Digital Zoomers & Boomers

Gen Z’ers (Zoomers) – born between 1997 and 2012 (or currently the ages of 12-27) – have needs that current culture has overlooked. Zoomers are suggested to be the “best educated” generation. In the U.S. 57 % of Zoomers have enrolled in a 2-year or 4-year college (compared to 52% of Millennials and 43% of Gen X). Education has a goal of teaching critical thinking skills, but there is a lag in teaching social skills as Zoomers also are identified as the loneliest generation. Who teaches kindness and sincerity?

Chinese sage Confucious (551-479 BCE) focused on personal and governmental morality with kindness and sincerity as inspirations. He is attributed with this pithy observation: “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.” We certainly need to figure out how to wage peace on the planet. Loneliness is not an arrow headed in a direction toward the target of peace. Statistics kept on mass shooters show that individuals are younger than in previous years; the median age of U.S. mass shooters from 1980-1989 was 39 but the median age since 2020 is 22 years old.

Shooters at K-12 schools and colleges have been current or former students. Many were victims of cruel teasing and bullying. What is lacking in our educational systems for this “best educated” generation?

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt teaches ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. When interviewed by Krista Tippett, Haidt offered this educational recommendation: “Let’s cancel 2 years of math for all of our high school students…and put in statistics, basic economics…and introductory psychology.”  In a 2022 essay in The Atlantic, he addressed the monumental role of social media upon young minds.                                  

I am always amazed to see dependent teens holding some digital device in their hands instead of playing the old-fashioned way (i.e., using one’s hands for a myriad of independent possibilities). A recent U.S. Congressional hearing that grilled the major CEO’s of social media will not curb the time Zoomers spend on their gadgets. Zoomers are guinea pigs as the first generation to be weaned on social media and the internet.

Baby boomers — born between 1946 and 1964 (or currently the ages of 60-78) — are hitting retirement age in record numbers, although 1 in 5 individuals 65+ choose to continue working according to a Pew Research Center study. However, 2024 is slated as a record-breaking year for U.S. retirement as an average of 11,000 Americans a day will celebrate their 65th birthday.

How many of the newly retired or semi-retired will join Zoomers in spending most of their time in the digital universe? What other possibilities might exist for this highly talented generation? What opportunities are there for getting involved in some intergenerational activities that interrupt loneliness for both Zoomers and retired Boomers?

 Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

261. How much of your day do you hand over to a digital existence?  

262. What might you do to reach out to Zoomers?