Is Gen Z Working Towards a New Status Quo?
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“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
An age-old question we’ve heard a million times with only a few acceptable answers. That is…until Gen Z. It’s safe to say a vast majority of today’s youth have begun to reject the idea of living a traditional lifestyle. Working a 9 to 5, coming home, and taking care of your kids is no longer the only ideal. The concept of “working to live” is quite frankly outdated, and Gen Z has done a wonderful job of bringing unconventionality back into the picture. The plot is spicy with this generation. Food for thought: Corporate America is not our only way of living fruitful lives! Today, we aren’t confined by the pages of a textbook forcing us to follow a path that has been paved over and over and over again. Repetitive, right? The point is - we have choices. And accessibility—a whole lot of accessibility. With these privileges, Gen Z is left to decide which route to take. Will we let our level of accessibility act as our booster or our crutch? As we move away from that typical way of living, we may find ourselves falling into a trap - a virtually induced one.
We’re digital natives – access to technology is essentially all we know. We rely on it, and it’s enabled us to build different lives for ourselves. For example, the influx of social media influencers is unlike anything society has ever seen. 30 years ago, it didn’t exist. We’ve broken the status quo! However, no one knows what will happen from this point forward, not even us. It’s a beautiful yet dangerous place to be in. Now, instead of finding freedom through this unconventionality and newness, there’s beginning to be cause for concern. Society has never been in this position – we are experiencing a rapid pace of consumption that’s beyond tolerable.
Social media is a blessing and a curse, there’s no doubt about that. We’re all addicted to scrolling and need blue-light glasses just to “keep on keeping on.” Now, the question is - Do we allow the content we see to inspire us or derail us?
Image Courtesy: Pixstory
On one side of the coin, it’s almost too easy to get lost in a sea of profiles filled with people doing everything you’ve ever wanted to do. It’s exhausting and makes your own highlight reel feel irrelevant. It seems to happen overnight – suddenly your friend has millions of followers and is flying on a private jet to Italy with your favorite DJ. Where did you go wrong?! There’s an overemphasis on “living your best life” that can be draining and discouraging when you feel like you’re not living up to it. This new expectation is to always be on trend, at a party, making millions, or at some underground location you can’t even pinpoint. The reality is, we’re curating our lives to appear a certain way. We put on masks to fit whatever character we want to be for the week. Now instead of being told we must be a doctor or lawyer; we’re being brainwashed into believing the way to be “cool” is through our digital presence. If we aren’t participating in life this way, we’ll miss the memo. And God forbid we do.
Have we traded one beast for another? As we continue with our rejection of the old-fashioned, we have to tread carefully in order to avoid adopting an ego-centered lifestyle.
While the level of accessibility at our fingertips can be overwhelming, and make our own life even more challenging to organize, it leads us to ideas and experiences that would be impossible otherwise. If Gen Z didn’t utilize the internet, so much of the content we take inspiration from would be useless. We are building another world for ourselves using digital media. Look at creators such as Yes Theory (a YouTube channel promoting adventure, cultural immersion, and getting out of your comfort zone), who have created a platform that expands beyond virtual barriers. They are an example of available content to consume that showcases the wonders the world has to offer outside of our digital complacency. This channel emphasizes human connection and chasing your dreams – which brews inspiration and motivation from their audience. Yes Theory is one of numerous channels following a similar trajectory and a fantastic place to turn to during an internet deep dive. Shifting our perspective to focus on content such as this, rather than what Becky posts on her Instagram, is wildly more beneficial for our well-being.
Image Courtesy: YouTube
Overall, it’s easy to get caught up in what we’re not doing and place these pseudo-expectations on ourselves. We must shift our perspective to one of desire to build a life we wish to live on our own terms. Don’t stick to the status quo. Choose to use our resources as a boost and not a crutch. We have the choice to avoid the virtually induced trap. At the end of the day, we’re all trying to figure it out. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Strike Out,
Writer: Dani Hernandez
Editor: Cristina Angee
Tallahassee