We are Generation Z—the overwhelmed children born between 1994 and 2004. The indictments of being too distracted and too selfish are all we’ve ever been told that we were or were going to be. The time has come to stop perceiving the habits of the infamous Generation Z as so catastrophic and negative, but rather as positive and necessary adaptations.
Our fixation to our cellphones recently earned us a few badges in the world of psychology. The terms “textiety,” “textaphrenia,” “post-traumatic text disorder,” and “binge texting” were added to major psychology textbooks around the world to attempt to characterize our illness. However, our technological addictions only begin with the cellphone and stretch into lists of the electronic devices we carry in our backpacks.
Older generations often fail to see the many positives related to our love for technology. Our obsession is only training us for future jobs which have not yet been created. Take 14-year-old Jamie Edwards, who created an operating nuclear fusion machine last year. His explanation for how he created an extremely advanced scientific machine? With the help of the Internet, of course!
Our reliance on social media also has many underappreciated positives. Our social accounts are connecting us to thousands of important issues and topics around the world, as well as organizations, individuals, and cultures. No generation has been as globally connected or educated as Generation Z, and these skills will allow us to build a stable and conscious world, full of meaningful ideas and movements.
Consider the powerful social media-based support for wrongfully arrested Muslim teen Ahmed Mohamed, who was suspected of carrying a bomb into his high school. Or recall the $15.6 million fundraising hashtag #ALSIceBucketChallenge. There is no way to avoid technology in our modern world, and Generation Z has learned to embrace and love our electronic counterparts, and often use them for good.
Along with our misunderstood use of technology, Generation Z is often critiqued for failing to follow older generational norms and values. Many adults and seniors often understand our uniqueness to be detrimental to a successful future, simply because members of Generation Z do not fit into the basic success model other generations have grown accustomed to. This judgement is understandable, considering some generations are terrified to learn the telephone has climbed off the wall and into our pockets.
Elders love to contrast the habits of their generation to ours, entitled to think their habits are somehow better or more successful. Truthfully, there is no point of comparison. Our generations are different. Who dares to say that one is better than the other? Declaring one generation’s dominance and superiority over another is juvenile, and it simply doesn’t matter.
We are self-absorbed, but how else are we to behave in a world holding more than seven billion people with each individual fending for themselves? We may be perceived as lazy, but is feeling unmotivated when we are constantly faced with news headlines about job cuts and soaring tuition fees wrong? Elders need to understand our lack of respect, as we are fearful and angry at the messy, problem-ridden world we’ve been placed in.
Either way, older generations need to take a moment and understand that although they may have stayed in school for longer periods of time, or worked exponentially harder than members of Generation Z, we are all descendants of the same hairy, poop-eating ape.
