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The coronavirus pandemic has narrowed the gulf of misunderstanding between thirty-year-old millennials and twenty-year-old zoomers – it “walked” through both generations, bringing a lot of new things to their lives
The pandemic is a moment that defines the consciousness of a generation
According to the theory of generations, developed by the Americans Neil Howe and William Strauss, time cycles are associated with the characteristics and views of people born in certain chronological periods. Simply put, for people who lived at the same time, their views on life, memories, social experience, value system, fundamental events that influenced fate will turn out to be similar. The emergence of the theory is largely due to economic “swings”: growth, inflation, stability, default – and so on in a circle: all this has influenced and continues to influence the formation of personality and a person’s sense of the world.
On average, generations change every 20 years, which is why there can be an abyss of misunderstanding between people who do not have a very big age difference. Every four generations, the behavior patterns are repeated, and the cycle starts over again.
Each generation has its own moment that defines consciousness – this is a historical, political or social event that has had a tremendous impact on people. The key moment must meet two criteria: firstly, it must occur during the formation of a generation – in childhood or early adolescence (in order to be remembered and have time to influence incompletely formed views at the same time), and secondly, to entail a powerful emotional shock that will be reflected on the future life of people.
For the generation of 1925-1944, World War II became such an event: despite modern realities, people of this generation are still very frugal, prefer to fix a thing rather than buy a new one, treat food with respect and always have stocks for a rainy day. Among millennials, September 11, 2001 is considered to be such an event, when a wave of terrorist attacks stirred up society, changing the perception of security and peace. Ask representatives of different generations the questions “After what event did the world cease to be the same for you?” or “Where were you when…?” – and you will determine their date of birth with high accuracy.
Center for Generational Kinetics, which helps businesses better understand their target audience through a generational approach, believes the coronavirus pandemic has been a turning point for the Zetas, the youngest working generation right now. According to the study, which included both younger “Zeta” schoolchildren and older representatives of the generation already employed, COVID-19 and the restrictions associated with it have affected all areas of their lives. Distance learning, lack of face-to-face communication with peers, prolonged isolation, closer contact with family, moving important life events (graduation, admission, job interview) online, the impossibility of traveling, financial problems – all this has already affected the value system youth and will affect not only the generation itself, but also the future of our world.
“Chet is depressed”: the impact of the pandemic on mental health
If we talk about the psycho-emotional background, then it is unstable in both young generations. According to the Global Risk Report from the World Economic Forum, the mental health of the world’s working population has deteriorated markedly – 80% of young people around the world are becoming vulnerable to depression, anxiety and frustration. The pandemic has dealt a blow to the most valuable asset of society – human capital, on which the country’s GDP and financial well-being directly depend. WHO European Director Hans Kluge confirmed that the pandemic has undermined the already fragile psychological health of modern citizens. In fact, depression has become an epidemic in its own right.
According to some researchers, including, for example, Evgenia Shamis, founder of the RuGenerations – Russian School of Generation Theory project, millennials, people aged 22 to 38, had the hardest time. They had already managed to survive the economic crisis of 2008 – the older “Y” then just entered adulthood, the younger ones felt a decrease in the quality of life, watching the fate of their parents. This event undoubtedly influenced the way Generation Y began to perceive life. Having recovered from one fall and achieved at least some stability, millennials are forced to once again face a new challenge of the times and change their way of life as adults. Many representatives of the generation lost their jobs, where they planned to build their careers, faced difficulties in family life, lost their savings, and were forced to change their profession. According to Evgenia Shamis, Y-players, who are active, not indifferent, and generally used to looking at life in a positive way, are experiencing the destruction of their foundations – this causes depressive moods and forces many to give up. Morally pressing is the fact that millennials have taken the place of “those same adults who know how to solve everything” – but the world situation is so non-standard that it turns out to be too tough for a thirty-year-old.
For the Zetas, the pandemic period is becoming what the 2008-2009 recession was for millennials – they, too, enter adulthood at a not-so-great time for the economy. Kim Parker, director of social trends at Pew Research, laments this fact: “We thought Gen Z would be different, but now it’s turned on its head.” Zoomers seem to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, but they will experience their personal crisis in a different way. This is also influenced by positive changes in the field of psychology – it is no longer a shame to seek help from specialists, and the Internet revolution, thanks to which it has become possible to get qualified online help or to establish work affairs with the help of remote work and freelancing.
The trend to turn to psychologists has become global. In our country, the number of consultations with specialists has tripled. On the one hand, this suggests that more people needed help: those who fell ill with covid, their relatives, medical staff, volunteers, people in self-isolation turned out to be the most susceptible to anxious moods. Surprisingly, the representatives of the “silver age”, despite the worldwide concern, turned out to be tougher nuts – they endure the pandemic more calmly, largely due to their penchant for solitude. Scientists believe that the really lucky youngest generation – alpha – children under 10 years old. They received much more attention and lively communication with the family than their peers from past generations. According to forecasts, it is the alpha generation that will become more emotionally stable and mentally healthy.
Cutting Expenses: Trends in Finance and Career
COVID-19 has undermined not only the health of many citizens, but also made each of us doubt the future. “Will I be fired from my job?” – these questions can spin in a circle in the head, but do not help in any way to find solid ground under your feet. All generations have felt financial insecurity during the pandemic, and this is what the “Ys” and “Z”s think about it.
They are united by the idea of finding a reliable financial institution – a bank, a company where you can invest money and not go bankrupt. Representatives of both generations pay attention not only to reliability, but also to how the bank communicates with its customers, whether its offers correspond to reality and how friendly it is. As soon as millennials and zoomers notice hypocrisy, a discrepancy between expectation and reality, they are ready to openly declare this and start discussions on social networks, which is not beneficial for the brand. This applies not only to financial institutions, but also to any corporations providing goods and services.
According to the Millennial Survey 2020 report, conducted in the winter-spring of 2020, the majority of young employees will choose to stay at their current company for the next five years – such high loyalty has not been observed since 2016. Millennials are ready to hold on to their jobs if an employer has performed well during the coronavirus period. Many of them have already begun to build their careers and are not ready to change the company. The generation in their thirties is now at the forefront of entrepreneurship – many “Greeks” have their own businesses and have already felt the full impact of the economic crisis. They declare the need for state support, but do not particularly believe in it. A survey conducted by the analytical company First Insight showed that millennials began to drastically reduce their spending – 40% of respondents admitted this.
Generation Z faced unemployment early on. At the beginning of the epidemic, many of them occupied lower positions in the service sector – they worked as couriers, baristas, waiters, combined work with study. They were the first to suffer during the mass layoffs in the spring of 2020. This forced many to rethink their ideas about the distribution of finances. “The Zetas are starting to think about what is important in economically difficult times and what can be done without,” comments Jason Dorsey, president of the Center for Generational Dynamics and an expert on millennials and generation Z. Young people do not trust the government and do not believe that the state will help them in difficult times, so it is typical for them to rely only on themselves. Already, many zoomers are trying to have multiple sources of income. Experts predict that this will become the new normal: even when the situation levels off, the Zetas will continue to combine full-time work in one place and part-time work in another.
Always online: attitude to gadgets
Being online is no longer a personal choice for everyone, but a harsh condition of life that has to be fulfilled. Work, study, receiving social services (whether it is a statement of a certificate or ordering products), self-education – now these areas of life have almost completely switched to the Internet. Gadget addiction was one of the first causes of depression in modern people, along with self-isolation and anxiety about the future.
Representatives of generation Y turned out to be more ready for such a turn of the plot – in their lifetime they have already seen a powerful leap in digitalization and remember “how it was” and “how it became”. They value their time and are accustomed to doing a lot on the run: hence the Zoom calls from the car, standing in traffic, and the new function of delayed messages in instant messengers – after putting the children to bed, you can still work. Gadgets quite tortured those who, during self-isolation and quarantine, found themselves with children at the same desk – on distance learning, but in general, the “games” quite cheerfully endure the eternal online and the budding of new chats.
The Zetas, who were born with gadgets in their hands, certainly have no problems with them – it was among their generation that many bloggers began to appear on various online platforms during the pandemic. However, according to some sociologists, the youngest able-bodied generation may soon see a crisis in social networks and the Internet in general: “Internet communication is gradually getting bored – even though buzzers do not know life without it.” After all, it is one thing to go into applications to communicate, listen to music and watch videos, and quite another to study. Young people clearly lack live communication, the value of which has grown a lot lately. In addition, with the beginning of distance learning, the sphere of Internet communications has largely become controlled by adults (teachers and parents), which teenagers perceive as an invasion of their personal space.
It is still too early to unequivocally assess the impact of the pandemic on the “Greeks” and “Zeta” – too little time has passed, and neither positive nor negative trends have yet outweighed the scales. However, the fact that the world, and with it people, will never be the same again, is obvious to everyone. What will be the “pandemic” generation and who will replace them – we will see in the next episode of this unique series.