Ever since Gen Z started to show that we don’t like doing things the traditional way, people from older generations have latched onto this idea that we will “save the world.” I’m sure we’ve all seen an example of this by now. A young person will post a video advocating for something important to them, and within a day, their comments will be flooded with people proclaiming things like, “your generation gives me hope for the future” and “Generation Z will change the world.” While these statements may hold some truth, they’ve begun to become a burden, a tall order that we may not be able to fill. Older generations have placed a lot of hope in us, but the pressure that comes with it may cause us to let them down.
Being told that your entire generation will usher in change for future generations sounds like gentle encouragement on a surface level, but it holds a lot more weight. This encouragement has slowly formed into an expectation, warping our perception along with it. As much as many of us would like to change the world for the better, the expectation adds pressure to conditions that are already high stakes. We are now assumed to be a generation that will change the game while still being forced to play it.
The most problematic aspect of this encouragement is that it shifts the responsibility of progress to us. Instead of taking in what Gen Z is saying and helping, older generations tend to cheer us on from the sidelines. They expect us to be these revolutionary change-makers yet fail to help reach our common goals. Frankly, sometimes simple encouragement isn’t enough. Change requires everyone, not just one generation that seems more rebellious. Considering that many problems in our world are rooted in power imbalance, Gen Z can’t make a substantial change until we are put into positions of power or helped by people with power. Change has to be a group effort in a society where the potential for change lies in institutions. Addressing massive issues like systemic racism and climate change shouldn’t be placed on young adults that are still trying to figure out how the world works.
All of this to say, Generation Z will make steps toward changing the world. However, placing so much pressure on one generation will only increase the likelihood of collective burnout and cause us to fall short.