What defines Gen Z? It may seem an extremely general question to ask, but with so many of us fiercely declaring that we are not Millennials, it’s becoming an increasingly important question. Pew Research Center designates birthdays between 1997 and 2012 as Generation Z, but the identity behind the title has made strictly defining the generation controversial. From sometime in the mid-90’s to sometime in the mid aughts, Gen Z was born, though many grayer and less interesting generations argue it ended much later. As someone born in 2002, I guarantee you I can get along with someone older than me far better than the terrifying online generation of post-2007 babies.
Gen Z really came to identifiable prominence during the pandemic; before this, Gen Z was still in its relative infancy. The conversation in the 2010’s was more focused around Millennials still living with mom, and less interested in the upcoming quirky teenage generation born during 9/11. Through TikTok, Gen Z found a community of like-minded and like-aged individuals that had nothing better to do in the spring of 2020 except create an identity around being a teenager. In the coming months, and now years, Generation Z has become a term that the older generations find synonymous with young, and that the younger generations take pride in joining– or avoiding.
Fast forward to today and Millennials are now ruthlessly ridiculed by Generation Z and younger, and many Millennials have taken a long, name-brand pause before asking “what happened?” They were the first online generation, the 90’s babies that got a trophy for showing up, and then invented Instagram (as comedian Iliza Schlesinger so wisely self-analyzed). How did the heavily ironic, random humor that brought them so much notoriety bring them so much damnation from Gen Z? Even the charms of their skinny jeans and side parts couldn’t save them from the vitriol of the youth. The young generation is young no more, and as they enter their 4th decade of adulting, they may want to consider rebranding.
Gen Z, on the other hand, is a cultural cohort that is bonded through social media. Being indigenous to the internet transcends our other demographics, and through TikTok, Gen Z went from a loosely associated demographic cohort to a caricature of a teenager. Split-dyed hair, infuriatingly eclectic personal style, downturned eyeliner, copious jewelry, and a fair-weathered attention for social justice have come to Flanderize Gen Z only a few years into our reign as the preeminent cool and young generation.
We pride ourselves on our individuality, just so long as it checks the right boxes. Make no mistake, just because Gen Z dresses like we don’t care about the rules, does not mean there’s not a deeper longing for structure lying beneath our Ordinary brand moisturized skin. Generation Z is fiercely confined to a gilded cage of our own naïve design. What really sets our generation apart is our adherence to rules in an anarchic state. Self-imposed rules of style, speaking, and branding let us show the world we’re unique– as long as it’s in the right ways. In the pursuit of personal definition we’ve become suffocatingly individualistic.
It doesn’t really matter what Gen Z does to differentiate ourselves, nor what we do to ridicule the generations that came before us. There remains one simple fact about Generation Z: we are the next Millennials. Just as the mythical Baby Boomers shed their anti-Vietnam, longhair façades to become suit-and-tie Wolves of Wall Street, so Millennials dropped their rebellious “99%” attitudes for a life wandering the aisles of Target, shopping for needless trinkets for themselves or their inhumanely named children, Braydon, Craydon, Bashton, Crashton, McKayleigh and McKinley.
Like our predecessors Gen Z, too, will soon leave behind our virtue signaling, performatively individualistic personas for some unforeseen Kafkaeqsue destiny, being laughed at by Gen Alpha for our once cutting-edge tastes. Back into the pulse of cringe culture, Gen Z will have had a good run.
This isn’t cause for concern, though. Whether you’re a proud Gen Z, currently nursing cognitive dissonance after reading the above, or you’re an inbetweener born between ‘95 and ‘00, aimlessly wandering through life without a demographic cohort to sycophantically place your devotion, there’s no need to worry. Regardless of if you identify with the latent cringe culture of the Millennials or the upcoming cringe culture of Gen Z, Generation Alpha will soon overtake us all as the en vogue cool generation, grandfathering Millennials into obscurity, and mercilessly mocking Gen Z. But never fear, babies that have yet to be born will be our saviors. They’ll inevitably overtake Generation Alpha, giving them a taste of their karmic medicine and avenge all of us soon-to-be oldies and our clearly timeless tastes. Let’s be thankful for this nameless generation tipping the scales back to balance. Long live Generation Not-Yet-Born.
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The Smoking Section is where I observe the world at large, and put a magnifying glass on a subject we all hold dear to our hearts. As a member of Gen Z, I think it’s important that we take a step back and remember that life is not that serious, and no topic is too good to ridicule. In the Smoking Section, we take a step outside of the party for a breath of less-fresh air. Here if you don’t have anything nice to say, pull up a chair next to me.
@schmidtconrad
