Snap out of it, Gen Z: Life Hacks with Charles Assisi
Influencers do not make for role models. Effort is not a bad thing. And it shouldn’t be only the odd outlier teen who knows how to get things done.
After reading this, my 18-year-old daughter told me I “sound like an old man”, and that everything that follows is what my dad and his generation likely thought of me and my friends. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
My story begins when an 18-year-old knocked on my door last Sunday. His demeanour challenged every notion I hold about his generation. More on him later. But the encounter with him got me thinking about how my generation — those who came of age in the ’80s — compares with today’s Gen Z (those aged 11 to 27). And boy, do I have a lot to say about that.
My generation, the one just before the millennials, is often called Gen X. We had it rough but rewarding. We grew up in a glorious decade of neon fashion and rock-’n-roll. We accessed it all on swapped or borrowed cassettes and players because that’s all the middle-class could afford.
I believe this moulded us into a generation that understood hard work and resilience. We learnt, retained and paid attention. We knew there wasn’t a manual for everything, and the earliest YouTube tutorials were decades away.
Fast-forward to today and we have a Gen Z obsessed with Instagram likes, and seemingly unfamiliar with hard work. Role models, in the true sense of the word, barely exist.
In the ’80s, we had giants. There was Steve Jobs tinkering away in the early years of Apple, Bill Gates at work on Microsoft, and stories of other such mavericks. Their narratives would come to us across the Atlantic and we’d take it all in. They were heroes.
In India, we had Kapil Dev and the delirium of the World Cup win. We saw a surge of entrepreneurs and self-made professionals who transformed the socio-economic landscape of the country. Think of the founders of companies such as Infosys and TCS. They, in turn, got some strong-willed men and women through the doors. These weren’t people waiting for change; they were making it happen.
Gen Z seems to believe the world owes them a thank-you just for existing. They pride themselves on being tech-savvy, but I doubt most can code as well as we did. Gen Z’s role models? Influencers whose biggest achievement is perfecting the art of the selfie.
They inhabit a culture of instant gratification. If something doesn’t go viral, it’s a failure. If something doesn’t immediately thrill, it must be abandoned.
These are minds rewired by social media.
And what about resilience? The ’80s folk are the embodiment of “tough it out”. We didn’t have “safe spaces” or “trigger warnings”. Life was tough. It worries me that today’s youth seems fragile by comparison. Slight inconveniences are met with complaints instead of efforts to overcome them.
Mental health and well-being are important, but there’s a fine line between addressing a genuine issue and coddling oneself to the point where you can no longer weather the inevitable challenges life throws at every living being.
Now, I’ve been harsh so far. It’s time to admit that not everything about Gen Z is wrong. This is a generation that is more inclusive, more aware, and incredibly adaptive to a constantly changing world. I just wish they had better role models.
Which brings me to the 18-year-old who knocked on my door. His hair was trimmed, army-style. He asked, “Sir, may I have your car keys?” I stared at him, confused. Then, the man who washes my car came up and introduced him. The teen was stepping in for him, temporarily.
I had to speak to the kid.
It turned out he was a science student at a Mumbai college, prepping to join the Army. He was washing cars because he and his mother needed the money.
He reminded me of so many of us from Gen X and the generations that came before. Was he an outlier? “Dada, you underestimate us,” my daughter said.
And there it was, like a flash of lightning: a stark reminder that, in a sea of digital facades and fleeting fame, there remains at least some of that raw tenacity. Perhaps it takes hardship to let it shine through. I wish that weren’t the case. I wish there were easier ways to learn life’s truest lessons.
I wish more members of Gen Z would choose to put down the phone, pick up a book, or better yet, a hammer. Build something original. Because the world does not need more influencers. It needs more innovators, creators and doers.
It is not enough to simply drift in search of pleasures, and always choose the easiest way out. To rephrase Gandalf: We do have to decide what to do with the time that is given to us.
(Charles Assisi is co-founder of Founding Fuel. He can be reached on assisi@foundingfuel.com)
