Members of Gen Z were born between 1997 and 2012. Here are 7 events that have defined their lives so far.
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- From a young age, many members of Gen Z have endured life-altering events.
- COVID-19 and school shootings, among others, have shaped the young generation.
- Here are some of the generation-defining events that have had a profound effect on Gen Z.
Generation Z is comprised of 68 million individuals born between 1997 and 2012.
As Business Insider previously reported, Gen Z was established as a generation in 2019 by the Pew Research Center, which defines generations — such as Gen Z, Millennials, and Baby Boomers — to understand how perspectives and views change, rather than to create strict categories that define people.
Gen Z's members — sometimes referred to as the iGeneration, Post-millennials, the Homeland Generation, or Zoomers — have lived through historically significant events and era-defining social movements that have influenced their political leanings and sense of identity.
Poor mental health, a willingness to embrace marginalized genders and sexualities, and an interest in environmental issues are just a few of Gen Z's defining characteristics.
"Some experts warn of a revolution brewing within Gen Z. But they aren't destroyers; they're coalition builders," wrote Jean Guerrero for the Los Angeles Times in 2023.
Here are some cultural events that have shaped the attitudes and tendencies of members of Gen Z.
They came of age in the aftermath of 9/11
Most members of Gen Z have no memory of the 9/11 attacks, and they learn about the event as a part of history. According to USA Today in 2021, "Many of the Gen Zers said they first learned about 9/11 in school on the anniversary of the attacks and spoke about it as an abstract, New York-centric event."
Muslim and Arab Gen Z-ers who have never known a world pre-9/11 "see a distinct difference in the way the attacks affected their parents' and older siblings' lives, compared to their own."
"They spoke of coming of age with a more tolerant generation — one with a critical view of U.S. post-9/11 domestic and foreign policy," according to USA Today.
They don't remember a world without smartphones
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The Pew Research Center referred to members of Gen Z as "digital natives" who "have little or no memory of the world as it existed before smartphones."
The first iPhone was released to the public in 2007 — before some Gen Z-ers were even born. Those who were alive were, at most, 10 years old.
According to financial-technology company Kasasa, the average Gen Z-er received their first cell phone at the age of 10.3.
The recession of 2008 showed Gen Z 'the fragility inherent in the system'
Members of Gen Z were children, or babies, during the Great Recession, so it hung over their formative years.
Quoting Aaron Klein of the Brookings Institution, Morning Consult reported in 2019 that, "At the time of the financial crisis, Gen Z wasn't 'old enough to appreciate its magnitude but still conscious enough to see the fragility inherent in the system.'"
School shootings became commonplace during Gen Z's upbringing
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In the two-plus decades since the deadly 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, there have been more than 380 school shootings, affecting more than 350,000 students, according to 2023 Washington Post data. Gen Z is therefore acutely aware of the existential threat that this recurring issue poses to their peers.
They "grew up practicing active shooter drills and huddling through lockdowns...[and] talked about threats and safety steps with their parents and teachers," The New York Times reported in 2018, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "With friends, they wondered darkly whether it could happen at their own school, and who might do it."
The election of Donald Trump was a defining moment
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In 2019, less than 3 in 10 Gen Z-ers approved of the way Donald Trump handled his job as president, according to the Pew Research Center.
In 2023, LA Times columnist Jean Guerrero wrote that "the election of Donald Trump was a turning point for these young adults, akin to the 9/11 terrorist attacks for millennials."
The justification for this comparison was that "Gen Zers realized as kids that American exceptionalism was a lie."
"As immigration enforcement deported their parents and police tear gassed them at racial justice protests during a pandemic, many had a sense of déja vu for the dystopian teen dramas they once read. They were prepared," Guerrero wrote. "They turned out to vote and deployed their social media accounts as political weapons. They used TikTok to sink a Trump rally and Olivia Julianna, a 19-year-old in Texas, trolled Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and used his name to raise $2 million for abortion funds."
The COVID-19 pandemic altered the projected trajectory of Gen Z
"Unlike the Millennials – who came of age during the Great Recession – this new generation was in line to inherit a strong economy with record-low unemployment," the Pew Research Center wrote in 2020.
"That has all changed now, as COVID-19 has reshaped the country's social, political and economic landscape. Instead of looking ahead to a world of opportunities, Gen Z now peers into an uncertain future," the report continued.
According to Pew's 2020 study, half of Gen Z-ers between the ages of 18 and 23 reported that they or someone in their household had either lost a job or taken a pay-cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gen Z took to the streets and social media following the murder of George Floyd
The murder of George Floyd — who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during a May 2020 arrest — contributed to Gen Z's "coming of political age," according to Axios. Social media played a significant role in Gen Z's response to the killing.
"Generations that came before Gen Z went through similar awakenings. However, Gen Z is likely to continue engaging even after the protests end because of the power of smartphones and social media," Sara Fischer of Axios wrote in 2020.
Whereas before the internet, people relied on "word of mouth, pamphlets, posters and songs" to incite activism, the ubiquity of social media made it easy for members of Gen Z to share information and push for change. By spreading the word about protests, posting educational graphics, publicly pressuring corporations to take a stance, and even sharing videos of the murder, Gen Z-ers brought life to a new form of activism that could not have existed pre-internet.
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