At 22, I was born in the middle of the Generation Z. My younger siblings are at the tail end and most of my friends just scraped in, having been born in the late 1990s. I see the older ones pretending to be millennials, because if you’ve seen any headlines about us youngsters, we’re lonely, anxious, lazy and sensitive. The worst generational bracket. And that’s not all.
We complain about having no money but refuse to climb the corporate ladder. We’re vain and obsessed with cosmetic procedures. We drink matcha, journal obsessively and eat an all-pistachio diet (covered in chocolate and imported from Dubai).
While most will agree that many of these stereotypes are unfair and far-fetched, one thing that all generations before us agree on is that we’re boring. The worst kind of boring, in fact. We’re the ones who don’t drink, never stay out late, are having less sex and will bring an end to the nights out that Brits know and love.
The fact that most of us are boring is true, just not in the way people think. I’m mostly sober, go to bed by 9pm every night, and spend my weekend evenings at home, but I wouldn’t class myself as dull. Other people my age are monotonous; chatting to them is like attempting to communicate with a brick wall.
People in their twenties seem unable to hold any type of conversation. I’ll observe friends of friends I meet, or I’ll watch my sisters interact, and it’s obvious we’ve lost the ability to make the most basic chat. Conversations feel one-sided. They’ll nod in agreement the entire time, then let out a little laugh followed by silence. They have nothing to add; no opinion of their own. Get them on a topic like Netflix and they might have some valuable recommendations – but news, politics, and life in general? You haven’t got a chance.
Of course, it’s important to remember we grew up during a global pandemic. I was 17 when Boris Johnson announced we couldn’t leave our houses – then clubs, bars and public spaces remained closed when I became an adult. We’ve gained little life experience, especially as so many young people are now not in the working world, either by choice – choosing to live at home with parents – or because they can’t get jobs in the first place.
In my job as a journalist, I speak to many people of all ages with interesting stories to tell. It means I know how to have a free-flowing conversation and can expand upon my opinion if asked. A lot of my friends are millennials in their late twenties to early thirties, so I’m not in a Gen Z echochamber. But many people I know my age are still stuck in a childlike loop of wanting others to talk for them.
It’s draining. The art of conversation, talking back and forth, just isn’t a thing with them. A debate is asking too much, there are no opinions to share unless it’s just regurgitating what happened in a trending video or celebrity gossip. The topics of books, weekend plans and funny anecdotes are non-existent.
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Boomers, on the other hand, seem to have mastered this thing called having a personality. My nan, her friends and everyone her age are much more fun to be around. Their life experiences are interesting, they tell exciting stories and comment on the world we’re actually living in. They’re not living in a distorted online reality shaped by celebrity entertainment or ‘bed-rotting’. They have their own points of view, they question the world, debate with each other, and have a dry humour that makes for a good chat around the table.
I think a lot it comes down to social media and the content us Gen Z-ers consume everyday. TikTok has provided us with endless swipes of short clips that give our life no purpose, teach us nothing valuable, but make us sit for hours. We’re all consuming more – but somehow have less to talk about.
Influencers tell us what to watch, wear and even think, creating an echo chamber that discourages us to develop our own critical thinking, hobbies, tastes and skills.
Noel Bell, a psychotherapist and spokesperson for the UK Council for Psychotherapy, says the problem comes from passive scrolling, which has a detrimental effect on mental health and emotional wellbeing. “There’s the over-reliance on digital interactions, so there’s less ability to develop face-to-face communication skills,” he says. “Older people seem to have have learned social skills, like making small talk, with greater ease, as they didn’t have this oppressive need to impress that the worst parts of social media can bring out.”
Bell adds that social media creates “oppressiveness around comparison” – meaning young people in particular are reluctant to give an opinion, or even appear outside the ‘norm’. “That has a massive impact on a lot of people, both on their self-esteem, confidence and social confidence.”
I, for one, have scrolled for hours on end, and if asked what I’ve been doing or what I’ve watched, have no answer that’s worth saying out loud. When that’s all we’re doing, day in and day out, it’s no surprise we’ve become so uninteresting.
So, as a 22-year-old, I’d much rather be seated at the table of pensioners. They’ll make me laugh, teach me something new, and maybe, just maybe, have an opinion on something I say.
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