GEN Z: CHARACTERISTICS
In our infographic, we’ve identified seven key characteristics of Gen Z. These are based on our understanding of their personalities, dispositions and interactions with the world around them. We’ve observed these through our desk research and by talking to experts, but they really came to life and became exciting when we talked to them directly.
CONNECTED
For a Gen Z child, everything they do goes through a platform. A regular telephone conversation is no longer enough, it’s Facetime. Alas, even regular conversation is sometimes no longer enough, as over 1/3rd of children admit to using technology to communicate with family members in the same house as them. We conducted a peer group interview with four 12-year-olds, and without skipping a beat and while still talking animatedly, they’d pull up images or videos to illustrate their point. It was so automated, it was as though the smartphone was an extension of their body. However, as they strongly develop their skills for navigating and using information, their base level of factual knowledge often remains naïve.
CREATIVE
Let’s be clear, Gen Z are active, not passive, consumers. When they’re spotted glued to their tablets, it’s all too easy to underestimate their activities. But in reality they’re socialising, creating content and most importantly challenging themselves and each other. They don’t just watch YouTube, they own their own YouTube channels and are making creative waves in the wider world. One 9-year-old
we met hacked into his school website, then replicated and hosted an identical version announcing that school had been cancelled for the day. The result – pandemonium! If brands can get them on board, they become loyalists and co-creators and engage on previously unprecedented levels (see page 21).
PRESSURED
Gone are the days when you would knock on a friend’s door to see if they wanted to come and play. Odds are on that a Gen
Z kid may have been booked up weeks ago. As parents experience increased anxiety around securing their child’s future, they’ve reacted with a bolstered program of activities from instrumental lessons, to ballet, wider sports, and supplementary academic tuition to language courses. Indeed, some parents confess to mentally writing their child’s university form, as
A’s are no longer enough without having canoed Everest. One teacher we met asked a 6-year-old to spend five minutes researching an unanswered question from class that day. ‘I don’t have five minutes tonight’, came the response.
COMMUNITARIAN
Gen Z are a ‘we’ generation, with team working skills having been strongly
embedded in the national curriculum.
Their communitarian inclinations are due to rebelling against a sheltered upbringing. Mum and dad constantly monitor them, so when they are let off the leash, it tends to be in the direction of other people, and more precisely their peers. They frequently cite YouTube tutorials (i.e. makeup tips), showing that they’d rather learn from their peer group than their parents.
If thrown into situations with strangers, their mutual uncertainty will create strong peer-group bonds among Gen Z.
OVERPROTECTED
In Denmark, they’ve aptly dubbed Gen Z,
‘the curling generation’. Known as such because their parents have been diligently sweeping away the ice that lies in their path, as they glide effortlessly towards their future. One Barcelona-based teacher told us how a mum in her class could not afford their school trip, and so as opposed to mentioning any financial constraints, simply told her kids that she’d prepared a family day at the beach instead.
We also saw an influx of assuring kids that they’re ‘special’. An estimated 50% of children in the UK are diagnosed with an allergic condition and as one US-based teacher put it, ‘everyone gets a ribbon these days’.
Thanks to anxious parents, Gen Z live largely in a bubble and are discouraged from dipping a toe into the perilous ocean that is ‘the real world’.
WORLDLY
When asked ‘which characteristic do Gen Z display more than children of your generation?’ 59% of our global survey cited ‘worldly’. The average Gen Z child will have travelled to eleven countries by 16-years-of-age, but more than this from a very young age they
will have a truly global perspective. They’re very culturally accepting, and already have large, mixed-culture friendship groups. The 4-year-old son of a beautician we spoke to already spoke four languages, and although he wasn’t yet even constructing full sentences he was able to switch easily between Swahili and French when his grandmother came to tea.
Due to social platforms, Gen Z kids have grown up hearing the views of and communi- cating with people from all over the world.
PRAGMATIC
Commonly known as ‘the young foggies’, Gen Z possess more than a healthy dose of pragmatism.
Whereas Gen Y are defined by a heroic, full-transparency approach to social media, Gen Z share judiciously (and always with their geo-locator off). In this matter-of-fact way, they are not immediately impressed by ties and titles, though are very happy to give respect to those they believe deserve it. This isn’t because they’re sceptics, but simply because they are used to filtering through and evaluating large amounts of data each time they search for an answer. They’re
very aware of life’s boundaries. Indeed, one policeman in Glasgow told us how kids know, and regularly evoke, their right to silence.