“Historians will definitely skip our generation,” is a phrase commonly uttered in the TikTok comments under videos of Gen Z handling the trials of the modern world with elatedly unhinged energy. Think inflatable dinosaur costumes in life-threatening hurricanes, sunglass-clad selfie-taking as their childhood homes burn down, and questioning whether “World War III will affect the wifi” during conflict in the Middle East this summer. Proudly and prolifically, 13- to 28-year-olds dub themselves “the most unserious generation” to ever have inhabited the earth.
And can you blame them? Gen Z has inherited a hellscape of global turmoil. In the last quarter of a century, they’ve seen Roe v Wade overturned, an explosion of far-riight white nationalism, a global pandemic, world conflicts and the accelerating threat of climate change.
