Gen Zers don’t want to end up like Millennials

Manila, Philippines - After the long debate of the age assortment, finally, the confusion has ended. It is
now official that Generation Z are those who were born between 1995 to early 2000. In other words,
these are the people who are now below 24 years old or what we call the technology-immersed younger
siblings of the Millennials.

According to Jason Dorsey, a researcher, and Gen Z expert, Gen Z peeps are starting to decide differently
from the Millenials who preceded them. Why? It’s because “they don’t want to end up like Millennials.”

Millennials, the ates/kuyas of GenZ are those who were born between 1980-1995. So what actually
happened those times that the GenZ never liked?

Millennials: The generation between snail mail and electronic mail

Different generations learn from one another. According to some research, preceding generations could
learn a thing or two from Generation Z. As much as Gen Z could learn from them.

Millennials nowadays are those who are ruling some of the workplaces. They are part of the people who
started some of the world’s biggest companies and businesses now. This is because Millennials are those
who lived on the transition from the snail mail to electronic mails, so they already know what they can
take from both eras to succeed.

They have this skill of knowing how to start from scratch or nothing at all. Millennials believe in the
beauty of simple living because they have experienced the different fun of it. But unlike some of the
older generations, they are more open to technology.

Millennials respect the fact that they have to move from traditional to digital, but they still value the
basic way of everything and that’s what they want to tell their younger generation.

Technology between Generations

While millennials spent their childhoods with little to no tech, Gen Zers grew up with their smartphones.

According to the study of National Retail Federation and IBM’s Institute for Business Value Gen Zers
spend over 70 percent of their time online.

This is why they grew up with social media, a constant proliferation of information on fully mobile
internet, and other forms of idealism.

Gen Z took the drastic change bought by technology as their tool to their awakening mind.

Gen Zers as the ‘woke’ generation

Gen Z or the post-millennials have a deep, universal understanding of technology and its potential to
transform how we work and live.

Some study says that Gen Z are more politically active and engaged, better connected, more gender and
sexually fluid, more open about mental health, better at self-care than the rest of the generation.
As the most woke generation, 67% of Gen Z believes that being true to their beliefs and values makes
them cool. It is believed that Gen Z derived it from different influencers nowadays.

Below the ‘Sana Oil’ surface of the Gen Z, they focus on how their beliefs will bring change to the world.

Just for example on Instagram, Gen Z focuses more on what they know, believe and do, rather than
what the picture looks like. Or in other words, the caption is more important than what the picture
looks.

Aside from these, Gen Z always do their validation on a certain thing. They have been too exposed to
fake news and different weird conspiracies and theories. According to a study by Girl Up, "They (Gen
Zers) have access to all of this information online," said Anna Blue, co-director of Girl Up.

"Even starting from a young age, they know how to process and decipher. Authenticity for them is a
really big deal."

Exposed Generation

A recent report from Pew Research Center showed that nearly half of post-millennials (aka Gen Z) are
racial or ethnic minorities, compared to a 39 percent of minorities among millennials in 2002.

While, research of Innovative Group and JWT Intelligence, said that 38 percent of Gen Z respondents
"strongly agreed" that gender doesn't define someone as much it used to

This means that Gen Z is the most diverse and exposed to different cultures and gender which is another
reason why they were called the woke generation.

Aside from being exposed to the online world, their different experience to different kind of people
made them open-minded, vocally accepting of the human complexity, of mistakes and the chance for
redemption.

Why Gen Zers don’t want to end up like Millennials?

The oldest Gen Zers are now entering the workforce. Studies say that this generation can bring a big
change in different industries as they were molded through technology.

But still, Millennials will always be the smartest for Gen Zers. According to Vice.com, some Gen Z see
Millennials or the “Me Me Me Generation’ as the more experienced people who they also look up to.
Gen Zers see the Millennials’ experience as their learning curve.

Gen Zers has been observing how the older generations made their decision. They’ve watched their
parents struggle financially and deal with unemployment, and they want to avoid that. Aside from this,
Gen Zers learns from news of poverty, climate change, political wars, and different social issues that has
taken all over the internet.

Nielsen even calls Gen Zers as the “Green Generation” because according to their study, Gen Zers are
more inclined to support companies dedicated to sustainability. Gen Zers clearly wanted a big change
from what they can see and experience today.
Gen Z is definitely a generation brought up by entirely digital era and their awakening adulthood spent
during the 2007 Great Recession followed by The Global Financial Crisis brought different learnings on
their part where they can get a better deal out of life than the millennials.

Based on Dell Technologies’ research entitled “Gen Z: the future has arrived,” it clearly shows how Gen
Z-ers are cognizant of the power of technology to transform an organization and their career
opportunities. 99% of Gen-Z from this study, recognized the importance of tech literacy.

Soon, these ‘Gen-Zers’ or the tech babies generation will take control of different industries. Are we
ready for the big change they wanted to bring in? ###