Generation Z.

The Post-Millennials, the Homeland Generation, the Centennials, the IGeneration- we’re the next generation to prosper.

Although there is no definite birth year range to define Generation Z, many researchers agree that it includes anyone born between 1996 and 2010.

This means that all us students are part of this generation. More than age is separating us from our teachers and parents. Various studies concluded that Generation Z has many different personality traits from everyone else.

            Generation Z is more accepting of people.

            We were born into a world that just got on board with accepting people for who they are. Same-sex marriage has gone from a controversial to acceptable. More and more of us are starting to develop views that are deemed more liberal than conservative.

This doesn’t mean that all centennials value acceptance. Of course, people all across the country have beliefs that are more conservative. However, this isn’t as common at ETHS.

“People in Evanston are especially accepting because we were raised in a society with a very diverse assortment of people,” sophomore Anna TerMolen explains.

            Generation Z is seen as a lot more serious in the eyes of many demographers.

            This can be explained by the 9/11 and the subsequent security changes,

school shootings and increasing publicizing of homicide and suicide incidents. With so many deaths occurring all around us, it’s hard not to be serious. “I think homicide and suicide have made us more serious because the loss of life is saddening and takes a lot of maturity to get through it,” sophomore Nate Landolt says.

            Generation Z has greater technological understanding.

            We grew up using computers and watching TV. Now, smartphones and laptops are all the rage.

The growing use of technology in schools is also furthering our understanding of technology. Technology is all around us. Though our obsession with technology heightens our abilities to understand other complicated topics, it has created a huge barrier between us and the rest of the world. “There is more social anxiety now. You are all just operating behind your screens,” social science teacher Corey Winchester says. “That’s just the world in which you all exist.”

The correlation between technology and social anxiety is clear. In fact, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 15 million Americans have social anxiety disorder.

Generation Z is capable of so much. We must use the qualities that separate us from all the other generations to our advantage in order to prosper.