The Christian clothing thing is true. I’m in college ministry and we joke about this a good bit. We need some positive outlooks on the next gen. They need vision like this!
I've heard the observation more than once -- and there might be some truth to it -- that the bulk of Gen Z is indeed bad, but the best of Gen Z is better than ever. Aaron's comment seems to support the idea that the best are doing very well. It would be great for a change if the BEST could be full of passionate intensity while the WORST lack all conviction.
But the bad is indeed bad, and speaking of lacking all conviction, I'm trying to help out with a technology-addicted high schooler of my acquaintance who has attempted suicide (which is a stat that doesn't look good at this moment), so I have a front-row seat to the nihilism/anomie that by all accounts is more common than ever. Of course, his failures are really the failures of the two generations before him.
One thing that we can sense with today's young -- and it's probably a product of the combination of helicoptering + too much time on electronic devices -- is a lack of AGENCY. And I think all suicides betray a failure to realize one's own agency. Especially among the young, who have more agency than they know, so much time to redirect the ship. If this life isn't working for you, there's no need to end it: you can go anywhere, be anyone, do anything.
Going back to the *best* of Gen Z, this group still DOES seem to be less impactful in the business/tech world. A number of people have commented, seemingly accurately, about the lack of Gen Z founders. Men like (Boomer) Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, (Gen X) Musk, Brin and Page, and (Millennial) Zuckerberg were all clearly going places by age 25 and centimillionaires at minimum by 30. Right now it's hard to find young men on this path.
Perhaps to some degree the world has changed and closed this avenue, but I think at least as much has to do with young people changing. Tinkering with computers was a HUGE pastime for nerdy Gen X and Millennial young men, often starting even in our middle school days. I've met a number of Gen Z STEM majors who by all accounts are doing well, and maybe I'm talking to the wrong ones, but I just don't get this impression from any of them. They're consumers, not creators. They're coloring inside the lines. I can't help but think something about the smartphone -- more broadly, the more seamless, polished, consumption-oriented nature of our tech -- just crushes this urge to look under the hood, see how things work, and start tinkering.
Just as with my struggling teenage acquaintance, the key word "AGENCY" comes to mind. Yet Redeemed Zoomer's plan does seem to be, if nothing else, agentic. So maybe agency is there -- if not in their approach to technology, then in their approach to our society and its failing institutions. I sure hope this to be true.
I agree. I know several extremely intentional and thoughtful zoomers on these very points. It might be a touch rose-colored vs. being in the middle of the young restless reformed stuff, but I see positive signs and think the generation has promise.
Very bullish on the young people who can avoid SSRIs, contraceptives, bad therapy, anti-marriage pessimism, anti-natalism, gambling, and all sorts of illicit drugs.
The endless anti-Gen Z news is dismaying. Let’s encourage and mentor the young to channel their optimism and energy to positive ends.
I tend to agree with you. As Christianity is seen more as a threat to the secular culture, God will build men and women of courage to stand. As the darkness grows their light will shine more brightly. And to add on to the discussion about why men hate going to church, as Christian churches are seen as rebellion, this will draw in the young men that God will use. I am seeing the beginnings of it now. When I taught our church's youth group, I would tell them their testimony won't be how they were saved from drugs, alcohol and promiscuity; it will be when oppression came, they stood.
The Christian clothing thing is true. I’m in college ministry and we joke about this a good bit. We need some positive outlooks on the next gen. They need vision like this!
I've heard the observation more than once -- and there might be some truth to it -- that the bulk of Gen Z is indeed bad, but the best of Gen Z is better than ever. Aaron's comment seems to support the idea that the best are doing very well. It would be great for a change if the BEST could be full of passionate intensity while the WORST lack all conviction.
But the bad is indeed bad, and speaking of lacking all conviction, I'm trying to help out with a technology-addicted high schooler of my acquaintance who has attempted suicide (which is a stat that doesn't look good at this moment), so I have a front-row seat to the nihilism/anomie that by all accounts is more common than ever. Of course, his failures are really the failures of the two generations before him.
One thing that we can sense with today's young -- and it's probably a product of the combination of helicoptering + too much time on electronic devices -- is a lack of AGENCY. And I think all suicides betray a failure to realize one's own agency. Especially among the young, who have more agency than they know, so much time to redirect the ship. If this life isn't working for you, there's no need to end it: you can go anywhere, be anyone, do anything.
Going back to the *best* of Gen Z, this group still DOES seem to be less impactful in the business/tech world. A number of people have commented, seemingly accurately, about the lack of Gen Z founders. Men like (Boomer) Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, (Gen X) Musk, Brin and Page, and (Millennial) Zuckerberg were all clearly going places by age 25 and centimillionaires at minimum by 30. Right now it's hard to find young men on this path.
Perhaps to some degree the world has changed and closed this avenue, but I think at least as much has to do with young people changing. Tinkering with computers was a HUGE pastime for nerdy Gen X and Millennial young men, often starting even in our middle school days. I've met a number of Gen Z STEM majors who by all accounts are doing well, and maybe I'm talking to the wrong ones, but I just don't get this impression from any of them. They're consumers, not creators. They're coloring inside the lines. I can't help but think something about the smartphone -- more broadly, the more seamless, polished, consumption-oriented nature of our tech -- just crushes this urge to look under the hood, see how things work, and start tinkering.
Just as with my struggling teenage acquaintance, the key word "AGENCY" comes to mind. Yet Redeemed Zoomer's plan does seem to be, if nothing else, agentic. So maybe agency is there -- if not in their approach to technology, then in their approach to our society and its failing institutions. I sure hope this to be true.
This is thrilling. I also love the Strauss-Howe tie-in.
I agree. I know several extremely intentional and thoughtful zoomers on these very points. It might be a touch rose-colored vs. being in the middle of the young restless reformed stuff, but I see positive signs and think the generation has promise.
Very bullish on the young people who can avoid SSRIs, contraceptives, bad therapy, anti-marriage pessimism, anti-natalism, gambling, and all sorts of illicit drugs.
The endless anti-Gen Z news is dismaying. Let’s encourage and mentor the young to channel their optimism and energy to positive ends.
I tend to agree with you. As Christianity is seen more as a threat to the secular culture, God will build men and women of courage to stand. As the darkness grows their light will shine more brightly. And to add on to the discussion about why men hate going to church, as Christian churches are seen as rebellion, this will draw in the young men that God will use. I am seeing the beginnings of it now. When I taught our church's youth group, I would tell them their testimony won't be how they were saved from drugs, alcohol and promiscuity; it will be when oppression came, they stood.