Gen Z and Performative Apathy

The Generational Trope that Typifies their User Persona

Boomers have their “back in my days”, Millenials have the “everyone gets a trophy”, and Gen X has something too... probably (I don’t know, because everyone forgets about them). But every generation becomes known for a certain type of persona. This is the generational glue that holds a group of people together and gives them a nugget of both identity and community.

Well, Gen Z has entered the scene, and I’d argue that their generational trope is performative apathy.

Who is Gen Z?

First let’s clear up the nitty gritty. Generation Z (also known in some circles as “zoomers”) is anyone born in the late 1990’s to the early 2000’s. So right now these are folks headed out of college and interacting with the workforce for the first time. These aren’t kids. These are grown adults with different lived experiences.

It’s easy to write off an entire generation when they’re the youngest, but they aren’t right now. Those in school today are members of Generation Alpha, an entirely new demographic we’ll get to learn about in the years to come.

Let’s “zoom” out and see what their lives have been like. This entire generation has had technology from birth. No dial-up, no cassette tapes, no land lines. They’re digital natives- and that includes social media. Unlike their Millenial predecessors, they’ve been engaged in social media since they were allowed…