Gen Z

There is a moniker for every generation. Just as we were getting used to Generation Y, the millennials, here comes Generation Z. These are those born between 1995 and 2010 which means the oldest are now entering the workforce.

            They will certainly bring about even more change than we have seen in recent decades. For one thing, they were born in the digital age and so live, learn and work digitally. That’s all they know. One day when I picked up my granddaughter who had come to town by bus so we could spend time together she was sitting on a bench twiddling on her phone. As soon as she got in the car she asked me what we did in the “old days” when we didn’t have cell phones to let friends know about things like being late, etc. My reply was that we learned to accept whatever problems arose.

Those of Gen Z certainly do not understand that in a not-too-distant past people only had phones in their homes physically connected to a line. Gen Z also sees how difficult life was because people actually had to leave the house to go rent a movie and wonders how people could live without streaming movies directly into their television. Little do they know that for many of our grandparents, or even our parents for that matter, a television set was a luxury not everyone could afford.

How times have changed. Gen Z wonders how people lived without being able to order a taxi on their phone. In the not so distant history, a phone was just that, a phone to call people. As I was growing up we lived on a farm, and I remember my mother wishing she could have a private line instead of a party line, the only type available at the time. What would she have to say about today’s phones that do everything, except make dinner. Or so it seems.

And for Gen Z, everything is done on line from shopping to banking. Does it mean that actual stores will stop to exist? I hope not. I think a lot of people think like me that some things you simply have to see before you buy. Clothing certainly falls in that category. I mean you cannot buy a dress without actually touching the fabric and trying it on. At least I can’t.

Of course, the on-line world can be useful for many things, until what you bought does not exactly fit what you were expecting and you want to return it. It has been my experience that on-line sellers don’t like that at all and some make it quite difficult to get a refund. And they certainly will not pay for return shipping. For me, going back to an actual store to return something is so much simpler. And you get your money back right away.  

Some change may be good for society, but not all. How will Gen Z handle a world that is becoming quite different from that of their parents who are not old at all?