Afp, Paris
Facebook? Of course. Books? Definitely not. Video games? For sure. Sport? No way. Speed? Yes. Patience? Not so much.
This, in a nutshell, is the life of the "Generation Z" -- independent, stubborn, pragmatic and always in a rush.
Numbering
around two billion, these youngsters, born after 1995 and unaware of a
world without Internet, live a life that seems a million miles removed
from the hopes, dreams and morals of previous generations.
They are so hooked into the digital world that some academics have nicknamed them "the mutants".
Here are a few of the habits of Generation Z:
They
want everything, everywhere and immediately. They surf on two screens
simultaneously. They don't mind paying through the nose for the latest
smart phone but turn up their nose at paying for a film or a song when
you can get that for free online.
Aged 13 to 20, they get all the latest trends from social media and find the morals of their elders out-of-date.
Their
fashions are those found worldwide over the web: they watch American
blockbusters like "Hunger Games" or "Divergent", listen to Korean K-pop
and, when they dance, they "twerk".
When they speak, their
vocabulary is peppered with acronyms, incomprehensible to those not in
the know. "Swag" is the new "cool". And their new idols are Internet
stars, like PewDiePie, who has the world's most subscribed YouTube
channel.
People from Generation Z find it easier to talk online
than in person. Their friends on social media are as important to them
as their friends in real life but sometimes they do actually meet up in
person with these "virtual" pals.
More than eight out of 10 are
hooked on social networks and more than half of them think that this is
where their real social life takes place. They are on dating websites
from the age of 16 -- sometimes before.
Even as young as they
are, they have already seen so many technologies become obsolete. For
this reason, they have become the ultimate "self-educators", learning
how to use new stuff via self-help videos on YouTube.
As for the web, violence, porn, they've already seen it all.
According
to US consultancy Sparks and Honey, the average Generation Z-er spends
more than three hours a day in front of a screen.
They live in
constant "FOMO", fear of missing out. They can't stand the idea of not
being in the loop when something new and exciting comes out.
Facebook
is their main poison, despite its flagging popularity among some
Americans. Photos on Instagram, quick messages on Snapchat. Twitter and
Tumblr are omnipresent.
But it's not all passive: Generation Z
are also putting themselves out there on YouTube or "Vlogging" (video
blogging), hoping to become the next "Fred" (Lucas Cruikshank), who made
his name at the grand old age of 13.
Everyone surfs the web
while watching the TV and they think that everything is possible with
technology. But, they have a short attention span and tend to skim-read
rather than read properly, which can lead to difficulty at school.
This is a generation that wants to create their own company -- between 50 percent and 72 percent want to run their own start-up.
The idea of "business" brings up negative responses: "complicated", "brutal", "a jungle".
They
believe success comes from their "network" rather than from
qualifications and they prefer a flat organisation to a hierarchy at
work.
They want to succeed and achieve, with 76 percent aiming to make their hobby their job.
These
are children of the crisis and it shows in their outlook. Most of them
say they are "stressed out" by what they see as a bleak future,
especially in terms of economy and environment.
Given the same
pay, 25 percent of the Generation Z in France would choose the most
"fun" company, 22 percent the most innovative and 21 percent the most
ethical.
But like any idealistic generation, they want to change
the world and love the idea of volunteer work, which a quarter of
Americans in their late teens are already doing.
