Mythical Millennial #22 : It’s Gen Z’s world, we’re just living in it
You may or may not have read or seen the Shakespeare play, The Tempest. In it, sweet wizard’s daughter Miranda revels in the thought of fresh possibilities:
“O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!”
What’s Shakespeare got ta do with it, you ask? Well, besides the fact that a large part of the Tempest surrounds themes of change, it’s also about grappling with age and the confusion and pain that comes with it. I was reading an Business Insider piece the other day about how Generation Z curates their Instagram feed to contain only 25 photos at a time. I was on the bus home, nibbling on a typically banal Pret sandwich, and remember scoffing at this behavior, thinking “Gosh, kids these days.”
It hit me. As the no. 21 bus sailed over London Bridge, I realised I was acting exactly like a millennial-basher. I was Prospero, hiding away from the world and lashing out, instead of his open-minded daughter, Miranda. My fear and judgment of something (someone) I didn’t understand resulted in me dismissing it entirely. I felt like a hypocrite. I went home and started Googling around the subject, becoming more and more baffled by the second. Apparently, Generation Z are more frugal, harder workers, and most importantly, radically different to millennials like me, aka, ‘The Olds’.
I shut my laptop down. I had a cup of tea. And decided to move forward by sprinkling liberal pinches of salt over my media consumption. Back to practicing what I preach: treating Generation Z as I do my fellow millennials… with empathy. I leave you with this brilliant Washington Post piece I feel does just that.
A recent trend on Youtube has been the ‘Why I Left Buzzfeed’ meme. Pretty self-explanatory: ex-Buzzfeed Video employees leave, create their own Youtube channels as a launchpad for their careers (who could blame ‘em), and stir up ~drama~ by creating an explainer.
These videos rack up literally millions of views, and are often the first video from said ex-Buzzfeeder’s channel, as in the case of Kenny Moffit and Chris Reinacher. As you watch video after video,there are a few recurring key reasons for their departure. Lack of creative control, no producing/acting credits, no ownership — nothing we hadn’t covered before in previous external coverage of Buzzfeed.
There is something peculiar to be made out of all this, though. Despite the lack of names, credit or any effort from Buzzfeed to recognise their talent, ex-Buzzfeeders have taken the negativity and turned it into literal, rent-paying hashtag relatable content. Take note Buzzfeed. Your employees are accidental influencers, and not treating them as such will come back to bite you.
A great walking-down-the-street-on-a-gloomy-London-day-song.
Ladies Don’t Play Guitar by Tennis
Linkity-links!
- Ben Donkor launched an incredible data-rich analysis of how much conference speakers get paid. As an occasional conference speaker myself, I was fairly dejected to read some of the findings regarding pay gaps. Definitely worth a read.
- Musical Dear Evan Hansen has been lauded as the show that’s brought ‘social media to Broadway’. It’s just gotten nominated for nine Tony awards, and it’s heart-wrenching, funny, and just plain wonderful. I highly recommend listening to the soundtrack if you’re keen on something different.
See you in two weeks, lovely peeps.
B x
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Originally published on Mythical Millennial.
