MILLENNIALS AND THE GEN Z: WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THE WORLD IS IN THEIR HANDS?

By Matthew Eloyi

As you may have known, defining who is a millennial and who is a member of Gen Z (Generation Z) is based entirely on dates (in this case, years). A Millennial is someone who was given birth to between 1980 and 1995. According to research, there are roughly 1.8 billion Millennials around the world, equal to 23% of the global population. A member of Gen Z is someone that was born between 1996 and the mid-2000s. Gen Z is the largest generation ever. Globally, there are almost 2 billion of them, comprising almost 30% of the world’s population. Please, note that the birth years vary according to sources.

Millennials and Gen Z are not parent and offspring respectively; they are siblings. The former is older than the latter, but they are both forged by the internet; and are rightly considered as a single generation with some slight differences of opinion regarding emoji, slangs, and hashtags.

Millennials and members of Gen Z are offspring of Generation X (baby boomers), the two generations are often referred to as the ‘Me’ Generation, thereby producing the ‘Me Me Me Generation’ who are known for being selfish, greedy, over-confident, entitled and technology addicted. Also known as iGeneration (iGen), digital natives, Post-Millennials and zoomers, Gen Z succeeded Millennials and preceded Generation Alpha. They are famous for being the first generation to be totally engrossed in the internet since birth.

Millennials and members of Gen Z have been molded by the powers of globalization, making society progressively connected and inter-reliant in terms of communication exchange, economic integration, tourism and cultural diffusions. Consequently, they operate in environments that not only vertically integrate several generations, but also horizontally integrate individuals across national and cultural boundaries.

They are the most intimidating and thrilling generation since the baby boomers brought about social revolution. The Industrial Revolution has made them far more powerful that they could move to a city, read and set up establishments on their own. The digital revolution has further empowered them by handing them the technology to compete against giant organizations, as evident in the case of hackers competing against corporations; bloggers competing against newspapers; terrorists competing against nation-states, YouTube directors competing against studios; and app-makers competing against entire industries. In fact, older generations feel threatened by Millennials and members of Gen Z because of their “I know it all” attitudes.

Characteristics of this demography

Millennials differ from country to country, but because of globalization, social media, cultural imperialism and the speed of change, Millennials worldwide are more similar to one another than to older generations within their nations. Even in China, where family history is more significant than any individual, the Internet, urbanization and the one-child policy have produced a generation as brash and self-involved as the Western one. And these aren’t peculiar to the wealthy ones: poor Millennials have even higher rates of egotism, cupidity and technology addiction in their isolated, segregated and self-contained lives.

Aside being relatively close in age and both being technologically savvy, Millennials and members of Gen Z share many more characteristics. They include, but are not limited to the following:

Customization: Millennials were brought up in a generation where almost everything could be customized to an individual’s specific liking. They pull this expectancy into their places of work and want their workplace training, work tools and career paths to have the same level of customization. Gen Z shares Millennials’ affinity for customization. In fact, most members of Gen Z prefer customizing their own career plans to having an organization impose one on them.

Enthralled by gaming: Millennials are captivated by products, processes, or procedures that are “gamified”. Inculcating gaming features in your activities will also engage members of Gen Z, especially since majority of them see gaming as their main hobby.

Contribution at home: Millennials were brought up as the household. They help their folks troubleshoot a laptop, create a Facebook account, and download their first smartphone apps.  Millennials feel obligated at work to contribute their distinctive skills and viewpoints. Similarly, members of Gen Z have been helping their folks to conduct research, plan vacations, and many more.

Enthusiastic about Development: Majority of Millennials undergo training to develop their leadership skills. Their desire for professional development grows as they begin to rise into leadership positions inside of organizations. Members of Gen Z are devoted to continuous learning and development because they know their careers will be longer and more varied than any other generation in history.

Training transformation: Majority of Millennials leave an organization because they are not satisfied with how their leadership skills are being developed. Members of Gen Z share Millennial’s dislike for how boring and obsolete so many of today’s workplace trainings have become.

Motivated by Coaching: Coaching is the workplace leadership style that resonates best with Millennials. This is because they were surrounded by so many coaches during their over-scheduled after-school activities. Gen Z will also pursue coaching relationships because they won’t be looking to leaders for answers (all the information they need is in their palms) but will prefer leaders to coach them through their learning process, decisions, and actions.

How the age of internet has affected their lives

Millennials and members of Gen Z were born into a stage of development where the internet and social media have been integrated in nearly all phases of their lives. While social media has proven to be a cherished communication tool in connecting with each other and sharing information, the long-term psychosocial effects are beginning to become more obvious as digital technology advances.

The learning process of Millennials and Gen Z differ greatly from that of the earlier generations. Their education has been greatly influenced by technology. At some point in their education, online textbooks, YouTube, Smart Boards, and videos have been used in the classrooms.

When digital technology newly came into existence, people did not see the Internet as a reliable source for formal research, but as professional journals and books have migrated online, many researchers and scholars now rely solely on electronic resources.

In many schools today, it is more common for students to find all research articles online than to use any printed material at all. With the Internet constantly in the palm of their hands, Millennials and members of Gen Z need only a few seconds to find their desired information.

They always interact but almost entirely through a screen. It is common to see them sitting next to one another and texting. They might look quiet, but they’re deeply nervous about missing out on something better. Majority of them check their phones every hour, and many experiences phantom pocket-vibration syndrome.

Now that most of them are in the workforce, technology determines how they apply for jobs and what kind of jobs are available. Most available job opportunities now require an all-encompassing familiarity with various forms of technology, and Millennials and members of Gen Z are already well-equipped to handle them.

The Nigerian case: the desire to work less and earn plenty

One of the biggest and most cited conceptions about Millennials and members of Gen Z is their sense of entitlement. This is why some refer to them as the “Me Me Me Generation”, whose selfishness has only been aggravated by technology. In Nigeria, Millennials and members of the Gen Z typically ask for a salary far higher than what they’re worth, or expect a job immediately after graduation as if they are the only ones that graduated.

The idea is that the generations were raised by baby boomer and Gen X parents who over-pampered them. They were awarded participation trophies just for attending competitive events, and had access to the internet with practically unlimited connectivity in their childhood and early adult years.

Accordingly, they grew up believing that the world already owed them something, and as such, complain when they don’t immediately get it. Consequently, they tend to misbehave at work when their expectations are not met by their employers.

Despite the numerous negative traits attributed to Millennials and members of Gen Z, it is worth noting that the world cannot do without them at the moment as they are the most educated and creative generation in history, and pursuing higher and higher levels of education can only set up future generations for the better, creating a ripple effect that will last long into the future.