All the things people want me to know about Gen Z
When you're young, that's all you are to some people.
I am a lover of email, it’s true. I’ve had a newsletter for the past seven years, which is diabolical! I can’t remember who first said this, but tweeting about your emails or your coffee is a surefire way to go viral. Have you heard about the brand that steals my viral tweet every year and reposts it?
A quick Google search for how Gen Z feels about email led me to find that they use it and they think it’s unnecessarily formal. That’s kind of the MO for every generation, no? The old technology is stuffy and the etiquette can be streamlined and adapted to the times … that’s kind of the whole thing about progress. Why are older generations so peeved by that? I couldn’t help but wonder…
When someone is young, that’s often all that they are to people. The “youngest X ever” is, like, the most popular headlined format besides “first X ever.” Our brains deal in superlatives — whoever is the MOST of anything is interesting to us. Richest, tallest, youngest, and so on. Obsessing over the most easily identified MOST something is and ignoring other parts of their identity does us no good!
The reason generations are fascinating in the first place is that they serve as a lens through which we see what’s happening with swaths of people across the country experiencing the same events. That is, largely, a marketing tool. On the surface, that’s fine! But we (like, all people) need to think about how we are assigning the youngest generations stereotypes — since they have been on the earth the least amount of time, they must be the most innocent, the most clueless, or the most inefficient. That’s not always accurate.
This is the unofficial motto of Okay Zoomer
In the workplace, young people are often the least expensive and the least burnt out — that’s why social media managers and press release senders and various digital grunt workers are often young people. But I’d encourage everyone to think of the young people in their lives as more than just the young, because if we are going to brush Gen Z away for having the least experience, the least we can do is hear what they’ve been through, and what they have to offer as the freshest eyes on the same ol’ thing.
I think a lot of the interest in Okay Zoomer in particular comes from the idea that young people make culture because they are the most keyed into the internet in the freshest ways and in the deepest recesses of their brains, and sometimes that’s true! But in the same way that Gen Z isn’t just a slew of reckless young dummies, Gen Z doesn’t own the internet. They’re just the newest to it, so they get the most excited about trends. Eternal September. But that’s another newsletter.
I get a lot of emails about Gen Z, and I always think about how I should turn those pitches and survey results into newsletters, but that would require reporting to verify all this stuff, but that’s a little too close to my day job. So instead, I’m just going to drop them all here for you to scrutinize on your own.
Compared to other generations, Gen Z expressed the least amount of interest in pursuing their passions through college education. But they were MOST interested in maximizing their earning potential!! (survey of 2,500 people from OnlineU, a site for finding the ~best value~ for a degree)
More than two-thirds of Gen Z consumers feel more confident online when using community-focused social apps (Discord, Twitch) over feed apps (Instagram, Twitter). Impero, a software company that offers classroom management tools, spoke to 350 Gen Zers in the UK and called Gen Z the “loneliest generation.” ??
Research commissioned by Polarr, the “largest filter platform designed for creating and sharing artistic filters,” found that 1 in 3 members of Gen Z has favorite filters! Thought it would be more, seriously. 20% of Gen Z respondents said they don’t use filters. I do not know how many people were involved in this.
According to eharmony’s Happiness Index, 69% of Gen Z U.S. daters are more attracted to people doing personal growth work than people who are not. No wonder Atomic Habits keeps flying off the shelves!!!
More than a third of Gen Z girlies say that mental health services are one of the top benefits they want from employers, according to LinkedIn's Workforce Confidence Index, which surveyed 13K people.
Cultural intelligence consultancy sparks & honey found five major “complexities” about Gen Z, which they also called “the last generation” (scary). They surveyed 1,000 13-to-17-year-olds in the U.S.
Gen Z and Politics: I’m liberal, but your political labels don’t fit me
Gen Z and Money: No money, but it won’t stop me from taking risks
Gen Z at Home: Home is my private, but very visible space
Gen Z and Relationships: Relationships are on the backburner, while I explore my interests and people that suit me…today
Gen Z and Climate: I want to save the planet, but my habits also actively destroy the planet
Honestly love the sparks & honey report, which also introduced me to terms such as “netweaving” and “Digital Death Curators,” and made interesting points about how impermanence is hot right now, people are living in their own little algorithms, and it’s cool to become an expert in the obscure. 58% of teens said their parents are their best friends!
Adobe research (5,500 people) found Gen Z LOVE the Great Resignation and want to set their own schedule. A majority find their work to be repetitive and tiring. Somehow 25% do their work on their phones???
Indeed spoke to 1,000 people and found 92% of Gen Z employees who have never worked a full-time, in-person office say they are sad they missed out on a traditional work experience.
Did you know Gen Z seeks sustainability, convenience, and nostalgia from private brands?? So says a brand guy!
Mobile gaming is a great way to get money from Gen Z, per the 2021 Global Games Market Report.
Kids: Are they coddled or caring? Why are they so angry????????????
zack’s corner
It’s officially summer, which means okay zoomer’s intern, Zack, has his own section of the newsletter for the TikTok trends he’s enjoying this week. Zack’s FYP isn’t just different from mine: It resides in a different universe. He is a living example of the fact you can’t honestly declare something “not on TikTok anymore” because there’s always something SOMEWHERE. Buckle up. And remember that nepo babies are in right now.
Better Call Saul memes are inescapable
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It’s kinda like the next evolution of Breaking Bad memes. They’ve always been a thing, but now they’re back in the mainstream. People started making jokes about Walt and Jesse on TikTok using the sound, and now that stupid picture of Saul is everywhere with the “top text bottom text” format. The sound is also used for new slideshows of just dumb Breaking Bad memes.
Capybaras are trending
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I don’t know the origin of the capybara meme, but out of nowhere, it became everyone’s favorite animal. I didn’t know it existed until like two years ago, and it’s been climbing in popularity ever since then, but it’ll probably die off soon cause it’s been going on for so long.
I could go on a rant about the Reddit text-to-speech videos
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It’s a plague of laziness that has migrated from YouTube to TikTok that is minimal effort for maximum views, but I cannot deny that it is entertaining to listen to a most-likely made-up story as the subway surfers guy runs at the bottom of the screen. What a way to hold an audience.
Slideshows are an easy source of ironic memes
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Slideshow TikToks are literally just dumb memes from people’s camera rolls, usually put to some wack sound. I love them because they’re a good meme source.
— Zack Weekman
keeping up with the content
The Popular “Ellen DeGeneres Show” Is Ending, But It Leaves Behind A Complicated Legacy
Grubhub’s Disastrous ‘Free Lunch’ Promotion Shows Why the Gig Economy Is Broken
How anger at the status quo becomes misdirected at social media figures
Russian influencers scramble to maintain their followers — and livelihoods
Special shoutouts to these bangers from my coworkers — Steffi Cao profiled TikTok luxury king Charles Gross, and Ade Onibada wrote about how the rights and privacy of children are finally taking center stage in influencer culture.
I don’t think you understand, I’m obsessed
Summer is for reading. Start here, then check out this lovely collection of stories from Columbia J-School students.
from yours truly
Thank u In The Know/Dillon Thompson for citing my insane slang glossary in a story about TikTok linguistics and Day One Agency for chatting with me about whether internet stars will be truly famous.
Paige Skinner and I tried to understand HRH Collection and her fans. Also, Nicole Collazo Santana and I tried to make sense of Avan Jogia and his Substack.
I went to Texas to see how Brittany Dawn (disgraced fitness influencer turned Christianity influencer) is managing her pivot. Baptismal feeding troughs ahead.
Did some fun on-the-street reporting for this story on NYC’s Grubhub promo disaster, and some fun literary nonsense for this post about the new addition to the Sally Rooney-verse.
Hopefully, this was a nice distraction from the tragedy in Texas this afternoon. Sending love while we all try to get through it and work to make sure this never happens again.
All my love always,
Kelsey