What matters to Generation Z? What does life hold for Generation Alpha? - Misc and chat

So.

We had a discussion last night in our house: my husband, myself and my 16 year old daughter.

It was on the back of one of the discussions on here about cultural norms.

It struck me that I didn't really know how life was viewed by folk: Generation Z from 1995 to 2009

You know I thought I knew. I thought it would be Climate Change, WW3. That sort of thing. But I wonder if that is infact just what is important to me. Being in my 50s, I am moulded by my youth experiences and how life has changed around me: feminism, 1980s poverty, Gen X culture. Thinking that we were going to change the world for the better. My parents grew up during the 60s. My grandparents through the War - and we didn't need a number to know which one we were talking about. 

I misquoted There is no such thing as society 

https://iea.org.uk/blog/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society

It was a long discussion. And I wanted to put it out there. What matters to Generation Z? What does life hold for Generation Alpha?

My daughter's answer, was totally unexpected. She said financial security (I paraphrase). I know that she is only n=1, but I wonder what you think the answer to this question is? 

xx Mrs Snooks

Parents
  • I found this article provided good context for considering the environment of development of generation z and generation alpha:

    www.britannica.com/.../Generation-Alpha

  • Who's generation alpha?

    I can't get my head around all these generations being labled, I did look it up once and got fed up, I'm apparently at the tail end of being a boomer, we're supposed to be a well off generation, who got the best of the post war stuff. I didn't by the time I needed a council house there were none left and a long waiting list, unemployment was growing and it was hard to get a job, Thatcherism was rife and many people my age were rioting. I feel I got the worst of both the generations either side of me and that I fell down the cracks between the generations.

  • I agree Cat woman, I really don't understand the generation labels. It seems that the US government started labelling people born between 1946 and 1964 as baby boomers just because the birth rate soared during that period, then someone decided to make up random generational periods after it, and now before it too. The generation periods are not all the same length either, which annoys me.

    Those of us born in the early 1960s don't have the same life experiences as people born in the late 40s - we became adults as Thatcher came to power, and there were massive changes to society and culture at that time. Jobs changed and became less secure, unions were demonised, the poor became poorer, there was rioting in the streets against the poll tax and people went on demonstrations against nuclear warfare and animal testing. There were big cultural changes too, with punk, new romantic and electronic music and alternative comedy. So although I'm classed as a boomer, I would identify more with generation X. Although I don't really want to be put in any of them.

    I think that all generations want financial security, I think that's one thing that doesn't change.

Reply
  • I agree Cat woman, I really don't understand the generation labels. It seems that the US government started labelling people born between 1946 and 1964 as baby boomers just because the birth rate soared during that period, then someone decided to make up random generational periods after it, and now before it too. The generation periods are not all the same length either, which annoys me.

    Those of us born in the early 1960s don't have the same life experiences as people born in the late 40s - we became adults as Thatcher came to power, and there were massive changes to society and culture at that time. Jobs changed and became less secure, unions were demonised, the poor became poorer, there was rioting in the streets against the poll tax and people went on demonstrations against nuclear warfare and animal testing. There were big cultural changes too, with punk, new romantic and electronic music and alternative comedy. So although I'm classed as a boomer, I would identify more with generation X. Although I don't really want to be put in any of them.

    I think that all generations want financial security, I think that's one thing that doesn't change.

Children
  • I don't think a lot of us had the same experiences as those born in the mid to late 1950's either, as you say Thatcher came into power and eveything changed. I'm probably more generation x too, I in my early teens when punk exploded onto the music scene and "alternative" comedy came along, how strange to think it was once Ok to racially abuse people, denigrate women and the disabled in the name of comedy?

    I think the other thing with these pigeon holes is the assumption that we all had an equal playing field, when we didn't, if you were poor, working class, non white, female or really anything other than a middle class white male, then the field didn't feel level at all.