The recent narrative of the generational divide has been marked by a decisive diatribe against the 1996-2009 born generation known as Gen Z. According to the opinions of many an older generation, Gen Z kids are not present in everyday life due to digital dependency and are far too sensitive and unable to adapt as a result of this.

   Today’s youth are consistently uninteresting, bland, and have no idea how to have fun. This statement holds under scrutiny: teen pregnancy, alcohol abuse, and drug use are at a historic low, meaning fewer teens are partying hard and having sex. According to Forbes, “Data shows Gen Zers are less likely to have tried alcohol, gotten their driver’s licenses, had sex or gone out regularly without their parents than teens of the previous two or three generations” (forbes.com). Many Gen Z kids choose boring activities like studying and learning over drinking and doing drugs.

   Another problem older generations have pointed out about Gen Z is how overly-emotional and sensitive they are. According to the Washington Post, those who hold this opinion “cling to the ideal of postwar childhood, in large measure because white middle- and upper-middle-class baby boomers and Gen Xers recall their childhoods fondly, even as their generations have erased the conditions that made it attainable” (washingtonpost.com). This has led many to believe that the post-war toughness and emotional hardness just can’t be attained by younger generations who evidently have no way of understanding violence (We’ll just ignore the fact that the Gen Z bracket was made so no kid in that generation could remember a time before 9/11 and without the War on Terror).

   Gen Z represents a group of digital addicts that can’t put their phones down to save themselves. Due to their short attention span and dependency on their phones to communicate, they aren’t rooted in activism or even remotely interested in changing the world for the better (Nevermind that Time Magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year, Greta Thunberg, is a Gen Z kid).  Social movements created by this generation, such as the nationwide March For Our Lives campaign, just simply aren’t earth-shattering enough to make real change, since it’s clearly impossible to create a cohesive movement using modern technology. It’s evident that Gen Z doesn’t care about making social change happen.

   It’s easy to see that Gen Z is the most problematic generation to date. They have a short attention span due to the influence of live updates, are over-sensitive, and simply can’t have good old-fashioned fun.  Instead, they prioritize staying connected through their phones and have overly-anxious tendencies, something that very well may arise from their digital habits. However, it’s worth noting that Gen Z “reports levels of stress and depression that are higher than ever because of the economic and political state of the world it has inherited” (theguardian.com). And whose fault is that?