Generation Z (or Gen Z for short), colloquially known as Zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha.
Members of Generation Z, were born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s, with the generation typically being defined as those born from 1997 to 2012. In other words, the first wave came of age during the latter half of the second decade of the twenty-first century, a time of significant demographic change due to declining birthrates, population aging, and immigration. Americans who grew up in the 2000s and 2010s saw gains in IQ points, but loss in creativity. They also reach puberty earlier than previous generations.
On the whole, they are financially cautious, and are increasingly interested in alternatives to attending institutions of higher education, with young men being primarily responsible for the trend.
They became familiar with the Internet and portable digital devices at a young age (as "digital natives"), but are not necessarily digitally literate, and tend to struggle in a digital work place. The majority use at least one social-media platform, leading to concerns that spending so much time on social media can distort their view of the world, hamper their social development, harm their mental health, expose them to inappropriate materials, and cause them to become addicted. Although they trust traditional news media more than what they see online, they tend to be more skeptical of the news than their parents.
While a majority of young Americans of the late 2010s held politically left-leaning views, Generation Z has been shifting towards the right since 2020. Most members of Generation Z are more interested in advancing their careers than pursuing idealistic political causes. There is a significant sex gap, with implications for families, politics, and society at large. As voters, members Generation Z do not align themselves closely with either major political parties; their top issue is the economy. As consumers, Generation Z's actual purchases do not reflect their environmental ideals. Members of Generation Z, especially women, are less likely to be religious than older cohorts.
Although American youth culture has become highly fragmented by the start of the early twenty-first century, a product of growing individualism, nostalgia is a major feature of youth culture in the 2010s and 2020s.
Nomenclature and date range
The name Generation Z is a reference to the fact that it follows Generation Y (Millennials). Other proposed names for the generation include iGeneration, Homeland Generation, Net Gen, Digital Natives, Neo-Digital Natives, Pluralist Generation, Centennials, and Post-Millennials. The term Internet Generation reflect that the generation is the first to have been born after the mass-adoption of the Internet.
In the U.S., the term Generation Z is overwhelmingly the most popular. Zoomer is an informal term often used in an ironic, humorous, or ridiculing tone. It combines the term boomer, referring to baby boomers, with the "Z" from Generation Z. Prior to this, Zoomer was used in the 2000s to describe particularly active baby boomers. Zoomer in its current incarnation skyrocketed in popularity in 2018, when it was used in an Internet meme ridiculing Gen Z adolescents. Merriam-Webster's records suggest the use of the term zoomer in the sense of Generation Z dates back at least as far as 2016. It was added to the dictionary in 2021.
In January 2019, Pew Research Center defined "Post-Millennials" as people born from 1997 onward, choosing this date for "different formative experiences" for the purposes of demographic analysis. Common generational experiences include technological developments and socioeconomic trends, including the widespread availability of wireless internet access and high-bandwidth cellular service, and key world events, such as growing up in a world after the September 11th terrorist attacks. During a 2019 analysis, Pew stated that they have yet to set an endpoint to Generation Z, but did use the year 2012 to complete their analysis. Jason Dorsey of the Center for Generational Kinetics also cites Pew Research's 1997–2012 range to define Gen Z in a 2025 article.
In a 2022 article, U.S. Census economists Neil Bennett and Briana Sullivan described Generation Z as those born 1997 to 2013. Psychologists Jean Twenge and Jonathan Haidt argue that even though the concept of a social generation remains debated, there is evidence for significant differences between the different demographic cohorts. Those born between (on the cusp of) the Millennial generation and Generation Z are commonly known as Zillennials. Those born (on the cusp of) Generation Z and Generation Alpha are commonly known as Zalphas.
Arts and culture
General trends
Given their birth years, members of Generation Z have no memory of the time before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent war on terror. Even twenty years after the attacks had taken place, concerns over national security as well as personal safety remain. But most members of Generation Z were in their formative years during the 2008 financial crisis. In 2013, 47% of Generation Z in the United States (considered here to be those between the ages of 14 and 23) were concerned about student debt, while 36% were worried about being able to afford a higher education at all.
This generation is facing a growing income gap and a shrinking middle-class, which all have led to increasing stress levels in families. According to Public Relations Society of America, the Great Recession has taught Generation Z to be independent, and has led to an entrepreneurial desire, after seeing their parents and older siblings struggle in the workforce. Psychologist Jean Twenge describes Generation Z as "uniquely pessimistic" compared to older cohorts.
The COVID-19 pandemic struck when the oldest members of Generation Z was just joining the workforce and the rest were still in school. For this reason, it split Generation Z into two small cohorts with drastically different lived experiences, and this gap has been widened by the rapid pace of technological change, not just video-sharing platforms—especially TikTok—but also generative artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, notably ChatGPT. Consequently, the two sub-groups of Generation Z not only have different worldviews in general but also different politics.
Generation Z has come to embrace nostalgia, longing for a ‘simpler age’, things that remind them of their childhood, and even of eras before they were born. As a result, they adapt, hybridize, and modernize cultural artifacts in efforts to connect to the past, but without abandoning modern electronic devices, which enable them to experience the idealized past at will.
Jean Twenge describes Generation Z as "slow life-history strategists"—meaning they delay taking part in adult activities such as drinking alcohol, having sexual intercourse, or driving, as a consequence of their upbringing. Interest in sports has also declined noticeably compared to older generations.
A 2014 study Generation Z Goes to College found that Generation Z students self-identify as being loyal, compassionate, thoughtful, open-minded, responsible, and determined. How they see their Generation Z peers is quite different from their own self-identity. They view their peers as competitive, spontaneous, adventuresome, and curious—all characteristics that they do not see readily in themselves. Like all other cohorts born after the Second World War, Generation Z is culturally individualistic and values social equality. But unlike older living generations of their time, members of Generation Z are much more likely to identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise non-conforming.
Museums from across the United States significantly expanded their programs aimed at children, including K-12 students, during the 2000s and 2010s, according to the American Alliance of Museums and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
News media According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, among Americans in their late teens and early 20s, the most common sources of news were social media (especially Facebook and YouTube). Even so, they turn towards well-known news outlets to learn more about current events that interest them. A 2019 survey by Barnes and Nobles Education found that The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the USA Today are deemed the most trustworthy news sources by Generation Z. They also found that Generation Z consider traditional print media to be the most trustworthy while word of mouth and what they see on social media to be the least trustworthy.
While Generation Z understands the importance of traditional news agencies, they tend to be less loyal than their parents. Young Americans are concerned about the perceived bias, lack of context, negativity, and sensationalism in the news media. American youths today want news stories that are not only fun and meaningful but also accurate and fair. A 2016 poll by Gallup found a decline in trust in the news media across all age groups since (at least) the 1990s, and people aged 18 to 49 are less likely than those 50 years of age or older to trust the media.
While visual story-telling has proven to be popular, 58% of Generation Z still prefer text to videos. This number goes up for people who are older. When asked what they would choose if they could have only one subscription, only 7% picked the news while 37% chose a video service and 15% selected music.
Entertainment The most popular forms of entertainment among Generation Z are playing video games, listening to music, surfing the Internet, and using social media networks. According to Asha Choksi, vice president of global research and insights for the educational publisher Pearson, about one in every three members of Generation Z spends at least four hours per day watching videos online. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that while people aged 15 to 24 spent more time playing video games in 2018, the time spent on computers and televisions remained virtually unchanged.
Music
In its 2018 Gen Z Music Consumption & Spending Report, digital media company Sweety High found that Generation Z was listening to more diverse music genres than generations past, whose music preferences solidified by early adolescence. Spotify was the most popular source of music for Generation Z (61%), followed by terrestrial radio ranked second (55%), while YouTube was the preferred platform for music discovery (75%). TikTok is another major platform for music discovery and for Generation Z to connect with their favorite musicians.
Research on popular music from the 1950s to the 2010s has shown that this genre has become louder, while the chords, melodies, and types of sounds used have becoming increasingly homogenized. At the same time, lyrics of the most popular songs have becoming less joyful, sadder, and angrier. Such shifts have occurred due to changing consumer tastes. In particular, the melancholic lyrics of Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo resonate with their generation. A 2019 poll by Ypulse found that for teenagers (13 to 18), the top musicians were Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande. Among young adults (19 to 26), the most liked were Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.
Chinese music video app Musical.ly was highly popular among American teens. In 2018, Musical.ly was shut down and its users were transferred to TikTok. By the early 2020s, TikTok has become one of the most popular social networks among teenagers and young adults in the United States.
Film and television