Generation Z
Generation Z, often shortened to Gen Z and informally known as Zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years, with the generation typically being defined as people born from 1997 to 2012. Most members of Generation Z are the children of Generation X, and it is predicted that many will be the parents of the proposed Generation Beta.
As children in the mid-late 2000s and 2010s, Generation Z was the first social generation to grow up with Web 2.0 and digital technology as an established commodity. From a young age, they have watched online videos and web series, and played online games. As adolescents and young adults in the 2010s and 2020s, members of the generation were dubbed "digital natives", even if they were not necessarily digitally literate and might struggle in a digital workplace.
Generation Z has been described as "better behaved and less hedonistic" than previous generations. They have fewer teenage pregnancies, consume less alcohol, and are more focused on school and job prospects. They are also better at delaying gratification than teens from the 1960s. Sexting became popular during Gen Z's adolescent years, although the long-term psychological effects are not yet fully understood.
There is greater awareness and diagnosis of mental health conditions among Generation Z, and sleep deprivation is more frequently reported. Moreover, the negative effects of screen time in the late 2010s were most pronounced in adolescents, as compared to younger children. Youth subcultures have not disappeared, but they have been quieter. Nostalgia is a major theme of youth culture in the 2010s and 2020s. Meanwhile, Generation Z has been active in politics around the world.
Terminology
The name Generation Z is a reference to it being the second generation after Generation X, continuing the alphabetical sequence from Generation Y. Other names for the generation have included iGeneration, Homeland Generation, Digital Natives, Neo-Digital Natives, Pluralist Generation, Internet Generation, and Centennials. The Pew Research Center surveyed the various terms for this cohort on Google Trends in 2019, and found that in the U.S., Generation Z was overwhelmingly the most popular. The Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries both have official entries for Generation Z.Psychologist and author Jean Twenge also used the term, intending it as the title of her 2006 book about Millennials but changing the title to Generation Me at the insistence of her publisher. Twenge later used the term for her 2017 book on Gen Z, iGen. Others also claim to have coined the name.
Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, creators of the Strauss–Howe generational theory, adopted the term Homeland Generation in 2005 after sponsoring a contest to name the post-Millennial group. The term Homeland refers to being the first generation to enter childhood after protective surveillance state measures, like the Department of Homeland Security, were put into effect following the September 11 attacks.
Zoomer is an informal term used to refer to members of Generation Z. It combines the shorthand Boomer, referring to Baby Boomers, with the "Z" from Generation Z. Zoomer in its current incarnation skyrocketed in popularity in 2018, when it was used in a meme on 4chan mocking Gen Z adolescents via a Wojak caricature. Merriam-Webster's records suggest the use of the term Zoomer in the sense of Generation Z dates to at least as early as 2016. It was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in October 2021 and to Dictionary.com in January 2020. It is more commonly utilized as a neutral rather than disparaging description. In the past, Zoomer was occasionally used to describe particularly active Baby Boomers.
Date and age range definitions
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines Generation Z as "the generation of people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s". The Oxford Dictionaries define Generation Z as "the group of people who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, who are regarded as being very familiar with the internet". Encyclopedia Britannica defines Generation Z as "the term used to describe Americans born during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some sources give the specific year range of 1997–2012, although the years spanned are sometimes contested or debated because generations and their zeitgeists are difficult to delineate."The Pew Research Center has defined 1997 as the starting birth year for Generation Z, basing this on "different formative experiences", such as new technological and socioeconomic developments, as well as growing up in a world after the September 11 attacks. Pew has not specified an endpoint for Generation Z, but used 2012 as a tentative endpoint for their 2019 report. Most news outlets, management and consulting firms, think tanks, and analytics companies frequently use the starting birth year of 1997, often citing Pew Research's 1997–2012 range. In a 2022 report, the U.S. Census designates Generation Z as "the youngest generation with adult members ". Statistics Canada used 1997 to 2012, citing Pew Research Center, in a 2022 publication analyzing their 2021 census. The United States Library of Congress uses 1997 to 2012, citing Pew Research as well.
The Collins Dictionary defines Generation Z as "members of the generation of people born between the mid-1990s and mid-2010s". In her book iGen, psychologist Jean Twenge defines the "iGeneration" as the cohort born 1995 to 2012. McCrindle Research uses 1995 to 2009 to define Gen Z. Occasionally a few news outlets may include both 1995 and 1996 as part of Generation Z.
Individuals born in the Millennial and Generation Z cusp years have been sometimes identified as a "microgeneration" with characteristics of both generations. The most common name given for these cuspers is Zillennials. Individuals born on the cusp of Generation Z and Generation Alpha have been referred to as Zalphas.
Arts and culture
Happiness and personal values
The Economist has described Generation Z as a more educated, well-behaved, stressed and depressed generation in comparison to previous generations. In 2016, the Varkey Foundation and Populus conducted an international study examining the attitudes of over 20,000 people aged 15 to 21 in twenty countries. They found that 59% of Gen Z youth were happy overall with the states of affairs in their personal lives. The most unhappy young people were from South Korea and Japan, while the happiest were from Indonesia and Nigeria.The best sources of happiness were being physically and mentally healthy, having a good relationship with family, and with friends. In general, respondents who were younger and male tended to be happier. Religious faith was purportedly the least happiness-inducing.
The top reasons for anxiety and stress were money and school ; social media and having access to basic resources finished the list, both at 10%. Concerns over food and water were most serious in China, India, and Indonesia ; young Indians were also more likely than average to report stress due to social media.
Important personal values of Gen Z are their families and themselves get ahead in life, followed by honesty. Looking beyond their local communities came last at 6%. Familial values were especially strong in South America while individualism and the entrepreneurial spirit proved popular in Africa. People who influenced youths the most were parents, friends, and teachers. Celebrities and politicians came last. In general, young men were more likely to be influenced by athletes and politicians than young women, who preferred books and fictional characters. Celebrity culture was especially influential in China and Nigeria and particularly irrelevant in Argentina and Turkey.
For young people, the most important factors for their current or future careers were the possibility of honing their skills, and income while the most unimportant factors were fame and whether or not the organization they worked for made a positive impact on the world. The most important factors for young people when thinking about their futures were their families and their health ; the welfare of the world at large and their local communities bottomed the list.
According to the 2025 World Happiness Report, young adults living the Anglosphere were most prone to pessimism, a consequence of their deteriorating mental health and economic hardship.
Common culture
The COVID-19 pandemic struck when the oldest members of Generation Z were just joining the workforce and the rest were still in school. While Generation Z proved to be less resilient than older cohorts, their fundamental values did not change, and they remained open to change, such as the transition towards hybrid school and remote work. On average, Generation Z is more likely to value ambition, creativity, and curiosity than the general population, including Millennials.A 2020 survey conducted by the Center for Generational Kinetics, on 1,000 members of Generation Z and 1,000 Millennials, suggests that Generation Z still would like to travel, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession it induced. However, Generation Z is more likely to look carefully for package deals that would bring them the most value for their money, as many of them are already saving money for buying a house and for retirement, and they prefer more physically active trips. Mobile-friendly websites and social-media engagements are both important. They take advantage of the Internet to market and sell their fresh produce. In Western countries like the United Kingdom, teenagers now prefer to get their news from social-media networks such as Instagram and TikTok and the video-sharing site YouTube rather than more traditional media, such as radio or television.
Having a mobile device has become almost universal by the time the first wave of Generation Z reaches adolescence. Some even have their phones besides them in bed. But despite being digital natives, Generation Z also values in-person interactions and recognizes the limits of virtual communications. Among children and teenagers of the 2010s, much leisure time is spent watching television, reading, social networking, watching YouTube videos, and playing games on smartphones. In recognition of the Internet culture of Generations Z and Alpha, the Oxford English Dictionary chose brain rot as its word of the year in 2024.
During the 2010s, youth subcultures that were as influential compared to what existed during the late 20th century and the first decade of the 21st became scarcer and quieter, at least in real life though not necessarily on the Internet, and more ridden with irony and self-consciousness due to the awareness of incessant peer surveillance. In Germany, young people are more interested in a more mainstream lifestyle with goals such as finishing school, owning a home in the suburbs, maintaining friendships and family relationships, and stable employment, rather than popular culture, glamor, or consumerism.