Author: Steve
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Digital Native is an interesting Substack newsletter from Index Ventures’ Rex Woodbury.
His recent article – A Guide to Gen Z Through TikTok Trends, Emojis, & Language – nicely describes several behavioral characteristics of Gen Z.
It also covers their often changing and confusing (at least to older generations) use of emojis, language and social media.
The article breaks the behavioral descriptions into 3 categories:
1. Authentic & Unique – Key quote:
“Authenticity—while becoming a tired word to describe Gen Z ethos—captures where young people derive status online: status comes from being singular. If Millennials tried desperately to fit in, Gen Zs try desperately to stand out.”
2. Creative & Self-Expressive – Key quote:
“Gen Zs view themselves as highly-creative: over half (51%) say that Gen Z is more creative than previous generations. While Gen Zs deserve some credit (they really are quite creative!), they’re also the beneficiaries of better tools for self-expression. TikTok makes it orders of magnitude easier to be creative than a platform like YouTube.”
3. Pragmatic & Self-Directed – Key quote:
“Traditional” careers are anathema to many Gen Zs. Many grew up watching parents lose jobs during the Great Recession; they have an inherent skepticism of “the system” and refuse to work within it. This manifests in everything from growing populism (see: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders) to the rise of Dogecoin and side hustles.”
The simple article chart below (click to enlarge) is our favorite from the article. It illustrates how much easier for Gen Z to be both creative and entrepreneurial than it was for prior generations.
Gen Z’s entrepreneurial interest is most relevant to us.
But all three attitudes are important in terms of how Gen Z will impact society and the economy in the coming years.