Madison Contreras

Writer

Leaving their impact on society in many different ways, generations dating decades back have shaped the rising Generation Z, also known as Gen Z, iGen, centennials or the Action Generation.

Currently between the ages of 10-27 years old (born between 1997-2010), the people in Gen Z are in a constant battle of being categorized and in some cases discriminated against.

Stereotypically, Gen Zers are an anti-social group of people due to their electronic upbringing, but this age group has also become classified as social justice warriors by Business Insider and The Globe through their countless acts of voicing their opinions.

Standing out amongst generations by being introverts that take a stance in society, these young individuals have come together to prank the president, protest the rights of people and create platforms across social media to speak on topics important to them.

After the president had spoken on banning TikTok, a platform used to express creativity and allow users to speak freely, Gen Z organized a prank across TikTok involving hundreds of thousands of tickets being registered to a campaign the president was holding in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

When far less supporters were in attendance at the campaign and the actions of the young generation came to light, many Republicans across the nation felt that Gen Z radically lashed out, according to NY Times.

Being the first time where Gen Z had captured headlines, this event led to the empowerment and strengthening of the young voice.

Following the actions against the president, Gen Z partook in multiple protests for human rights.

Roughly 18 million Yubo, a social networking app, users and over two million StuDocu, an online learning platform, users were used to poll the nation on their feelings centered around human rights.

Approximately 90% of Gen Zers that participated stand against systemic racism, according to the polls, and around 48% support same-sex marriage, according to Pew Research Center, only 77% have attended a protest to support the equal treatment of all people.

Believing students give human rights a platform for change, Marlow High School senior Rachel Retherford explained why it is so important for Gen Z to speak out and various ways to protest for a movement.

“I think it is important for young people to stand up for human rights because they can radically change the world! Young people usually notice the lack of human rights in our country and are willing to stand up for those who are marginalized,” emphasized Retherford. “Everyone can start by silencing what is around them. They can listen and learn from those who are being denied basic human rights. Fighting for human rights can be stopping people from telling racist jokes and just talking to people who look different than us.”

Taking a stance in society requires Gen Z to continually educate themselves in ongoing news. 

This has led to an increase in the amount of students who will finish high school and/or continue on to higher education, according to Pew Research Center.

Compared to previous generation’s schooling, 57% of Gen Z’s graduated high school students (ages 18-21) are enrolled in a two or four year college, a greater percent than the Millennials 52% in 2003 and Generation X 43% in 1987.

With Gen Z focusing more of their time to school than past generations, less teenagers have entered the workforce than in past years.

As of 2018, only 18% of 15-17 year old students were employed, a major drop when looking at the 27% of Millennials employed in 2002 and 41% of Gen X employed in 1986.

Between school and work, 26% of Gen Z students (aged 16-19) are using their extracurricular time to devotedly volunteer, according to The Atlantic.

Also, along with taking a lead in activism and education, Gen Z is targeted to become the largest cohort of consumers with an estimated 82 million consumer population by 2026 according to Business Insider.

For that same year, Millennials are expected to follow closely behind Gen Zers with an 80 million consumer population and the Gen X consumer population will be farther behind at 65 million.

On the other hand, a side effect of increased screen-time and decreased social time, over a third of the generation admitted to feeling their mental health had worsened in the past year, but, optimistically, 71% are hopeful about what this year will bring, according to a survey sent out to 25,000 Gen Zers by Zebra IQ – a research firm and tech startup.

Looking towards the promising future, Generation Z is expected to greatly shape society with the skills they have already gained.

While stereotypes remain about the young generation, Generation Z has accomplished much together and will continue to be on the podium for the world to see how they continue to grow past their adolescence.