization declared an International Public Health Emergency in 2020.

The COVID-19 virus caused symptoms such as fever, cough, and fatigue. Unlike the virus associated with the Spanish Flu, this virus mainly affected those who were elderly or immune-compromised. As of 2022, there have been 513 million cases and 6 million deaths worldwide.

The first person confirmed with the virus became ill in December of 2019. When the virus came to the United States, schools and businesses were shut down in March 2020. The oldest members of Generation Z were in their mid-20s when the pandemic hit, and the youngest were eight years old. The pandemic greatly impacted school-age children as schools were shut down and switched to virtual learning. In certain states, the schools stayed closed for in-person learning well into 2020.

Covid vaccines became available in December 2020, but many states were still encouraging social distancing, quarantines, and mask-wearing. Many businesses closed, and many Americans lost their jobs during the pandemic. The pandemic sent the world into the greatest recession since the Great Depression. Supply shortages and food shortages became widespread and political tension increased.

In the first few months of the pandemic, half of Gen Zers ages 18-24 said that they had lost a job, someone in their household had lost a job or experienced a pay cut due to the pandemic.

Religion

In 2016, the Varkey Foundation and Populus, a research group, surveyed 20,000 people from Generation Z. Overall, they asked them questions about religion and its importance in their lives. There was a clear difference in the survey between those who were 15-16 and those who were 19-21. Overall, 11% of the respondents in all the countries they surveyed said religion was important to them. In the United States, 16% said it was important to them.

The number of atheists, agnostics, and other people unaffiliated with any religion has grown in the United States. However, their percentage in the overall world population is declining due to their low fertility rates.

The growth or decline of most religions has a lot to do with fertility rates rather than just the number of conversions. For example, in the United States, Catholicism will become the most prominent religion by 2040. Despite the number of conversions to Protestantism or other faiths, the high fertility rate of Latino Catholics compared to the rest of the country contributes to this increase.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27896504

Generation Z is the least religious generation that has existed so far. 34% of Generation Z identifies themselves as being unaffiliated with any religion. This number has consistently increased with each new generation. Only 9% of the Silent Generation claimed to be unaffiliated with any religion, but the following generation, the Baby Boomers, increased to 18%.

Members of Generation Z are also far more likely to identify as atheist or agnostic than any other generation. In addition, overall involvement with church activities, even during childhood, has continued to decrease with each generation.

https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/generation-z-future-of-faith/

Education

With each new generation, the standard of education continues to increase. The parents of Generation Z are more educated than the previous generation, and Generation Z is already on track to be more educated than Millennials.

More than four in ten Gen Zers had a parent who received a Bachelor's degree or higher. In contrast, only a third of Millennials had a parent with that level of education. The percentage of students dropping out of high school has also decreased with this generation. The drop-out rate of the oldest members of Generation Z was significantly lower than Millennials at that age, based on a 2017 study.

Those in Generation Z are becoming the most well-educated generation in the United States. In a study done in 2017, 80% of Generation Z had completed high school. They are also more likely to pursue a college degree after graduating high school.

Despite the increase in high school graduates going to college, the increase in technology usage and lack of reading has contributed to learning loss.

Overall, the number of students staying in school has increased. School-age youth who are neither working nor attending school causes them to be "at-risk." But the number of students who fall into this category has declined with Generation Z. The decline is especially significant among the young women of this generation. Due to a lower rate of teenage pregnancies, more young women are engaged in school work.

Lifestyle

Generation Z was the first generation to be born into a time when the legalization of marijuana was considered at the federal level. As of 2019, marijuana was legal in 33 out of the 50 states in the United States. For those in their adolescence in the 2010s, studies showed they were less likely to consume alcohol or marijuana than previous generations in the last 20 years. However, college-age students were more likely to consume marijuana than the older generations.

Because of the rise in marijuana usage, researchers sought to understand its long-term effects, especially on those in their youth or adolescence. According to one study done by the National Library of Medicine, there was a decline in crystallized intelligence between pre-adolescence and late adolescence among those who smoked marijuana. However, overall IQ was unaffected as this is typically linked to genetics and other factors.

There has also been a decline in other risky behaviors for Generation Z. Adolescent pregnancy rates have consistently dropped throughout the 21sr century. The rates of alcohol abuse during adolescence have also dropped, but it has been replaced with drug use in some cases. Some experts believe the ease with which teenagers can access drugs through social media and other channels has contributed to this increase.

Compared to Millennials, older members of Generation Z are less likely to be working. In addition, those working are less likely to be full-time because of the higher rates of students enrolled in college.

Family life

When it comes to family dynamics, the number of children with divorced parents has continued to rise. Compared to 27% percent of Millennial children living with an unmarried parent, 31% of Generation Z lived in a single-parent household. In addition, 5% of this generation grew up without either parent.

The norm for families has drastically changed over time in just a few generations. When Baby Boomers grew up in the 1960s, 85% of them lived with two married parents.

Most of Generation Z who live with both parents have two working parents. They have 1.5 siblings on average, which is lower than previous generations.

Generation Z also postponed starting families of their own. In a study of Gen Zers ages 18-21, only 4% were married. In a similar survey in 1968, 26% of Baby Boomers the same age were already married.

Internet and technology

Generation Z was one of the first generations where researchers studied excessive screen time and social media usage. Although screen time doesn't necessarily have adverse effects right away, there have been studies that showed over time, it can negatively affect those using it. Generation Z was the first generation to have electronic devices readily available at a young age. While Generation X and Millennials were known for being tech-savvy and being able to learn new technology relatively quickly, Generation Z is tech-dependent.

According to the National Library of Medicine study, unrestricted screen time usage negatively impacts academic performance, especially during adolescence. Television use and video game use affected academic performance more than other activities.

Social media usage

Another way technology significantly affects members of this generation is through social media usage. A 2018 study showed that 95% of Generation Z teens had access to a smartphone, and 97% use at least one of the major social media platforms. The most popular platforms for teenagers are YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. Nearly half of the teenagers in the study claimed they were online "almost constantly." Facebook used to dominate all other social media platforms, but it has become less popular with teens. 85% of Generation Z teens said they use YouTube, and only 51% claimed to use Facebook.

Studies have shown that social media negatively affects children and adolescents, particularly girls in this case. A study done in 2017 showed that social media usage can lead to anxiety, loneliness, and fragility. Sleep deprivation is another effect of excess screen time and social media usage, which leads to other physical and mental issues.

Although there are positive effects to the usage of electronic devices, such as drinking, drug abuse, and car accidents have gone down, this is simply because teens in this generation frequently engage on social media instead of engaging in real-life interactions and events. Many social media users have claimed the positive effect is they can stay connected with friends and family. However, the connections may be superficial compared to face-to-face interactions.

One theory on why girls tend to be more affected by social media usage relates to how they use social media. Men are starting to use social media as much as women; however, the way they're using it is still different. Women are more likely to use social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, whereas men are far more likely to use social media sites such as Reddit. While girls are more likely to make friends on a social media platform, boys are more likely to use social media to get information or discuss things with others online in discussion forums.

According to a study, cyberbullying is now more common among Generation Z than among Millennials, the previous generation. A marketing survey done in 2015 showed that two out of three teens in this generation owned an iPhone.

But overall, Gen Z teens have mixed views on social media's impact. 31% expressed they think social media has a mostly positive effect, and 24% expressed a mostly negative effect. However, most teens surveyed said that it has neither a positive nor negative effect. If teenagers stated a specific negative impact of social media, it was usually cyberbullying.

Entertainment

What Generation Z considers entertainment is different from past generations. A digital trends survey completed in 2021 showed that for Gen Z, video games are their favorite form of entertainment, with watching television or movies coming in as their fifth favorite.

Over 90% of teens in a 2018 study said they play video games, and many expressed they do so daily. However, it is still primarily boys who engage in this activity. Compared to 83% of girls, 97% of boys said they play video games at home. Although the Nintendo 64 was still a popular choice for many years, the Nintendo GameCube came out in 2001. The Wii followed the GameCube in 2006. But Generation Z doesn't limit itself to game consoles. Online gaming is how this generation spends a good portion of their time. Many Gen Zers participate in online gaming communities and watch videos or streams related to gaming as well.

For the previous three generations, watching television has continued to be the top form of entertainment. But in contrast, only 10 percent of those surveyed in Generation Z said watching TV or movies was their favorite pastime. The generation that watched the most TV were the Baby Boomers, with 39 percent of Baby Boomers stating that television was their favorite form of entertainment.

Music is also a significant part of what defines Generation Z. This generation tends to listen to a more diverse range of music than previous generations. The majority of Generation Z use Spotify to listen to music more than any other app, and they discover most of their new music on YouTube. Some of the most listened to artists by this generation included Ariana Grande, Billie Elish, and Taylor Swift.

The increase in technology usage has impacted the way Generation Z spends their time. The number of children, teens, and young adults who choose to read for enjoyment continues to decrease. This generation spends less time reading and more time on electronic devices than any other generation. The decline in reading rates has contributed to a decline in vocabulary, attention span, and academic performance. One study concluded that one out of every three Generation Z teenagers hadn't read a book for enjoyment in a year or more.

Overview

Generation Z was the first generation to be considered digital natives since they grew up when the internet was already widespread. But despite the many ways the internet and technology have positively impacted the world, there are also negative effects. Over 95 percent of Generation Z teens had access to a smartphone as of 2018, and nearly half of the teenagers in another study claimed they were online constantly.

Members of Generation Z are more racially diverse than any generation before them. At least 48% of Generation Z identified as a racial or ethnic minority. One in four Gen Zers is Hispanic. Although this number is higher than Millennials, they are less likely than Millennials to be immigrants.

Generation Z is also on track to become the most well-educated generation, with 59% of the high school graduates pursuing college. The education of the previous generation has encouraged this in Gen Z since they were far more likely than Millennials to live with a college-educated parent. One of the effects of the higher levels of education is members of Generation Z are postponing marriage and having children longer than the Millennials.

Unlike many previous generations, Generation Z inherited a strong economy and would benefit from record low unemployment rates. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic changed the future of this generation. The COVID-19 Pandemic, which made its way to the United States in 2020, caused a global recession and record-high unemployment rates.

When COVID-19 hit the United States, some Gen Zers were in college, and others were in elementary school. Regardless of their age, all members of this generation were affected by the pandemic. Like all the generations before, Generation Z will find a way to overcome the obstacles in their way and make a path for the next generation.

1. Greta Thunberg (b. 2003): A Swedish environmental activist known for her straightforward speaking manner, Thunberg has gained international recognition for her efforts to combat climate change.

2. Billie Eilish (b. 2001): An American singer-songwriter, Eilish first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes" and has since become one of the leading voices in modern pop music.

3. Zendaya (b. 1996): An American actress and singer, Zendaya gained prominence for her role in the television series "Shake It Up" and has since starred in major films and produced music.

4. Malala Yousafzai (b. 1997): Although often associated with Millennials, Malala is technically a member of Gen Z. She is known for her advocacy of education for girls and women's rights, and is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.

5. Kylie Jenner (b. 1997): An American media personality, socialite, model, and businesswoman, Jenner is known for her cosmetics company and her influential presence on social media.