Are the Zoomers still Zooming?

While about three-quarters of the size of the Millennials, Generation Z has been expected to advance forward at a pace faster than the Millennials… thanks to their immersion in mobile technology.

Hence, they have been referred to as the Zoomers.

Next year in 2022, the top of the Generation Z bell-curve will be turning age 16.

As a Baby Boomer, I was excited when I turned 16 to own a first car that was automatic and not one where I had to use a clutch. Back then there were no cell-phones, Apples or Internet. None.

I also remember watching black & white television with a choice of four channels — ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. The PBS station only occasionally came through because they did not have the high tech antennas that the local network affiliates had.

Generation Z has no idea of what it was like before the digital Internet and mobile media days. They have no idea that there was a time when Facebook (now perceived my many as “dated”) and electric cars did not exist.

Socially, Generation Z lives with limited boundaries with few constraints whether you are straight or GLBTQRSTUVWXY or just a member of Generation Z.

This all said, the historical perspective has always been one that Generation Z will over-exceed any other Generation not due to size, but the integration of technology in their daily lives.

A significant driver of this perspective is driven by the linear rational flow of technology. If A has B and is skilled to do C as well a the rest of the alphabet with it, Generation Z will be atomically empowered.

It’s unfortunate when we get addicted to linear logic!

Three key factors have altered the future model of Generation Z…

(1) They were raised by Gen X parents who have engrained a “platform” that brings with it some very strong constraints

(2) The Pandemic hitting them in their vulnerable teens

(3) A non-discernable set of news and facts to feed their decisional process

The Gen X Parents

Generation X grew up in households directly or indirectly hit with divorces.

Many Gen Xers had Mature Generation parents who did not stay together. They as Gen Xers had to engineer around split anchor points and changing parental relationships.

If their parents stayed together they were part of the positive 50%… but it is very likely that several of their friends and relatives encountered divorce.

The Boomers spoke of the ideals… the GenXers got hit by what many perceived as a lifting of the moral structure that kept couples… coupled.

As a result, GenXers made a commitment as they emerged into adulthood and independence to…

(1) Staying married no matter what

(2) Sheltering the kids within a home nest that engaged parents and kids to interact

(3) Extending the home-base sheltering to avoid confronting the evolution of the partner relationship between the spouses

GenXers rewarded themselves for their stability more than expanded and explored new perspectives and stage levels of the relationship with their partners.

Generation Z now dominates universities and colleges with the leading edgy turning the full legal age of 21 in this calendar year. Next year, the leading edge will be turning 22.

With the peak of the Generation Z bell-curve entering high school next year, the Generation X parents are working around the clock to keep those constraints in place.

For example, a new set of Apps has launched that specifically allows the parents to know exactly where the kids are located and to interrupt what they are doing with text messages that freeze the phone until the kids reply. I am not making this up. Check out the App Life360 Family Safety and Meet Circle. Ho

There is even an article online (www.top10cybersecurity.com) that is promoted as provide website visitors with “10 Best Parental Control Apps — Top Choices for iPhones in 2021.”

I have reported in the blog that parents are attending high school and college classes. There is even a set of articles now posting on legal websites about how schools, colleges and universities can keep the parents out of the class room.

I promise I am not making this next observation up.

There are not only websites recently posting to help college kids deal with homesickness, but another set of websites posting to help the Gen X parents deal with kidsickness. There is a website titled, “Grown & Flown.com” that is designed just for Gen X parents.

Grown & Flown features a new posting titled, “How to Cope When You’re Missing Your Big Kid So Much It Hurts.”

The Pandemic

No other generation ever has had to revert to home schooling and living their daily lives with a mask on for what has now been more than 18 months… or two school years.

Generation Z is the first generation ever to be affected by a sense of fear and anxiety just as much around the kitchen table as on a global level.

The fear of something “bad” spreading and the agents doing it could be just as much close, loving relatives as much as folks they do not know.

The closures of institutions. The rising of fences and barriers around countries, States and local communities.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has just released a study that explored the long-term impact of the Pandemic on school-age kids.

A quote from the study’s Abstract… “The magnitude of impact on minors is determined by many vulnerability factors like developmental age, educational status, pre-existing mental conditions, quarantined fears, separation anxiety and fear of a non-visible infection.”

Based now out of a college town, I have written about how the Millennial college students and local high school students religiously wear their masks.

More kids are playing softball games this past summer wearing masks than not wearing masks.

Yes, the masks have an impact on understanding what is verbally communicated. But if more than 80% of communications is non-verbal, consider how many elements of dialogue and communications between Generation Z have been impacted.

Non-discernable Facts and Figures

The Rueters Institute at Oxford just released a global study of news sources and found out that the United States ranks at the bottom of 46 other countries.

The trust has hit rock bottom whether the news is transmitted through the physical press, television, digital, mobile or social media.

Respondents went on to express the lack of trust is not just temporary, but long-term. Less than 10% of the individuals participating in the study see the U.S. news sources as not improving “at all” over the next 10–20 years, but “getting worse.”

Of the age groups participating in the Study, participants age 12–24 expressed the highest level of distrust and lack of hope that future changes will be made.

And this is an evaluation of “news” reporting sources.

What posts and is shared in social media is a whole other world that commands limited, if any truth is what is posted and shared.

Institutional sources have also lost a sense of impartiality.

The only information source that Generation Z reported as trusting … the weather forecasts. Those reports scored even higher than the traffic reports.

Will Generation Z Still Zoom?

Perhaps the most vicious response to this question was a cover article published in Forbes last fall titled, “Why the ‘Z’ in Gen Z Means ‘Zombie.’”

Then there are the media source who believe that Zoom.com has altered long-term how Zoomers will interact with one another.

I personally do not believe Generation Z will not zoom at a high-speed in the advancement of the human existence and knowledge base, but I do think that we are living right in the midst of some trends taking place right in front of us.

If I had to predict the future, here are my changes I see coming to the stage…

(1) Personal Convictions will drive profession and personal mission. The past models are now broke. With limited trust in outside sources and an over-powering of parents, Generation Z will craft a renewed sense of mission and call.

(2) Brand equity will be threatened and new alliances will be built. There is opportunity for brands to clear the slate. Generation Z will build new brand alliances driven in a large part by a cultivating a sense of trust and certainty. Will the left brain take over? No, but brand emotions are being re-engineered around a new set of “touchpoints” of the brand experience.

(3) High tech will become assumed and not a distinguishable brand claim among GenZers. Great case right now taking place in front of us is the launch of the next versions of Apple iPhones (yawn). iPhones are no different to GenZers as organic brands are to Millennials.

(4) The Sense of Roots will shift from geographical community to the emotional support networks of family and friends. “Home” will be transferrable across platform to embrace a host of environments. The Millennials right now are prime focus on the physical structures they call home. Generation Z “coming out experience” may be the breakthrough beyond parental cocooning.

(5) Generation Z will sort out new parental relationships. These relationships will span across the work environment, social networks, religious-faith circles and healthcare networks. Brands can capitalize on this if they move beyond social media and digital banner ads.

Opportunity does knock, but those capitalizing on it need to dig below the surface and understand more of what drives the next emerging Generation.