gen z – Institute of Design & Communication

by georg.kiraly - January 5, 2023January 27, 2023

Where does the Generation Z come from?

The focus in these texts, which are strung together, is placed on the so-called “Gen Z”. These are people born between 1997 and 2012. They are mostly the children of Generation X. As a result, various social anthropological characteristics can be attributed to this still young generation. Their characteristics are reaching from extremely good abilities to handle digital technologies to the imposed ability to handle performance pressure and suffering and/or profit from an academic world.

Almost a third of all people worldwide belong to Generation Z, and they are the ones who could make our society fit for the future – if only they were allowed to. Today’s 10- to 27-year-olds are characterised by concerns about their environment and the highest rate of mental illness to date. At the same time, they are more networked and technologically fit than any generation before them – they are the first true digital natives.

But with values or worldview was given to the Gen Z from their parents. While the technical devices have changed, the way of consumptions stayed the same or increased by the ongoing globalization. Status symbols developed into objects of desire and were more important than political engagement. With the arrival of the television as a mass medium, Generation X experienced the transition from analogue to digital media. Later, e-mail and the mobile phone also represented important means of communication. The uncertain times surrounding the East-West conflict created a certain pessimism.

Generation Z’s anxieties are reinforced by the fact that they perceive news in a different way than their parents or grandparents did at the same age; young people consume content on social issues and events almost constantly. With just a smartphone, people can access a buffet of reports 24/7 through social media, search engines, news sites and television. Social media is fast overtaking traditional news channels among young people. According to broadcast regulator Ofcom, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are now the three most used news sources for UK young people, while older generations who grew up consuming news through print media, radio and television still prefer these traditional channels.

» Among 14- to 25-year-olds, TikTok is even the most-used app, ahead of YouTube and Instagram. “This is huge when you consider that TikTok is only four years old,” says study author Magnus Folten from WeCreate. “No platform has grown that fast before.” Nearly 18 percent of the time 14- to 37-year-olds spend on their mobile phones goes to TikTok. Instagram, YouTube and TikTok combined account for more than half. The latter services in particular have lost out to the competition from Beijing. What interests young people most in social media are not so much the socially relevant topics: According to the survey, environmental and climate protection came in a distant ninth, while fashion, video games and music were mentioned much more frequently. «
writes the german newspaper “Der Spiegel” on the 02.12.2022.

by georg.kiraly - December 2, 2022December 2, 2022

How to raise awareness of politics among people of younger ages (Gen Z & Alpha)

It is said that the future of a society lies in its children. Besides the focus on personal development or the management of several crises is there an awareness or interest of the political future of our society? What are the influences or reasons that younger people are avoiding or focusing on political topics?

Two world wars, several economic crises, slave trade, archaic sexism, monarchy, autocracy, democracy – to name just a few points that have shaped the European continent. Sometimes it seems as if some of the traumas of history are forgotten after a short time and the mistakes are constantly repeated. But who is responsible for breaking this cycle of experiencing and forgetting? Is it fair for a society to always look to the youngest generation and leave the future to the children of the third millennium? If you look at the latest voter flow analyses of the last National Council elections in Austria (of the under-30s), you can see that society is slowly drifting apart. The parties of the centre are becoming less and less interesting for various reasons and the camps of the political fringes are slowly gaining ground. This development is certainly not bad per se – but when you look at the issues or the way politics is communicated, you sometimes feel like you’ve been transported back in time.

But what experience and history teach us is that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history and acted on the lessons that could have been learned from it.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

In my opinion this quote still fits pretty well. It is up to us as a society to pass on the knowledge and experience we have gained. But what about the willingness of Generation Z or Alpha to absorb and use existing knowledge, or are these generations in particular already severely underestimated? What factors play a role when children or young people engage with the topic of history or politics for the first time or turn away from it? I would like to deal with these and other questions in my future research, because I think that a peaceful future should be an interesting topic for all of us.

My motivation for the project is to raise the political awareness of children and young people. I think it is wrong that young voters today are seen as a potential electorate for political parties, but are not really interested in issues that affect young people. This state of affairs creates disenchantment and weakens confidence in our democratic apparatus.

It is this state of affairs that I will be analysing over the coming weeks. I will focus on young people’s interest, disenchantment and enthusiasm towards political content. When is information interesting, what are the social backgrounds behind various opinions and to what extent can one react to this topic as an interaction designer?

After collecting some information on the topic, I would like to focus on my possibilities as a designer. I am convinced that as designers we share a certain quality – creativity. Through creative ways of interaction it becomes possible to target specific groups in society. There are various ways to share information or stimulate discourse. I am curious to see where my research will lead me and what kind of discussion can be concluded from it.