When we compare different generations, we often make the mistake of saying that “one is better than the other”. But firstly, we have to take a look at their background. It isn’t just about saying that “it was better in the past”. In retrospect, everything can seem nostalgic and bring good memories, but we mustn’t forget that a generation is never perfect or superior to others.
We look for affinity, who is like us, who is different from us, and so we label and stereotype every time we get a chance. And that’s not because we’re evil; it’s just because we’re wired that way”
Jamie Belinne, author of “The Care and Feeding of Your Young Employee: A Manager’s Guide to Millennials and Gen Z
As we can see, the greatest changes that impacted completely on the outcome of Gen Z is the internet. Constant technological and social instability, added to the heavy dependency in the digital world definitely shaped this youth, the first “digital natives”.
But, although the quick changes in our lives gave us more liberty and choices, it also made Gen Zers have more difficulty to know what we want and who we are.
an entire generation shaped by the internet
Psychologist Vivianne Russo, who assists Gen Zers through therapy sessions, presented an outside perspective.
When asked about how and why this generation is constantly reinventing itself, Viviane talked about the impact that the accelerated digital world made in the mindset of these individuals as a whole: “Gen Z grew in a digital era where identity, tendencies and references changed all the time, so they had to change too. Nowadays, many young people live exposed to constant overestimulation and comparisons, which favors the never-ending search for reinvention and adaptation”.
She also mentioned how being “digital natives” impacted the behavior of this generation, from what they want to buy, to the way they perceive themselves. The Internet opened their minds to so many different possibilities of who to be, and what to do, that they’re finding it hard to choose and stick to one of these options.
“Psychologically, this may bring difficulties in choosing to make more profound and impactful commitments, because every decision implies a renunciation, a thing which our culture nowadays tends to avoid”. This thought reinforces a sense of a necessity to do this constant reinvention in order to be safe, because if you don’t stick to only one thing, you can always start a new one and avoid an ultimate failure.
Despite the importance of the internet itself, we mustn’t forget that we’ve lived through a global pandemic. “The pandemic brought to us experiences of collective fear, isolation and uncertainty, deeply impacting everyone’s mental health and the way that we connect with each other”, says Viviane. It shaped how they perceive their reality, building an even bigger sense of instability and fear of planning the future.
The eternal search for quick dopamine
The idea that our society is adopting more fluid and easily alterable relations isn’t something exactly recent.
What has been cut apart cannot be glued back together. Abandon all hope of totality, future as well as past, you who enter the world of fluid modernity”
Zigmund Bauman, Liquid Modernity
The polish-british sociologist and philosopher Zigmund Bauman (1925-2017) wrote Liquid Modernity, in which he explores the current condition as a contemporary and globalized society. He digs deep trying to analyze how and why the world went to having a stable, solid and permanent “hardware-focoused” modernity.
He uses the “liquid” metaphor as a way to represent that we’re constantly changing and transitioning life in a very fluid way. But this freedom can make us feel lost and lonely too, so is that freedom really beneficial to us?
The increase in the behavior of obsessive consumerism and the need for quick pleasures is a direct effect of the fear of missing out: “If I buy everything other people are buying, I will belong, won’t I?” Well… not really.
Viviane talked about how social media algorithms also worsen this problem without us even realizing it: “The algorithm favours collective behaviour, repetition of opinions and the constant necessity of belonging to a group”.
And more: we’ve stopped shopping to have things that add to what we already are, and started to consume to be someone in order to form our identities! That’s very ironic.
Bauman defends that this consumerist mindset doesn’t affect us only when we shop: it also shapes our perspective in life, our careers, friendships, relationships and how we build our social bonds in general.
The psychologist defended the same perspective: “The overstimulation caused by quick doses of dopamine can reduce our tolerance to frustration and increase emotional shallowness. Human relations take time, presence and psychic elaboration, while today’s logic favours quickness and immediate gratification”.
Still humans
In the end, is all of this worth it? We’re acting colder and colder with the people in our lives, making us feel more alone, miserable, consumerist and dependent on the dopamine that comes from social media. It seems that we’re forgetting about what makes us human, like our sense of community, empathy and real connection. Yes, we
Gen Z grew up in a messy transition period where digital life was beginning and nobody could ever imagine how deeply that would affect them, but they mustn’t forget to live! If we’re going to take advantage of the fact that, nowadays, we can reinvent ourselves, we must do it because we want to! Being true to yourself in this messy world isn’t easy, but it isn’t an impossible task either. In a society that stimulates the shallow, choose the deep.
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The article above was edited by Larissa Olm.
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