GENERATION Z

Whatever you call them- Generation-Z, Net- Generation, Silent generation, Generation-Web or I-Generation- they are the most mobile and explorative generation that has ever existed, considering the children and teenagers born after 1995. More than any previous generation, today's young people are plugged in -- all the time -- with a world of communication and information at their fingertips. As long as our children will experience different childhood than we have had it is interesting to explore the Net- Generation. From marketing point of view they make up for nearly 18 percent of the world’s population. That was one of the topics discused in "the virtual revolution", a documentary of BBC.

WHO ARE GENERATION Z?

-Gen Z are those people born from 1995 to the end of 2009

-They are the next generation after Gen Y (today’s teenage and twentysomethings)

-They are today’s children and students, and tomorrow’s employees and leaders

-They are the world’s first 21st Century generation - the digital natives, the dot com kids, Generation Media

-They are today’s emerging generation who resemble children of any era past, yet they personify our future

-They were born into smaller families - and they have the fewest siblings of any era

-They were born to older mums - whose median age is now approximately 33

-They are the up-ageing generation. They are growing up faster. They are in education earlier. They are being exposed to marketing younger

-Events & Experiences: While today they are not in the workforce, within a decade they will comprise 10% of the workforce. And they will be entering the workforce in an era of declining supply: more people exiting the workforce than entering it. And so for Gen Z the skills shortages, the ageing population and the global demand for labour will continue to empower them

Unfortunately the risk young person to be obsessed by the technology occurs. For instance Samantha, now 13,performs worse than before on her exams and she is addicted with texting, Facebook and her laptop (Italie 2010). Sometimes she falls asleep in her clothes clutching her phone and when texting exceeded 2,000 messages a day her parents banned the function from 9.00 pm to 6.00am. As a consequence the child started to behave unstable- slams doors, breaks things, does not speak with her parents.

Moreover, from same resource, this obsession can be scary and funny including “a high school junior who took to urinating in a bottle while playing online and a college kid who shaved his head to save time on hair washing in the shower so he could return to the computer more quickly”, and how mother from Dallas, Texas locks her children`s laptops in her car during the night.

According with the news (The Sunday Telegraph 2009) in Australia there are already talks about Generation Alpha- the newest and which follows Gen X, Gen Y, even Gen Z- and contains the population born after 2010. Generation Alpha takes the reins from Gen Z - those born since 1995. People expect the future population to be more materialistic and technology-focused, work longer and have an average of five careers and 20 different employers in their lifetimes. "These 'Google' kids are really being shaped in a world of technology and consumerism."

Internet changes the way we think as well- now we grab information from more different resources. As Nicholas Carr (Choney 2010) noticed his "mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski ".

The Internet is there and Gen Z take it for granted. They do not consider it to be the greatest tool for mankind as it has always been there for them. . They are the children of the modern world and are also called the digital generation. They also are growing up in a world of equality and they believe men and women are equals. This generation has embraced technology and also they are highly dependent on it. If generation Z is molded properly, they can achieve a lot more than their earlier generations using the digital media. Beyond 2020, there could be drastic changes in work culture, ethics and even values that will be set forth by the generation Z.

 References:

 Matthews, V (2008) Generation Z, The Employees of the Future. Jounal Personnel Today, 13 (4), 48-52
 
Choney, S. (2010) Internet Making Our Brains Different, Not Dumb [online]. Available from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35464896/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/[03.03.2010]

Italie, L. (2010) Tech Use up with Kids; Parents Losing Ground [online]. Available from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35099639/ns/technology_and_science_tech_and_gadgets/ [03.03.2010]

The Sunday Telegraph (2009) Babies Born from 2010 to Form Generation Alpha [online]. Available from http://www.news.com.au/features/babies-born-from-2010-to-form-generation-alpha/story-e6frfl49-1225797766713 [03.03.2010]