Abstract
As journalism educators undertake curricular change to adapt to a fast-paced digital revolution, understanding “the audience” in the teaching–learning relationship—our students—sometimes lacks priority.
Yet, Generation X (Gen X), Baby Boomer, and older professors need to understand Generation Y (Gen Y) and Generation Z (Gen Z) if we are to teach them effectively.
Thanks to most advertisers’ covetous focus on Gen Y, as we dub those born between 1979 and 1997, we know a lot more about them than the newest generation now reaching adulthood. Researchers say Gen Y, also called Millennials, are close to their parents (Gen X, born between the early 1960s and the early 1980s) and boomerang back to their parents’ home, as necessary. Their parents also helicopter around them, sometimes liaising with professors as they see the need. Gen Y also mistrust institutions, a fact that can challenge big and bureaucratized college settings. More than 40 percent of U.S. Millennials are non-White, the highest of any generation, a positive turn in the decades-long effort to increase diverse perspectives among our students and our newsrooms. With at least 85 percent of Millennials on Facebook, this is the first generation of digital natives. 1
If Millennials are the first digital natives, Gen Z represents the first generation to have lived entirely in a digital era. This cohort, born after 1995 and numbering one billion globally, is just beginning their college-age years; the oldest of this generation will have graduated by or in 2020.
Research so far suggests that this demographic is marked by smaller families, closeness to their Gen X parents, but perhaps most importantly by their intimate and pervasive use of digital technologies. Gen Z students will have had the highest rates of homeschooling in U.S. history and will be accustomed to order, structure, a strong work ethic, and a sense of predictability.
Bombarded with digital technologies from birth, Gen Z will have placed social media at the center of its social world rather than as a supplement to face-to-face relationships. This phenomenon may cause problems with social interactions and conflict resolution at college, work, and so on. Mentoring may be increasingly important for Gen Z to overcome social problems, but given Gen Z’s naturalness with technology, they may engage in reverse mentoring with those from older generations.
Online applications will be integral to the collaborative nature of Gen Z, who may thrive as avatars and in interactions within simulated work settings. Online gaming is important to this generation, a group that will exert leadership and have an advantage in managing online business interactions. 2
Sixty percent of Gen Zs want jobs with a social impact, compared with 31 percent of Gen Ys, according to 2014 research by the New York City advertising agency Sparks & Honey. The findings show that Gen Zs are “entrepreneurial” (72 percent want to start their own business), community oriented (26 percent already volunteer), and prudent (56 percent indicate they are savers, not spenders). Gen Z is seen to be more tolerant than Gen Y of racial, sexual and generational diversity and less likely to subscribe to traditional gender roles.
3
The first tribe of “digital natives,” they are considered “screenagers” who are the most connected, educated, and sophisticated generation in history. 4
Gen Zs learn anywhere, any time. “We’re looking at the world through glass—tablets, Google Glass—designed for images, not words,” said Mark McCrindle of Sydney-based McCrindle Research. “This is also a post-logical world that emphasizes emotional reaction: ‘Social media is more right-brain, not left-brain.’” 5
Whereas Gen Ys (18- to 34-year-olds) are optimistic, Gen Zs are realistic, according to Emily Anatole, a trends writer for the Intelligence Group. 6 They feel obligated to change the status quo, they like research, and they enjoy serious storylines and documentaries that highlight complex situations. They are inquisitive and globally aware. They want brands to show their long-term value and make them feel safe.
This is a group that places less value on higher education (64 percent say they want advanced degrees compared with 71 percent of Gen Y); entrepreneurship is important to them, and so is innovating with consumers; and privacy is important because this generation reportedly chooses anonymous communication tools such as SnapChat.
Journalism and mass communication programs will need to satisfy the needs of prospective students in this age cohort, offering them the opportunity to innovate, research and reform, and work in interactive ways. Smart journalism and mass communication educators already will be thinking about and researching how to engage this next generation, while embracing the many other challenges already facing our discipline.