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Gen Z Microgenerations - Big Z's
183 Plays7 years ago
In the first part of this two-part series, we begin to dive into the concept of microgenerations. Kicking off the conversation, my guests include three members of Generation Z who fall within the "Big Z" age-range being some of the oldest in the generational cohort. This conversation covers a variety of topics to gain perspectives on how some of the oldest in Generation Z may view the world so we can compare these views in part 2 with the views of "Little Z's", or the youngest in the generational cohort.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hashtag Gen Z
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Ashtag Gen Z. I'm your host, Megan Grace.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hashtag Gen Z is a podcast about, as you guessed it, Generation Z, the generation of young people born between 1995 and 2010. It's about who they are, what they believe in, why they do what they do, and what makes them different than any other generation.
Micro-Generations within Gen Z
00:00:32
Speaker
excited to be kicking off a two-part series focusing on micro-generations. The concept of micro-generations is something Corey and I have been learning a little bit more about as we've been working on our next book, and there's more to come about our next book very soon. A micro-generation is a smaller grouping within a larger generational cohort. While there hasn't been much formal research about the concept,
00:00:52
Speaker
More opinion pieces about micro-generations have emerged, especially when it comes to discussing the idea of zenials, or the group of young Gen Xers who might identify with some of older millennial characteristics.
Big Zs vs Little Zs
00:01:03
Speaker
From this perspective, micro-generations can capture a portion of a larger generation that is on the cusp of either end, the oldest or the youngest. Corey and I have started to look at the differing perspectives of the oldest of Generation Z, as well as the youngest, when research and data becomes available on young adults, teens, and pre-teens.
00:01:21
Speaker
We like to utilize the terms Big Zs and Little Zs. Big Zs, referencing the oldest in the generation, born at the very beginning of Generation Z, who may also be cuspers and might exhibit some traits of Gen Z, but might also have some traits of Millennials. However, their perspective is going to be very different than those born even in the middle of the generation, and definitely different than those born at the very end of the generation, the youngest of Generation Z, whom we've started referencing as Little Zs. Truly, the perspective of the oldest in the generation
00:01:51
Speaker
who are 21, 22, and 23 years old today, is so different than that of the youngest who are 8, 9, and 10. The very oldest were only 5 and 6 when 9-11 happened, and the youngest were born closer to the 10-year anniversary of 9-11 than the actual occurrence.
Meet the Guests: Big Zs
00:02:07
Speaker
Despite not having much formal research on micro-generations within Generation Z, I wanted to start exploring this concept by hearing the stories and perspectives of some Big Zs and some Little Zs. So this is a two-part series that will be featuring a panel of Big Zs in one episode and a panel of Little Zs in the next. Both groups will be asked the same set of questions, and so we're beginning to learn a little bit more about their similarities and differences among these two groups.
00:02:32
Speaker
And while I recognize we can't fully generalize the experience of the panelists to the larger groups, it does begin to give us an idea of some of the different behaviors and perspectives of Big Zs and Little Zs. In this episode, my panel of guests consists of Jeff, Nika, and Xavier, three Big Zs who have never met but offered to spend some time chatting
Tech Preferences of Gen Z
00:02:50
Speaker
with me.
00:02:55
Speaker
I want to welcome my wonderful guests today. We have an awesome panel of big Z's, our very oldest of generation Z. They're here to chat and I'm going to turn it over to them in a second, but we're going to be chatting about a few different things before we do that. I want them to introduce themselves. So today we've got Jeff, Nika and Xavier. Thank you so much, Megan. First for, for inviting me to be a part of the conversation, a little bit about myself. I graduated from the University of Cincinnati last spring in 2018.
00:03:23
Speaker
And now I travel and work for Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, or SIGEP, where I work with college age men out on the West Coast to help them be better and do better as a chapter of SIGEP. Awesome. Thanks. Nika, do you want to go ahead and share about what you're doing?
00:03:42
Speaker
Sure. So thank you so much for having me on. My name is Nika Mohini. I graduated from my undergrad last year studying international relations and commerce at the University of British Columbia. Now I'm wrapping up my master's degree in international affairs. I just finished the co-op work term at Global Affairs Canada, where I was working on gender equality policy. And I run a couple of my own businesses as well.
00:04:08
Speaker
One focused on helping entrepreneurs with their LinkedIn and YouTube marketing, and one working with young people on their personal development. And then, Xavier, do you want to share a little bit about you and what you're doing?
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, so thanks for inviting me. My name is Xavier. I am a senior at the University at Buffalo in New York. I am an international politics and Spanish double major. And right now I'm just working on law school applications. I'm currently an intern at a refugee agency as a case manager assistant.
00:04:40
Speaker
Wonderful. Well, again, thank you all for taking some time to chat with me. And I know that, you know, with everything that you are doing, you all stay so busy and it amazes me every time I get to talk to a member of Gen Z and hear, you know, what you're either doing on campus or what are you doing in your jobs? But today we're just going to talk about some higher level questions and really a little bit of a random smattering of, of topics. But so I'm going to start with my first question. What technology are you, do you gravitate towards most and is that somewhere with your peers? So what technology are you using and why?
00:05:10
Speaker
So for me at least, I definitely lean towards my cell phone over anything else. I don't know, to me my cell phone has sort of become my third hand. I use it for everything, whether it be responding to emails, text messages, or going through social media. It's literally my go-to for almost anything that is digital or anything that is online.
00:05:32
Speaker
And is there, say, a technology that you and your peers might have gravitated away from or like are less likely to utilize? I know that y'all are smartphone-friendly users, but is there something where you're like, no, like I've actually found that I'm not using desktop computers as much anymore? Or, you know, Azure, you've grown up using technology, one that you really gravitated away from?
00:05:52
Speaker
The last thing that I would use that I just find very inconvenient for me personally would be any sort of tablet or iPad or anything of that such day. To me, they're just very, very bulky. They're just like sort of big phones with less functionality, if that makes sense.
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Jeff or Nico, what technology are you and your peers most likely to be using? Are there any that you're rotating away from? For me, I think a little bit about the tech ecosystem that I use. And I am a lover of Apple as a company and use a couple of their different products from my laptop to my iPhone to my watch to my headphones even. And the thing that for me brings all that together is that they're integrated with one another.
00:06:37
Speaker
And some people of my peers like that and some don't, but it's one trend that I've seen across people my age, more so than some older folks, just having everything work between my laptop, my phone, my watch, etc. In terms of things that I don't use anymore, you mentioned a desktop computer, and I can't quite think of the last time that I used one, except for in school.
00:07:00
Speaker
when I was doing design work and we worked in a lab. So that's really one that I don't anticipate ever really purchasing for myself anymore because a laptop, at least today it seems, can do just as much of anything that I would need to do on a laptop as a desktop would.
00:07:17
Speaker
That's really interesting. Yeah. I have never thought that if I would need to buy like a desktop computer, unless it was like for an office or like a workplace, but those are typically provided by your employer. So I don't think I'd ever buy one for my home. And along a similar vein, how do you all prefer to communicate? And, you know, if, if there's a way to get ahold of you, what is your preferences and where do those lie?
00:07:39
Speaker
Sure, I'll go first and I'll kind of answer the last question a little bit. Yeah, just to say like, in terms of tablets, that's definitely not something I use or I see my peers using. But I think maybe that answer will be different from the younger Z's, you know, who use it to play games and communicate and things like that. So I think that'll be
00:07:57
Speaker
interesting comparison but in terms of communication for me definitely my phone and I think the dominant forms of like messengers that I would use are Facebook messenger and Instagram messenger. I think basically they're the ones where everyone else has access to them as well so it's a little easier although I know like in some other countries young people are raised or using things like WhatsApp and other
00:08:23
Speaker
messaging apps, but I think right now what I see my peers using a lot is Facebook Messenger, even if they don't use Facebook the app very much. But the best way to get a hold of me probably is one of those two platforms, and then text messaging, someone whose number you have. I don't think we do video calls as much as the younger generation, but that's just an observation I've seen. So my experience with, I guess, communication tools might be a little bit informed,
00:08:50
Speaker
by the work that I do. So I travel full time now for work. So I actually do use video messaging or FaceTime and things like that quite frequently with my friends back home. And in addition to that, I definitely find myself preferring phone calls more than I had when I was younger. And I think that's a function of having graduated now and friends moving to different places. We actually enjoy hearing each other's voices when we're not in the same physical space.
00:09:18
Speaker
I don't use as many messenger apps. I still text all the time and use Snapchat and things like that, but primarily when I'm driving for work or even just in the evening, I'm usually calling friends.
00:09:30
Speaker
And I find a lot of my friends or guys that I work with are doing the same with people back home. And one platform that I've picked up on a lot more in the last year or two has actually been Slack, which is probably used primarily as a more professional tool, but I find more friend groups now using Slack as opposed to a group me or a group message just because it compartmentalizes the conversations you're having and makes it a little more organized for people.
Career Choices and Aspirations
00:09:57
Speaker
So that's interesting that you're using Slack in a friend group. What would be the intended outcome of using Slack in a friend group? Because I've never thought about using a project management app like that for my social life, per se.
00:10:11
Speaker
Sure, so if you consider a group of friends, a maybe large or maybe even a smaller group of close friends that oftentimes have a lot of different conversations going at once, it's a very convenient tool to have something where we're planning our travel for homecoming or we're having a conversation that deals with the relationships that we're in or not and the conversation can change but it's still organized whereas one continuous thread between that group of
00:10:39
Speaker
six ten maybe fifteen people would just be very disorganized otherwise if it was a single i message stream or a single group me that you have to go back and scroll for what seems like days to find an old message that would be much easier through a platform like slack in a certain channel which is a slack is organized.
00:10:59
Speaker
Okay, so it's more so compartmentalizing different aspects of a group chat as opposed to like we're, I mean, you did bring up planning a trip, but we're not working on the same stuff. It's more so to compartmentalize different aspects of a group chat.
00:11:11
Speaker
Right. I found that a lot of times it's the same group of people having a lot of different conversations and Slack makes it simple to do that and allows me then also the ability on my phone when I get a Slack notification to know, do I need to look at this right now? Or is this something that is like you mentioned for a trip three months in the future that I don't necessarily need to look at right away.
00:11:32
Speaker
It's very interesting. I've not heard of this phenomenon and I'm going to keep an eye on this. Xavier, what about you? How's the best way to get a hold of you communication wise and what are you and your peers using to stay in touch?
00:11:43
Speaker
So from my peers and I, what we do, it really depends on where they are. So for my friends in the United States, definitely video chatting with things like FaceTime are one of my first choices to contact them. I definitely prefer them over phone calls and texting just because it's a lot more personal, especially being away at college. It's sort of, I can at least pretend that they're in front of me.
00:12:12
Speaker
And for my friends who are outside of the country, I find that we use other apps that don't require like phone plans or data messaging such as Snapchat or WhatsApp, even Facebook Messenger that was mentioned earlier. Those are some of the primary apps we use to sort of keep in contact.
00:12:30
Speaker
If I'm in a professional setting, I definitely prefer emails because I know a lot of times my supervisor likes to send text messages or through other forms that aren't always considered professional. So I just consider, I just, for that, I prefer emails.
00:12:46
Speaker
Well, thank you. It's insightful to hear, you know, how this is changing and how even just in different locations and even think about the fact that you all have friends around the globe that you're communicating with. And that's so interesting. So most of you, both the two of you have graduated and are moving into this professional space. So this question is a little, little two parts. So
00:13:06
Speaker
If you have graduated and you're in that professional space, what were you looking for in the jobs that you were searching for when you were in the process of applying? And then if you haven't graduated, what are you looking for in that workplace and understanding, you know, how it helped you determine what kind of career you wanted to pursue.
00:13:24
Speaker
So for me, I went to pursue my master's degree because that was kind of the ticket into some of the types of jobs that I was interested in. So for example, if you'd like to work for a larger international organization like the UN or the World Bank,
00:13:40
Speaker
or even the Canadian government, you would need a master's degree. So for me, that's why I went and pursued that. But then when I actually went to look for the jobs, I was really looking for something that aligns with what I've studied, but also a topic that was relevant to the kind of impact I wanted to make on the world. So the first co-op job that I got was in gender equality policy. And I thought that was really fascinating because
00:14:08
Speaker
It's such an exciting time right now for the feminist movement to be growing and the topic of gender equality is really relevant. So that's why that job really appealed to me in terms of my co-op. But then the reason I didn't continue my co-op term and
00:14:26
Speaker
but I might not actually go back to government work, is that I actually felt like it wasn't as fast paced as I wanted it to be and it wasn't as, I couldn't see the direct impact that I wanted to have necessarily from a larger institution like the government.
00:14:44
Speaker
So that's why I'm kind of working on my own businesses right now and my own projects and realizing that maybe entrepreneurship is a better fit for me. I know that some other people in our generation also have that feeling, wanting to be an entrepreneur and in order to really be able to make their own decisions, but also make
00:15:03
Speaker
the kind of impact that they want and kind of structure their work in the way that they want. So for me I went out seeking the ability to make an impact within a larger organization and since then I've realized that maybe that's not what I want. That being said I still have a couple courses before I graduate for my master's degree so it's kind of still we'll see where I end up.
00:15:25
Speaker
Jeff, what about you? What helped you determine what you wanted to do after you graduated? And as you were leading up to that, what were you looking for in the career path that you've gone down? So throughout my time in college, I had the great opportunity to complete a number of co-op terms where I worked full time in between academic semesters. And I worked in a number of different industries doing that. I worked in public policy. I worked in consulting. I worked in higher education.
00:15:55
Speaker
And through that, I have said to people that my time in college, I think, taught me less about what I wanted to do or what I want to do in the future, but a lot more about how to evaluate an opportunity and whether or not I'd be interested in it. And as a part of that, I really boil it down to two areas, impact and challenge. And those are the things that I weigh primarily
00:16:24
Speaker
when looking at an opportunity. And so when I came out of school, I took an opportunity that was never going to come across again in my lifetime. So what that meant was throughout my time in college, I found situations and opportunities and pursued jobs or thought I wanted to pursue jobs that ultimately I realized I could do at another point. But instead what I found through my current role with SIGEP is that
00:16:51
Speaker
there's no other time where I could take this job. It's a role that is only available to students in the year after they graduate school. And there was a lot of investment in me through our development program over the course of our first 10 weeks of onboarding on the job.
00:17:07
Speaker
and a lot of investment throughout the year that I'll be working in this role in my own development and my future as well. And so coming out of school that was a very attractive opportunity to me because it allowed me to make a large impact in the organization that I'm working in but also have a lot invested in me in a place and a time that isn't going to replicate itself at any
00:17:29
Speaker
Xavier, what about you? You're a senior this year, correct? And so I think you mentioned that you are looking at law schools. And what has helped you go down that path and pursue that as your post-graduation plan? So I am very, very lucky compared to many other students in regards to me knowing what I want to do after graduation.
00:17:52
Speaker
knowing that I've wanted to go into law, something that I've known literally since the fifth grade. And it all comes down to my elementary school teacher having a huge impact and influence on my future decisions and where I saw myself going in the future. So that is something that I am very, very grateful for. And it's a goal that I've been working towards since elementary school.
00:18:15
Speaker
That's wonderful that you had a positive influence with your elementary school teacher, helping provide that guidance and giving you hopefully the support and helping you find this career path. And I'm excited to hear how your application process goes and where you end up because I'm sure that whatever law school you end up going to is going to be a great fit for you.
00:18:35
Speaker
I have like a very open and somewhat vague question, but what are some of the things that you worry about most? If you think about some of the big stresses in your life or the things that really weigh on you, what are some of the things that you all worry about the most?
00:18:47
Speaker
money. I worry about money and paying for school. That is probably one of my biggest concerns is this sort of weight on my shoulders thinking about all the debt that I am accumulating and all the debt that I will continue to be accumulating once I enroll in law school. And it's sort of a huge, huge
00:19:10
Speaker
Like I said, a huge weight on my shoulders, thinking about how this will weigh over me for the next years to come. Yeah, and you are definitely not alone in that worry. Many, many people are feeling that way. I still feel that way. I've still got student loan payments. And so you're definitely not alone in that worry. I had to give that one a little bit of extra thought.
00:19:34
Speaker
For me, the things that I would regularly worry or even just think more seriously about it and doubt myself at times really just would surround the idea of making decisions in life. I think as I've graduated and been out of school for a few months, I've realized there are so many paths, obviously, that any single person can take. And that could be graduate school. That could be a career in one industry, a career in another industry.
00:20:04
Speaker
and geographically where where do I want to build a life or live and knowing that any choice can be superseded by another choice but making big choices like that I think are the things that I don't know if I worry about but I think a lot about because they impact a lot of things in your life and after graduating you're put in a position where
Gen Z's Unique Traits
00:20:31
Speaker
no one is really dictating those choices that you make. And so that's really what I think about broadly a lot of the time, especially as I mentioned in the role that I'm presently in, that's a term limited role for a year, the same set of choices that a lot of my peers were making last year or last spring as they approach jobs after graduation or a graduate program.
00:20:57
Speaker
is I'm coming into a second round of that coming up in really only a few short months at the end of the academic year. We've got one more question for you, and this is a question that I ask at the end of every interview, every episode that I do, what are some of your favorite things about your Gen Z peers? I like how my generation is really resourceful.
00:21:18
Speaker
And I guess that might be because we've grown up with technology and we've grown up with access to information and opportunities and people really, you know, have that kind of entrepreneurial drive to get, to get the information they need to do what they want to do. Or, you know, I've met young people who learned coding all on their own because they were just resourceful in that way to go and find out places they could learn it and things like that. So I love how.
00:21:48
Speaker
You know, we're not like a, not that any generation was, but we're not like lazy or we're not. You know, I feel like our generation really is resourceful in the fact that we go after the information and the resources we need to make whatever we want to do happen. And that's something that really inspires me seeing people in my generation, just finding the resources and education and the mentors to really find, to really do what they want to do.
00:22:16
Speaker
On a similar note, but maybe with some different language, I've always really appreciated that my peers and this generation are problem solvers, that they want to be a part of the solution to a challenge far less than I observed with some other generations or with a much smaller group of my own peers, people complaining about an issue or a problem, but just wanting someone else to go figure it out.
00:22:44
Speaker
And one of the things I appreciate most about my generation and the people that I'm friends with and work with is oftentimes that they don't want to just complain about a problem, but they want to be a part of figuring it out. And then as Nika mentioned, they're resourceful and they'll figure it out. That when they think about a problem, it isn't, oh, what was me? How do I do anything about this? It's I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work and figure this out. And because we've grown up with a broad
00:23:14
Speaker
wealth of technology and have really developed technology as a language for ourselves, we pretty much are pretty good at figuring out an answer without, without giving up. And that's one of the things that I would say is most impressive to me about this generation, because we, not that we don't take no for an answer, but we're pretty headstrong about figuring out problems and the solutions to them.
Reflections and Future Potential
00:23:44
Speaker
Xavier, what about you? What is your favorite thing about Gen Z? Yeah, so I feel like our generation is becoming a lot more inclusive. And when I say inclusive, I mean in regards to just sort of being open to things that are different to what we consider to be the norm. So I think that's from our generation becoming a lot more globalized and a lot more aware of what's happening in the world around us.
00:24:05
Speaker
I think that is also due to the trends and the sort of social pressure among our generation to sort of travel outside of the US and see what's around there. I could sort of become a trend to travel abroad, which I think is fantastic. But I think all of that, the
00:24:23
Speaker
our more globalized society, our ease of access to communicate with people who are abroad and in other parts of the world makes our perspective a lot more inclusive and a lot more ready to take on those social, cultural, and mental differences.
00:24:39
Speaker
those are all beautiful answers. And I'll have summarized really some fantastic parts of our generation see, and that's one of my favorite questions to ask people that I'm interviewing because it's different for everybody, but there's always this somewhat similar, you know, similar trend that Gen Z is a group of hardworking young people that are resourceful and they want to change the world, but they're also very kind and open-minded to the fact that we're all different and the world is comprised of so many different types of people. So I would say that I'm thankful that,
00:25:06
Speaker
you all are becoming our world's leaders in time, and you're going to be taking on industries, and you're going to be taking on all of this leadership, and we're going to be in a good place with you all. I want to thank you three for spending some time with me and chatting. I know that between school and work, you are all very busy people. And so thank you for coming on and sharing your stories and sharing your experiences and insights. It's always wonderful to chat with wonderful young people like yourselves. So thank you again for spending some time with me today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Megan. Thanks for having me.
00:25:40
Speaker
I want to extend another thank you to Jeff, Neek, and Xavier who shared their experiences and perspectives being some of our oldest in Generation Z. Some of the questions I asked are similar to those that Corey and I have included in our studies, and their answers have highlighted some similar findings.
Next Episode Preview
00:25:54
Speaker
I'm excited to share the next episode where our little Zs, our very youngest, are going to answer the same set of questions so we can start to compare and contrast their answers to see any differences and similarities among micro-generations within Generation Z.
00:26:07
Speaker
And I want to thank you for tuning into this episode. If you're enjoying your listening experience so far, I'd appreciate you heading over to your preferred podcast listening platform to rate, review, and subscribe. And if you have an idea for a podcast episode, topic, or a guest I need to be chatting with, please send me a note. You can reach me through my website, meganumgrace.com. I really can't thank you all enough for tuning in, sending in your feedback, suggestions, and words of encouragement. Thanks again for hanging out. Let's continue this conversation, and we'll chat soon.