Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018

What Gen Z Wants

Jonathan Blum

“Gen Z” refers to people born between 1995 and 2005 and is the generation that comes immediately after Millennials. They are characterized by being digital natives living in a digitalized world, which implies they have an advantage over previous generations, while at the same time having difficulties with developing their social skills, for example.

The National University of Cordoba in Argentina published an article on this new generation’s teaching and learning process, which highlighted the fact their lives take place via several screens. This makes them unfocused and gives them more superficial thought processes, which will require new teaching methods for them. Faculty members in the classroom must vie for their students’ attention, so they are implementing game-based methodologies.

We all want to be able to appeal to Gen Z, but first we must to know more about them; familiarize ourselves with their codes; learn how, when and where they meet up and, above all, what they want.

Though it may seem implausible, experts say they focus on work, learning and personal development, but in very different ways. They want to work remotely, for example—not in an office from 9 to 5—and for them, learning does not take place in a classroom. They consider themselves self-taught, using digital platforms and games. There will always be a screen involved.

For them, social media, believe it or not, is not number one on their minds. According to a study conducted by Hill Holiday, those under 25 are not very interested in these platforms and, although 91 percent of those interviewed for the study were active on social media, only 51 percent used it regularly.

Gen Z wants a lot of things, but it is up to us to know how to approach them in order to give it to them.