Pod pick: How Gen Z sees the world

Pieces about what makes a certain generation tick are often full of generalization and exaggeration. They are reliably popular because we always struggle to understand the behavior of those 15+ years younger than us. But there is also a strong case that employers and policymakers have an obligation to make the effort, despite the pitfalls of lumping together a group of people based only on their birth dates. Derek Thompson's recent interview with Kayla Scanlon is an example of the best of the genre and I'm so happy to have been introduced to Scanlon who, as a 27 year-old, is an insightful and articulate elder representative of Gen Z.

Scanlon has a Substack and her lengthy pieces there are dense with insights and data (this piece is a good companion to her interview with Thompson). In the interview, she responds to this recent framework for thinking about Gen Z from an X post by Rachel Janfaza:

Scanlon contends that the there is also a Gen Z 1.5— a "Covid Cohort" made up of those young people who started college during the Trump administration and entered the work force under Biden. All these groupings consider Gen Z's experience of technology and their perception of institutions:

• Early Gen Z is technologically fluent but still uses technology as a tool. Later Gen Z experiences technology (smartphones) as "another layer of reality" that is intrinsic to their moment-to-moment experience of life.

• Early Gen Z experienced institutions react and respond in ways that previous generations took for granted. All members of Gen Z watched the pandemic bend and break social, political, and societal norms and institutions.

Scanlon explains how these experiences change the way Gen Z works, learns, and participates in the economy. In her conversation with Thompson, she explains the FAFO ("fuck around and find out") economic approach as a response to shaky returns on educational investments and impossible housing costs. Her description of the Mr. Beast memo as the first "Gen Z leader manifesto" was fascinating (if you are trying to understand Gen Z, learning about Mr. Beast is a reasonable place to start). The conversation touched on Gen Z's use of technology and AI, but the latter's impact on any number of corners of our existence will undoubtedly be a topic of study and conversation for years to come.

In this excerpt from a recent piece, Scanlon writes about how young people are experiencing a world where the "safe" path can suddenly become risky:

When AI can eliminate entire professional categories overnight, when traditional credentials lose value faster than you can earn them, when digital platforms can create overnight millionaires... the question is about how we define stability in an unstable world.

While Gen Z has adapted by finding alternative paths to success - from trades to creator economies - institutions are struggling to keep pace. Universities experiment with modular education, corporations are rethinking credential requirements, and policymakers push for reforms, but these changes are often too slow and too limited. The challenge isn't just modernization, it's legitimacy, right? When people say the government is "broke," they're not just talking about finances, they're talking about trust.

As a teacher since 2008, I have taught the last cohorts of millennials and the first and latest classes of Gen Z. In my profession, it is natural to comment on (or maybe too often complain about) the changes we see in the students we work with year to year. The pandemic was a critical cleavage point because it shocked and disrupted the institutions young people interact with most while simultaneously normalizing the use of increasingly powerful technology. During the pandemic, norms like attending school regularly were totally upended. The rise of AI is a more recent phenomenon, but one of its consequences will surely be the further erosion of norms and institutions. For example, AI can complete almost any written assignment that a primary or secondary teacher can dream up. So why is it important that students be able to demonstrate these skills independent of AI? As educators and parents struggle to respond to that genuinely vexing question, AI is also reshuffling education's economic value and promising to reshape the economy in unpredictable ways (37% of employers report that they would prefer to use AI instead of hiring a new graduate).

This interview was full of insights and I'm so happy to have discovered Scanlon's Substack. I recommend this interview and Scanlon's writing to anyone who is hiring, educating, parenting, or supporting Gen Z.