Kersten Brown Source 4

How will Gen Z impact the United States? Where does Gen Z stand right now?

*Not entirely sure how to cite social media*

The other primary source I will be using is social media. Since this is a fairly new topic and a popular one among all generations this is a good source to use. There are very opinionated people on social media networks and some of them are pretty interesting. It makes it easy to find argumentative pieces because that is what I was struggling with before. This is a good source to use because my topic deals with everyone and not just a certain group like teachers and students, or the church. Many people want to voice their opinion on Gen Z, some very interesting, and they do it through social media. I will be using Twitter, Tumblr, and Whisper to look at both sides of this issue.

·      Whisper
Whisper is a social media app that allows you to post, or reply to posts, anonymously. In other words, you can say whatever you want and nobody will know that it was you. People will confess things that they have never told anyone, ask for advice, complain, give advice and, of course, be complete pricks. I was scrolling through posts one day (I don’t know why I have this app. Most of the posts or replies usually make me mad…) and came across a post about Bernie Sanders. I haven’t found many things about political views online. I have heard about them through friends and family but have never really heard any other opinions. This post simply stated, “I have never voted in my life. I never felt a candidate was worth it. Until Bernie Sanders”. There were many replies to this post some saying “Yeah! Go Bernie!” or “#FeelTheBern”. And then there are the posts that say, “Empty promises don’t get anything done. He’s a lying, corrupt man able to pull the wool over the sheep’s eyes”. My political views and whom I want to vote for are irrelevant here but I would like to say that I am not voting for Bernie Sanders. Our generation tends to put socialism above all else whereas generations before us look at the bigger problems affecting our country. I don’t disagree that it should be a focus on the long list of things that need to get fixed in this country but it is not at the top of the totem pole of most importance. I’m not saying that this isn’t a problem because social inequality is a big deal and it should be fixed but we’re not going to be able to fix it unless everyone in America suddenly realizes that they should just be accepting of everyone. That is something that takes time; it is a process. So I can’t say that I disagree with the people voting for Sanders because social inequality is a thing that needs to be fixed but it shouldn’t be the main focus. I also can’t say that I disagree with people voting for Trump. Trump knows money he just doesn’t know equality or really how to run the country.

·      Twitter
I was scrolling through posts on Twitter to see what I could find on Gen Z. I came across this girl named Jessica Cassidy, a millennial (or the generation before Gen Z). She had written a letter to us Gen Z-ers telling us how much she dislikes us and some of her points make sense. She mentioned how much “power and influence” we have than any other generation. And she says, so far, we are using it wrong but that we can change that and use our power to make a difference instead of just posting selfies and pointless videos. We could post a video that can make a change or “make becoming ”unplugged”, even for a short while, trendy.” I agree with her. Many of us Gen Z-ers don’t use technology to its full potential. We could make a change with the power that we hold right in our hands or, at least, we can try. We could post pictures of the amazing places we’ve been or an act of kindness instead of pointless selfies with a pointless description or no description at all. Cassidy called out generation narcissistic and entitled. I mostly agree with that. We are a very narcissistic generation but I don’t necessarily think that we are entitled. We may be selfish and want a lot of things but we sure as hell work to get those things. Many kids these days are on their own completely separate from their parents, having to pay for their own things. I know friends who are paying for their insurance and for college right now.

·      Tumblr
Tumblr is slowly getting more popular. It is the social media network that actually has people on it that care about the world and not just selfies so getting opinions from tumblr wasn’t too hard. Pretty much every post was from someone within the population of Generation Z, defending their generation. Someone with the name scarletwitches posted on Tumbl, specifically about how unfairly older generations are looking at Gen Z. She/ He says, “This is different because unlike other generations before us, we are not at one, but at many turning points in history.” He/ She then goes into the use of technology and how our world has never been such a globalized community. He/ She then mentions how our generation will be facing more threats to humankind than have ever existed in one time period before; environmental issues, terrorism, and the global economy. I agree with all of this. We are a generation that has many problems we will have to face in the future. We are a completely new generation even though some label Gen Z as “The Millennials 2.0”, we are far from similar to the Millennials.

     These are only a few examples from social media. I will pull much more once I’ve furthered my research. As for whether or not the other articles will agree, I think Williams and Elmore will certainly agree with the Tumblr post but disagree with parts from Jessica Cassidy’s letter on Twitter. I don’t know how these two would feel about the Whisper post though. They don’t put much in either of their articles about politics. As for Lance Looper, I think he’d agree with both the Tumblr post and the Twitter post. Probably more the twitter post from Cassidy because he, too, believes that Gen Z has a lot of power and the resources to make a change. But Looper also realizes all the challenges Gen Z will face in the future so, in this way, he agrees with the Tumblr post.

New Questions:

·      What are more political views from all generations?

·      What do older generations think of Gen Z?

·      What does Gen Z think of Gen Z?

·      What is the more prominent issue with Gen Z right now: social, technological, political, or economic?

I am going to look at more posts on social media about Gen Z and try to find a book on Gen Z. And then I’m going to begin writing my paper and see where that takes me.

Answers:

·      Gen Z is slowly making their way in the world.

·      Gen Z is very intelligent but also very opinionated and that can be blinding sometimes.

·      Gen Z is going to have a lot of problems to face in the near future.