Who’s Really Behind Your Screen?
A Statista Gen Z Research Assignment
As the generation known for coining the term “cheugy,” many question the credibility of the Gen Z population. Gen Z refers to the generation that was born between 1997 to 2012, following the Millennials. This generation has taken the world by storm as they have been raised on the internet and social media. Though there are many controversies regarding Gen Zers, as they are the grown version of iPad children roaming the streets, many opportunities have emerged from this future-driven generation. One noteworthy advantage that has come from this generation's close interaction with the web, is increased awareness. Gen Zers bring with them not only a lifelong experience with the cloud, social media, and mobile technology but — because they’ve known and adapted to this stuff since birth — they are also open to more technology, more changes, and more adaptations. This advantageous feature can be accredited to this population having never drawn a distinction between the physical and the digital world. For them, whether online or offline, the critical element is that they can seamlessly move between each. They’re leading this shift in consumer behavior with their digital fluency and articulating nothing less than a new paradigm for digital experiences.
So why is this digital insight important today?
According to the Statista Research Department, there has been a significant increase in social media awareness by Generation Z and Millennial users. This research included gathering information from a survey, asking individuals from multiple generations, ranging from Gen Z to Baby Boomers if they have interacted with a catfish on social media in 2022. The majority of adults in the United States said that they had definitely not ever interacted with a catfish on social media. Of Millennial respondents, 20 percent said they definitely had social media interactions with a catfish, and 18 percent of Generation Z stated the same. Only six percent of those in the Baby Boomers generation stated that they had definitely interacted with a catfish on social media.
These results are interesting because they reflect a number of issues that arise when interacting with others on the internet. The main issue being that most Baby Boomers are a little too trusting of those who they interact with on social media platforms. This is especially worrisome for older generations, as they may not be aware of how many people lie on the internet every day. Studies have shown that between 55 to 90% of people believe that others were lying at least some of the time about their age, gender, activities, interests, and appearance, with personality and social psychologists suggesting that people tell one or two lies a day, on average.
Why should people be aware of online deception?
Michael Woodworth, a forensic psychologist at UBC Okanagan studying deception in computer-mediated environments has stated that “when people are interacting face to face, there is something called the ‘motivational impairment effect,’ where your body will give off some cues as you become more nervous and there’s more at stake with your lie” though, “…in a computer-mediated environment, the exact opposite occurs.” This is due to something called the motivational enhancement effect. This effect describes how people motivated to lie in a computer-mediated environment are not only less likely to be detected, but they are actually better at being deceptive than people who are less motivated.
Startling figures show that catfishing is far more common than one may think. Statics indicate that:
· 64% of catfishes are women.
· 24% pretend to be the opposite gender when creating their fake identity.
· 73% use photos of someone else, rather than real pictures of themselves.
· 25% claim a phony occupation when presenting themselves online to a business.
· 54% of people who engage in online dating feel that the information in a potential mate’s profile is false.
· 28% of people have been harassed or made to feel uncomfortable by catfishes.
· 53% of Americans admit to falsifying their online profiles.
· At least 10% of all online dating profiles are scammers.
· 51% of people who engage in online dating are already in a relationship.
· Women lie more about age than men.
· Men lie about finances more often than women.
· 40% of men lie about position and salary.
· 83 million Facebook accounts are assumed fake.
Overall, younger generations not only have an edge when it comes to navigating the digital world and attaining seamless interactions with new technological means but having this knowledge may aid in the prevention of coming in contact with scammers and deceptive individuals on the internet.
