🧓 ‘Kids these days’
Gen Zs are “lazy, entitled and impatient”.
They expect high salaries but are unwilling to put in the extra hours. They complain about how hard it is to get a job, but won’t accept one if they’re not able to work from home. They’re quick to job-hop or abandon relationships, because they’ve become so addicted to the instant gratification offered by the digital apps they grew up with.
That’s the sense one gets from reading online articles describing an entire generation in broad strokes or from listening to the rants of older colleagues.
It feeds into a perception that Gen Zs are not prepared to be adults. Even more so when successful adulting in Singapore (think: owning a car and condominium) seems harder than before.
Being an adult is about taking responsibility for one’s family and loved ones, even if it means sacrificing one’s passions to instead buckle down and hustle. How can Gen Zs be ready when all young people seem to do is play video games, go thrift shopping and film TikTok dance challenges?
It’s not the first time a new generation that’s entering adulthood and the workforce has been scoffed at by the previous one.
I was born in 1995 so I straddle the line between being labelled Gen Y and Z, but I remember clearly how the avocado toast- and selfie-loving millennials 🤳 were being ridiculed as the “snowflake generation” ❄️.
As this BBC article points out, older people have had strikingly similar complaints about younger generations throughout the decades. In fact, this 2017 article was about millennials, not Gen Zs, but the criticisms are all still relevant.
🤺 Bring it on
I think we are not giving Gen Zs enough credit. In fact, I think they are in a better position than the world gives them credit for.
This generation may not place having a traditional high-flying career as high up on their priority list for leading a meaningful life, but it doesn’t mean they’re not ready for the workforce.
This is the group of digital natives that feels most prepared for the eventual adoption of new tech like generative AI, unlike older workers who have to worry about taking courses or risk losing their jobs to automation. (Whether or not Gen Zs got comfortable with these tools through secretly using ChatGPT to write their essays doesn’t change that fact.)
Their time spent consuming TikTok, Youtube and Instagram has also taught them creative ways of making money, from playing the K-pop merch game to bringing thrifting back in vogue.
People may say that the younger generation don’t know how to manage their money. But no one automatically knows how to file for tax reliefs or shop for the best mortgage loans in their early adulthood without someone else’s guidance.
Personal finance is a journey and is often something we have to experience throughout adulthood to understand, not a clear-cut checklist to mark off before becoming a full-fledged adult. It’s a learning curve and everyone is still figuring it out.
The many facets of financial literacy, such as insurance and investing, can be extremely complex.
But I reckon they’re just as complex as the online games that Gen Zs play, which involve skills such as understanding resource management or winning matchups in a multiplayer online battle arena or first-person shooter game. I’m sure they’re resourceful enough to seek out online tools and communities to get their personal finance questions answered.
And when it comes to aspirations, Gen Zs understand that there’s more to life than material success. Young Singaporeans believe that leading a good life is about finding fulfilment, meaning and purpose, whether that’s in the careers they pick or in the causes they champion. And who says they only care about themselves? Sustainability, for instance, is something that many young people don’t want to compromise on as it concerns the generations that will come after them.
In a way, they may be more emotionally mature than the generations before them. And this willingness to stand up for their beliefs, be it having boundaries at work or refusing to let work dominate their lives, is something that older generations are learning from.
👻 Fear of adulting
We have to admit that the narratives being painted of the younger generation and their supposed shortcomings has fed into its worries about entering adulthood.
Already, warning bells are being rung about the state of mental health among young Singaporeans.
A survey late last year revealed that stress levels in Singapore are higher than the global average and rising, with Gen Zs making up the highest proportion of those affected. The top causes of stress: the current cost of living, uncertainty about the future and personal finances.
As my millennial editor tells me, whenever you’re overwhelmed by the thought of adulthood, remember that you’re not alone.
It’s a case of “if others can do it, so can you”. No matter which generation you belong to or how old you are, we’ve all faced worries about adulthood in all its many facets.
Having a community to turn to helps. They could be family members or relatives who can give you advice, having gone through this journey themselves. Or they could be a community of like-minded young people figuring out how to do this adulting thing and thrive 😉.
And don’t let the naysayers put you down. You’re more ready than you think.
TL;DR
Online articles often paint a picture that Gen Zs are lazy, entitled and impatient
Such labels are not new and have been applied by one generation on the next across history
Gen Zs, with their myriad passions, are preparing themselves with skills and perspectives that will stand them in good stead for adulthood
Adulting is scary, but you don’t have to do it alone
