Understanding Generation Z

March 15, 2022

What are the hopes and dreams of young people around the world?  How can education give them the tools to create a world more in line with their values?  On March 15, 2022, Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai organized a program entitled, “Generation Z and the Changing World” featuring Dr. Vishakha Desai, Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, moderated by the Center’s Director, Dr. Ravina Aggarwal.  The presentation drew from the committee’s Youth in a Changing World project, of which Dr. Desai is Co-Director, to share deep insights into the aspirations and fears of Generation Z and their perceptions of global citizenship.  

At the cusp of adulthood, Gen Z is the first group of ‘digital natives’ whose sense of self, community, and the world has been radically shaped by the Internet and social networks.  However, the prognosis of an uncertain future looms large, propelled by the pandemic, crises in education, employment, climate change, and beyond.  In the midst of this momentous churn, this demographic group is trying to make meaning of the realities it will inherit, noted Dr. Desai. Understanding the aspirations and practices of this generation will have deep repercussions for educators, policymakers, and caregivers to bridge gaps between current systems and what the future needs. 

Research from the Youth in a Changing World project, as well as Dr. Desai’s own experiences as a Professor at Columbia’s graduate program on Global Thought informed the trends and insights shared in the presentation.  She presented data on the size of the youth population across geographies, along with statistics on their smartphone usage, travel, and their awareness of the importance of global interconnectedness even against the backdrop of anti-globalization rhetoric from some quarters. The studies shed light on a generation that was deeply connected and aware of the world, as well as empathetic and driven by a sense of moral responsibility to affect change.  Key findings showed that although youth from some countries in the global south felt that the world was becoming a better place as opposed to those from developed countries, 84% of young people overall said that technological advances made them more hopeful for the future.  In their socialization and formation of value systems, respondents were overwhelmingly influenced by their family, teachers and friends.  Their anxieties stemmed from concerns such as career and financial prospects, school pressures, and health including mental health; and factors that made them fearful of the future included extremism and the rise of global terrorism, conflict and war, lack of equitable education, and climate change. 

Dr. Desai, who is also author of the recently published memoir, World as Family: A Journey of Multi-Rooted Belongings, discussed her interactions with youth from around the world to address how one could live in the global, national and local at the same time, something that this generation has to navigate continually.  According to her, even as 87% of those polled felt that their generation had a responsibility to improve the world, only 37% of girls and 48% of boys felt well prepared to take action and find solutions to big societal issues.  They felt that educational systems did not sufficiently ready them to meet real world challenges.  Globally, half of young people considered that their schooling gave too little space for new technologies, creativity, curiosity, soft skills like communication and organizational skills, and collaboration between pupils.  Dr. Desai concluded that the generation demonstrated an innate yearning to create new approaches but unsupportive structures acted as barriers to exercising their hopes for the future. 

The presentation was followed by a question and answer session that delved into issues such as generational gaps and constructive ways of knowledge transmission, effects of the pandemic on education and the job market, careers of the future, and the tools and learnings that educators could equip themselves with to best serve and prepare the next generation of leaders, changemakers, and global citizens.