Gen Z is healthy and boring

are the kids having fun?

Welcome to the latest edition of The Gen Zer. This week, we discuss health, fun and phone-use amongst young people. We also take a look at doom spending, PowerPoint parties, and more . . .

Okay, I’ll admit — I wasn’t being entirely serious in the title. Like any generation, us Gen Zers are a mixed bag, and a move towards healthier lifestyles doesn’t necessarily mean young people are having any less fun.

There have been a lot of headlines on both of these topics, however. Gen Zers are prioritising health. We’re going to therapy. We’re binning our phones. We’re getting plenty of fresh air. We also routinely get accused of being dull: we’ve killed off the house party, we’re not having sex, we’re ditching drugs and we spend all our time horizontal on our phones.

Is there any truth to these headlines — and if so, are they related? Are we having less fun because we’re being sensible and healthy?

Personally, I’d like to think it’s the opposite: We are choosing healthier habits because we want more fun in our lives. In the past decade things like Covid 19 and social media have isolated us and created large barriers for fun. Gen Zers, and the Alphas who come after us, are increasingly anxious, increasingly disconnected — and, increasingly, looking for a way out. Things don’t have to be like this is a sentiment I’ve seen more and more. Even if we don’t remember the 90s, we’ve still seen enough movies from the era to be able to imagine a time before social media, when you spent time with friends without a screen in sight and weren’t exposed to depressing news headlines 24/7.

back in the good old times?

A recent book, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, has been sparking conversation all across the country and beyond. Basically, the book highlights how social media, phone use and risk-averse childhoods have contributed to a dramatic spike in anxiety amongst young people. It then offers practical strategies on how we can change things — a lot of them to do with prohibiting phones and social media for children and teenagers. Healthier habits, for happier lives.

But is there any truth to the claim that phones and social media are largely to blame for our poor mental health? Decca Aitkenhead, a journalist at The Sunday Times, recently decided to put these ideas to the test by bribing a group of teenagers to give up their smartphones for a month before going on an unsupervised camping trip together, just like back in the good old days. The experiment makes for fascinating reading. (You can also find more about it here.)

It also gives a slightly terrifying glimpse into how social media is affecting teenagers: “if you follow every trend, you get called a basic bitch. And if you don’t, you’re a weirdo. There’s no escape, because your social popularity is totally linked to your social media. So if you don’t post, you get made fun of. But then if you lip-synch to the wrong song on TikTok, you get made fun of for the rest of the year.” This all from Rose, aged thirteen.

There’s a sense that the ways we’ve been living might not be the best for us, and that a healthier — and yes, happier — lifestyle might be possible. Speaking of the phone-free camping trip, one of the teenagers said that it was “one of the best nights of my year, maybe of my life.” Being without your phone is now a novelty. Instead of scrolling or doing what they usually do, Zers are looking for new ways of spending their time.

Similarly, many Gen Zers are ditching clubbing. Part of this is simply due to financial concerns (the price of a pint has more than doubled in the past two decades), but another reason is that many Zers don’t want to sacrifice their Saturday mornings just to have a big Friday night out. Instead, they want to start the weekend with a park run or exercise class.

Again, this could be seen as an obvious case of ditching ‘fun’ for health, but I think exercise is only part of the reason why so many young people are taking up running at the moment. The other large reason is to meet people: running groups are now seen as a great place to make new friends (or even to find someone to date, for better or for worse). Isolated Gen Zers are taking up new classes not so much just to focus on themselves, but to reclaim the social life that previous generations had naturally. With the loss of third places, we’re going out of our way to find each other, and things like exercise classes, dance classes, and arts classes are increasingly filling this niche. (Not to mention reading groups.)

Another good example of the crossover between health and fun is with food. Research by Ketchum shows that 82% of Gen Zers like cooking and 70% are willing to trust a food trend and follow food influencers. From #girldinner to #tiktokfood, Zers are learning new recipes and getting together to cook for friends. Dinner parties are back in — a host of new apps and initiatives are grouping together unacquainted Zers to help them make friends in a new city. Maybe we’re not hosting so many house parties, but we’re still having fun.

@foodieholly_

Host an Italian themed dinner party with me!! This was honestly so cute & so much fun 😋 I highly recommend #dinnerparty #dinnerpartyideas #hostingtips #recipes

♬ A Summer Place – Hollywood Strings Orchestra

Of course, when it comes to the state of Gen Z, there are many other factors to consider. The double punch of Covid lockdowns during our formative years (when we’d have otherwise been out making friends and trying new things) and the ongoing cost of living crisis have resulted in a generation that is both more socially anxious and financially hamstrung, so there is some truth to the idea that fun is on the backfoot.

Things are also complicated when it comes to health. On one hand, we’re drinking less. On another, we’re vaping more. We’re more mindful of our mental health, and more happy to talk about it in general, but this is largely due to just how bad things have become. A decade ago, over half of 18- to 26-year-olds in the US described their mental health as excellent. Today, that number is only 15%.

But with a spray of new initiatives, communities and policies that focus on putting sociability back into the heart of things, there’s hope that things might be turning a corner. It’s a complicated picture, and the headlines aren’t always the most reliable (see above). But amongst the bold claims about what exactly Gen Zers are up to, let’s hope that, for young people, more fun is on the way.

Gen Z around the Web

Gen Z love to party… with a 50-page PowerPoint (wall street journal)
Remember when I said Gen Zers aren’t partying anymore? It turns out that I spoke too soon. Zers are meeting up with friends with a remote clicker and PowerPoint presentation in tow. Read more

We’re all ‘doom spending’ (sky)
Financial anxiety is driving Gen Z and millennials to spend impulsively, opting for short-term comforts rather than long-term stability. If you’re never going to buy a house, you might as well go on that holiday, I guess. Read more

What is the recent obsession with ‘raw dogging’? (thred.)
The latest internet trend sees Gen Zers ‘raw dogging’ flights, which might not be what you think it is. It’s good to know that bizarre internet challenges are still alive and kicking. Read more

Brands love influencers… until they get political (the new york times)
So apparently marketing firms are now using AI to help predict whether influencers will get political. This makes sense in theory — brands love using influencers to market their products, but risk being tarnished by the views of the influencers they work with — but using AI to give influencers a ‘brand safety’ score? That definitely doesn’t sound at all dystopian. Read more

Gen Z is changing how we email at work (fast company)
You probably don’t need an article to tell you this, but Gen Zers are increasingly using emojis, slang, and abbreviations in their emails, ushering in the “Slack-ification” of the workplace and a general decline in formality. Goodbye ‘Best wishes’, hello ‘Bless up’, ‘Lukewarm regards’, and ‘Stay slaying.’ Sorry ya’ll. Read more

That’s all for this week! Make sure to subscribe for the latest on Gen Z and youth culture, and check out The Common Thred for a weekly roundup of the latest news, trends and thought pieces.