Kersten Brown Source 1

How might Generation Z impact the United States technologically, socially, politically, and economically? (still working on which one I am going to choose, I need to do a little more research)

Williams, A. (n.d.). Move Over, Millenials, Here Comes Generation Z. Retrieved September 20, 2015 by The New York Times.

            Generation Z, born between 1996 and 2012, is the next step to fixing our crazy, messed up country here the United States. Gen Z faces problems like inequality, bad economy, ending wars and saving our precious earth from completely running out of resources and dying. And yet there are people who believe we are narcissistic, lazy and always have our eyes stuck in our phones. Other people say that we are realistic, tech savvy, and socially accepting.

            I looked at many resources to start off; trying to find the one that best summarizes every opinion on Gen Z right now. The one that I landed on for my first journal entry was “Move Over, Millennials, Here Comes Generation Z” from The New York Times. This article looks at every angle about Generation Z. They don’t quite have an argumentative viewpoint on this subject but in the very last paragraph they mention something about the Silent Generation (1920’s-1940’s), perhaps comparing them to Gen Z: “it was not just the most career-focused generation in history. It was also the richest.”

            There is a point in the article that they talk about technology and Gen Z. An 18-year old girl, Hannah Payne, was mentioned in The New York Times article saying, “We are the first true digital natives.” I do agree with this statement. There are very few from Gen Z that knows of a world without technology. Almost everyone from this generation knows how to operate a smart phone, tablet and computer. We almost pass the knowledge of the IT guys. The New York Times interviewed another person, Dan Schwabel, the managing partner of Millennial Branding, whom said, “we tell our advising partners that if they don’t communicate in five words and a big picture, they will not reach this generation.” I disagree with this comment. They may need to use five words and a big picture to capture Gen Z’s attention but once you have our attention, we will look into it and find out everything we can until we either get bored or are sold on the product. And at that I ask; why do previous generations think we are so simple-minded and have a short attention span? We have a short attention span on things that bore us, sure. But once we get into something, we dive into it head first and don’t come up until we are satisfied. When we look at different issues and debates, we come up with new sides to this debate, we are always thinking, especially in a society where going to college is such a big thing now. This article also talked about how multicultural we are. I agree with this, we have become more socially accepting that the generations before us. The New York Times states that, “the nation’s first African-American president is less a historic breakthrough than a fact of life.” I argue that Gen Z sees no difference in whether a person is black or white, gay or straight, man or woman, all are the same in Gen Z’s eyes; we look at the person’s character instead. At the end when this article says that the Silent Generation was also the richest generation, The New York Times seems to be comparing Gen Z to the Silent Generation, making a prediction to what Gen Z may bring in the future. But how are we suppose to know what will come? We can’t base everything off the parallels between the two generations and just assume that Gen Z is going to turn out like the Silent Generation because who knows? We may make the economy worse. I hope not because it’s already in ruins but no one knows. We can only hope that it is true.

New questions:

·      What parallels are there between Gen Z and the Silent Generation?

·      What should Gen Z really be called?

·      How might we be one of the richest generations? What evidence is there?

·      How are we more tech savvy than the IT guys? Are the IT guys getting younger?

·      What social issues may be fixed once Gen Z begins to take over?

·      Why can’t we call ourselves something other than Gen Z? We sound like a science experiment.

·      How might attitudes towards social inequality change the social status in our country now?

Next I plan on looking at some point of views on social media. Get the point of view from Gen Z as well as some critical adults. I also hope to begin to form a new name for our generation instead of a science experiment name. I don’t have many answers so far; I am still trying to figure out what direction I should go in for this paper (economic, social, political, or technological) because all have many strong-pointed opinions on either side. But I do know that our generation is smart and realistic, already ready to start working and contributing to the country, hopefully saving it.