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Bob Frank's avatar

> Jack, in response #1, argued that Gen Z is “the most mature generation in history” precisely because the internet gave them access to such horrible stuff:

>

>“…I’d actually argue that exposure to these things poises us to handle stress better than previous generations.”

Jack may think that, but he's making a testable, falsifiable claim here that is in fact easily falsified by testing it against the data. Gen Z is *incredibly* emotionally fragile compared to previous generations. So it's worth asking, why is Jack's perception of how this should work for his generation so thoroughly at odds with the facts of the matter? What is the distorted mirror he's looking through that gets his perceptions so completely wrong?

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Hank Davis's avatar

Hi, (member of Gen Z b. 1998 and UMich honors history grad ‘20)

The digital age is neither a catastrophe nor a boon, although I often feel the former. Instead it is a different age. As a member of the generation straddling two eras, though, I can speak to what underlies your data - we feel lonely because neither those before us or after share our perspective. We don’t love tech like those older than us who feel they will be left behind and need to modernize, and we are not like those younger than us who are blind to the world before. Tech to us is a tool - both good and bad. Many of us have dated both on the apps and with girls met in bars or through friends. As such we each have parts of tech we love and hate.

I personally stopped using headphones, deciding it is an unnatural way to experience sound that removes us from hearing the world around us. I also use a gigantic computer monitor that provides me massive productivity hacks. My thesis in college also featured cutting edge research because instead of merely going to archives, I used a treasure trove of online sleuthing.

In many ways we are like the Lost Generation, in love with the past but charging into the future headstrong. Of course, that generation faced bullets in trenches and we have not, but the malaise and insecurity are there. Plus, those of that generation did lead to many innovations and frankly they saved the free world with their leadership by the time of the 1940s and after. So I wouldn’t catastrophize the situation and say our lives are ruined, but certainly there were opportunities afforded others that we do not have, and opportunities afforded to us that others don’t have. And while it may frustrate me, it also gives me profound purpose. We have the opportunity to shape this century with both high digital skill as well as deep knowledge of the values of those who came before and laid the groundwork for our society.

To quote a person from a few generations before me--Admiral Jim Stockdale, “I think character is permanent and issues are transient.”

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