Something Different 👀
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Today’s edish is a little different. The other day I searched Gen Z on Google and honestly cracked up at the results. And then I realised - wait - this is what anyone from outside of Gen Z (who wants to know more about us) is probs reading, and that is HELLA interesting. So, I wanted to give you a list of the stories that came up within the first 5 pages, to see what other people were saying/ writing about us. I don’t know what compelled me to do this, but what I found was kinda hilar. PS, take everything I saw with a grain of salt. PPS, if after reading this you want me to come in and consult on ur business from a Gen Z perspective, I am incredibly available to help.
Methodology: I literally went on ‘incognito mode,’ typed ‘Gen Z’ into Google, and hit the ‘news’ tab. Here’s what I found:
There is such a thing as ‘geriatric Gen-Z’s’
One of the first articles that took my eye was Sorry, you’re a Geriatric Gen-Z’er if you can relate to these 30 things. A geriatric 'Gen-Zer' is essentially an older member of Gen-Z, or someone who was born between 1996 and 1998 (aka, ME.) And I hate to say, after reading through this list of things, I related to 17 out of 30 (including ‘You remember ‘starring’ tweets instead of ‘hearting’ them,’ and ‘You used to play Sims on CD-Rom.’)
And then there was Meet the typical geriatric Gen Zer: The last of their generation to study in a classroom and work in an office, which told me that ✨I’m not like other Gen-Z’ers✨ I’m older. According to this article, we are ‘the only members of their generation to have gone into the office regularly before the era of remote work.’ Which might be kinda true.
Some other things that this article says makes a ‘typical’ geriatric Gen Zer is:
"The typical geriatric Gen Zer is a cusper, identifying with both millennials and Gen Z." (Not me, I would never identify as a skinny jean wearing cry-laugh emoji using millennial) (I’m kidding, I love u millennials)
"They're part of a digitally native generation, but they didn't get their first smartphone until later in life compared with their younger peers." (This is true! I had a pinkalicious flip-top phone, and then an R100, and then another random touch screen thing before even thinking about having an iPhone. iPod touches slapped tho.)
"The typical geriatric Gen Zer was a preteen when the Great Recession hit — too young to be directly affected, but old enough to be scared of a future economic downturn." (This is also true! I remember seeing the ‘global financial crisis’ on the news and looking at my parents' bank statements and ✨freaking out✨)
"The pandemic made geriatric Gen Zers the last cohort of their generation to attend all four years of college in person." (YES, NONE OF MY LECTURES WERE RECORDED, SO IF AND WHEN I MISSED ONE, I JUST HAD TO USE SOMEONE’S NOTES)
"Given the rise in social-media use and pandemic disruption during such formative years, it makes sense that Gen Z would tend to be lonelier and more depressed than other generations." (Just, yes.)
Ok, so maybe I am a geriatric Gen Zer after all. I’m okay with that I guess.
Dollar Tree manager posted sign against hiring Generation Z workers
The next story that stuck out to me was this one, where a Dollar Tree manager got fired because he put up this sign:
This perpetuates a myth that I hate about Gen Z not ‘working hard.’ Actually, we are just aware of our limits and we work smarter, not harder, a lot of the time. In saying that, you probs should’t bring your boyfriend to work.
Following that, apparently even if we don’t bring our boyfriends to work, we are hard to manage
First of all, let me recommend to you an excellent book on management:
The first article that popped up was ‘Demanding and opinionated? How to manage Gen Z,’ but it was behind a hard paywall, and Gen Z are used to getting all their media for free (unless they really love it, like all of you who pay for the SYSCA daily newsy) so unfortunately, as much as I believe in paying for good media, I am not forking out for a Vogue Business sub.
🥺 PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT US, WE NEED YOU 🥺
The next article in this vein, however, is titled ‘3 Tips to Help Millennials Manage Gen-Z Employees. Young managers need to learn about generational differences too,’ so let’s hear how millennials and Gen Z diverge shall we?
Groups Versus Individuals:
“As a group, Millennials are intensely collaborative. As a rule, they enjoy working in groups and chasing shared outcomes. That makes them excellent team players.
On the other hand, members of Gen-Z are much more competitive. They like to win and chase personal achievement.”
Hate this assumption
Frequency of Feedback
“There has been a lot of articles written over the past decade about how Millennials need frequent feedback. It's important to them.
For Gen Z, frequent feedback is not enough: They want constant feedback. After every meeting, they want to know how they did--good, bad, or otherwise. They want to see because they want the opportunity to adapt and improve themselves.”
Hate this assumption x2 (but yes, we do like improving ourselves)
Socially Connected
“Millennials are social creatures. Their default nature is to gather and hang out, maybe for drinks or with a pizza party. It's how they prefer to communicate.
Gen-Z is different in that it's ubiquitous that half or even more of their friends are virtual. They may never have met any of them in person. That's why, as digital natives, they prefer to communicate by text or instant message rather than in person.”
Don't think this is true for all of us, but plz slack me instead of calling me
Hmmmm. This entire article seems super passive-aggressive and I would not recommend reading it. Read that book by Michael G Scott tho.
This article about Gen Z email sign-offs was my fave
I for one am a HUGE fan of getting rid of corporate culture. I hate that there is a whole other language that we've just adopted to make us all speak ✨nothing at all like we do in real life✨ to make us seem ✨professional.✨ And the rest of Gen Z are with me on this I think. We value transparency and authenticity ABOVE ALL, and if I wouldn't say 'Yours Sincerely,' or 'Warm Regards' in real life, then you better believe it's not coming into emails (hence why my signature is 'Love you the most!!)
Anyway, do you remember that TikTok about the Gen Z company and their email sign-offs? I loved it so much. The dude behind it was Tommy Flaim - the founder of ethical activewear start-up company Fox & Robin, and he showed us a few ways his comms have changed since hiring Gen Z. He captioned the vid "when you start a new company and only hire Gen Z,” and proceeded to show photos of email sign-offs like:
“hasta la pasta”
“talk soon loser”
“apologies for existing”
“insert pleasantry here”
“seeyas later”
“that’s all”
“that’s about it. Ummm… yeah.”
“ok then”
“I’m out”
“hehe bye”
I love all of these (naturally for external emails you should continue to be ✨respectful✨ but I promise you can still do that in normal words!) Here's the TikTok below for you to watch:
POV: you start a new company and you only hire Gen Z. Borderline.
Then we have a real Gen Z Girlboss
In a slight change of vibe, the next article is titled First 'Jeopardy!' Gen Z super champ's streak hits 19 games, and is about exactly that - Mattea Roach, a 23-year-old Canadian has won 19 games of jeopardy and made $469,184 in prize money. She’s reppin the new era of quizzers on the block and she’s one of the 10 best contestants of all time. Go off.
And this is what I like to see - a bit of blame shifting. Classic Gen Z
This article from Insider is titled: ‘Gen Z is the loneliest generation — and it's their parents' fault’ and so true. This first statement might be all we need to know:
“Generation Z is impressive by any measure. They have more years of formal education and lower high-school dropout rates than any previous generation. They are more likely to avoid drug use and have lower rates of teen pregnancy. They are savvy consumers of information and users of technology. They are less prone to traffic in misinformation and conspiracy theories.
But despite all of these attributes, many Gen Zers are also incredibly lonely.“
An inherent need to compare ourselves to everyone and every life we see on social media could be one of the factors, the fact that we’ve gone from working in an office to working from home, or studying at uni to studying online could be another factor, or… it’s could just be our parents' fault. I didn’t read the rest of the article, but you can if you want.
That’s all the free consulting/ lightly sarcastic Gen Z insights I’m giving to you today! Hope you enjoyed this weird lil edish! (If you think of any other words/ terms you’d like me to do a Google deep dive on, send em my way!)
Oh, and: Do you blow your nose in the shower?
61% of you do
39% of you don't
PS!
CULTURE VULTURE IS BACK TOMORROW AND WE ARE UNPACKING THE JOHNNY DEPP/ AMBER HEARD TRIAL.
Gen Z’s new favorite app (Axios)
Polls show Biden is losing support from Gen Z. These young voters aren't surprised (NPR)
For Gen Z, Climate Change Is a Heavy Emotional Burden (Yale Environment)
Gen-Z Is Modern China’s Unluckiest Generation (Bloomberg)
Gen Z is going to reinvent the supply chain (FastCompany)
Become a ✨SYSCA SUPPORTER✨ — shityoushouldcareabout.memberful.com
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