Sweet 16 in a new century
Aruti Nayar
Talking to teenagers born in a new century is an eye-opener. For these self-assured netizens and neo-digital natives, virtual communities blend seamlessly into an isolated existence, with technology and gadgets as their navigators. Ironically, they are, at once, self-absorbed but have an expanded consciousness as global citizens.
Instant world
It was easier delaying gratification for the generation with limited technology, whose gadgets were the first iPod, flip phones, the old internet and YouTube. The Gen Z spends time on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and iPhones. Beats Pill, iPad, PS4, XBox are a given for most. Technology came to them even before knowledge did. These neo-digital natives use video or movies, emphasising the shift from the PC to the mobile and text to video. Ankit Maity, a student of a Kolkata school, aspires for higher studies in computer sciences before becoming an entrepreneur as does Abhauday of Chandigarh.
Offbeat career choices rule though parents are still stuck in the doctor-engineer grooves. It’s acceptable to take an year off to explore and dream of a start-up. Popularity and making it big matters more than ever before and has to be “instant and without slogging.”
As Abhishek from Delhi says, “We are a superficial generation with a constant fear of not being productive.” He plans to major in mathematics, with a career in music and dance as backup. Many rail against an education system that places them, the most valuable link of the chain, last.
Global issues
Be it climate change or terrorism, most of them aspire to make the world a better place. Tanisha Singh, a class X student from Chandigarh, wants to transform the world riven with violence, crime and terror. Thanks to social media, there is an involved awareness of political and social issues. Global warming and climate change matter. The refrain is: “Our parents’ generation has ruined the planet for us.” Samar, from the Doon School, Dehradun, puts it as: “Our generation faces the brunt of whatever has gone wrong over the generations. We must conserve natural resources and find alternate energy sources.” Unlike millennials, akin to headless chicken, making money is not Gen Z’s sole aim. Less travel time, shrunk distances and high-tech connectivity ensures everything in an “encapsulated form.” After all, their parents have slogged to give them options and a cushion.
Psychic watersheds
According to a 2014 United Nations report, India has the world’s largest youth population of 356 million.
Midnight’s children, born after Independence, were followed by the idealistic 1950s nation builders. Psychic watersheds for preceding generations were the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. The Emergency and the consequent youth protest of the 1970s was followed by the burgeoning middle class and unfettered consumerism post-Liberalisation. Having seen the flip side of excessive consumption, these teens have much less baggage than the previous generations as ideology has been substituted with technology and us with me. Open to diversity, they effortlessly embrace differences of religion, sexual orientation and race.
Parenting techniques have not kept up with these post-globalisation kids. As Shuchita Kapoor, doing an International Bacalaureate, says, “I cannot put others needs before mine, unlike what my parents did. It’s me first.” Success and making it big matter more than faith, religion and kinship ties. Narcissistic yes but endearingly honest too, shorn of hypocrisy and doublespeak as they admit to “fewer friends and more networking”. Ways of reaching out are unique as one of them earnestly says, “If naani is lonely, why don’t we buy her a gaming console!”
30 million Gen-Z consumers own mobile phones
Around 30 million of 69 million urban Generation Z (Gen-Z) consumers in India own mobile phones, and three million of these use mobile broadband on their phones, according to Ericsson’s new ConsumerLab study, “The digital lives of Generation Z.” Gen-Z is defined as those born between 1994 and 2004. The pan-India study was conducted across 16 cities in India with 3,421 face-to-face interviews with nine to 18-year-old mobile phone users and 1,000 parents across 7,785 urban households — representative of an urban consumer base of 69 million across all socio-economic classes. The diverse mix of cities covered: four metros as well as other cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Kota, Chandigarh, Pune, Guwahati, Cuttack, Ujjain and Belgaum. Mobile ownership is catching on at an early age, with 30 million out of 69 million urban members owning mobile phones.
They spend roughly seven hours each day with gadgets either on mobile phones, watching TV and using gaming consoles. A total of 58 per cent of Gen Z is willing to give up watching TV in favour of browsing internet on a mobile phone.
Social media is becoming more important for Gen-Z, with 77 per cent venting their frustration on poor service experience over social media which leads them to expect instant resolution of their issues and queries. Three million mobile broadbands users in urban India are aged under 18.” Only one in three urban parents are able to keep track of their children’s communication activities and expect service providers to offer services in order to manage and monitor their children’s mobile and internet usage. A total of 76 per cent of the urban parents expect service providers to provide them with call and message log details of their kids; 63 per cent of parents are interested in an app to block unwarranted content. Interestingly, 30 per cent of nine to18-year-olds use a privacy screen to prevent others from seeing their phone.
An Ernst & Young paper by Marcie Merriman calls Gen Zers the next big “disruptor” because “politically, socially, technologically, and economically, we are moving at warp speed. These changes have created a generation very different from any known before.”
According to a study by J Walter Thompson, “More inspired by Malala than Beyonce, this generation characterised by ethical consumption habits, native digital technology use, entrepreneurial ambition, and progressive views.”
