Digital Natives in the Real World: Will they thrive or just survive?

The complex realities facing today's young adults as they grapple with technology, work, and an uncertain future.

MOHAMMAD TARIQUR RAHMAN

DEFINING THE PURPOSE

MOHAMMAD TARIQUR RAHMAN
30 Jan 2025 08:35am
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WE are fond of identifying a generation based on the year when one is born, such as Gen X (1965-1980), Gen Y or Millennials (1981-1996), Gen Z (1997–2012), or Gen Alpha (2010-2024).

Beyond the boundaries of timeline, generations are also characterised by their social and psychological constructs hence are differentiated from one another.

Arguably, such characterisation may or may not represent a whole generation. Albeit, a generation who are born and raised during a given era with a certain social construct will demonstrate some unique characteristics.

It however, does not mean, one generation is entirely different from the rest of the generations living at the same time.

On their psychological constructs, Gen Z seem to experience more negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, and loneliness. They are also known to keep quiet and find their way to a comfort zone instead of walking along the differences in opinions - be it in their social or work premises.

Given their age, the oldest among the Gen Z (27-28 years old) has come to the centre of attention in many discussions from academic discourse to social media podcast.

Around this age one starts a career expecting to participate in building the future of a nation or become socially responsible in a family or a community. How they are coping with the responsibility to row their boats has come under piercing social scrutiny.

Almost half of the Gen Z respondents of a CNBC survey claimed of coasting by at work compared to about 40 per cent of those who are thriving at work. It could be because they found themselves in the middle of a dilemma in search for a tech-savvy work-life balance in the real world where the technological transition has not matured yet.

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Technological advancements such as the internet, smartphones, and social media, and above all artificial intelligence (AI) have become more popular during the era when Gen Z were born and raised.

Hence, it is not unlikely that Gen Z compared to the earlier generations have higher preferences for those technologies in their work and life. Naturally, Gen Z prefers flexibility and digitally-enabled workspaces as well as digital and virtual control in their skills.

According to the same survey, Gen Z employees were found to be the least enthusiastic about their roles at work. Yet there is a growing trend where employees continue working in roles they find dissatisfying - an evolution from “quiet quitting” to “resenteeism”.

Gen Z’s response to the working culture and environment might well be connected to their expectation and how they envisage it should be.

Pause a bit! Which generation is an exception to that expectation of using technological advancement?

If there were no technological preferences in work and life, the industrial revolution would have been halted in the late 18th century at the onset of IR1.0.

It is the ruling generations who aspire, justify, and adopt the advancement of technology, and the emerging generations are simply embracing the changing world. Technological advancement helped (read forced) us to discount skills that are no longer needed for humans to master. Shorthand writing, for example, became obsolete with the discovery of voice recording or voice typing. AI is now capable of creating novel research ideas and writing research papers and proposals.

The mid-level software engineers will no longer be needed in the job market, cautioned Mark Zuckerberg - while software engineers have been the highly paid employees in the last few decades.

Given that reality, there is no need for the Gen Z or next generations to shun their skills and creativity that could be replaced by technology. It would be rather prudent to make use of their time and energy to master skills that will be useful in the AI assisted digital world.

Taken together, how Gen Z acts or reacts is not fueled by their biological constructs. Rather it is the social trends and the technology that are adopted that are shaping their perception and psychological traits.

Science fiction movies and animations, for example, are shaping the perception of Gen Z on how AI can take good care of the tasks that in the past were in human hands.

Hence, if the Gen Z do not aspire to become a medical doctor, engineer, researcher, government official, or even a law enforcement agent – it is because they were given the impression to perceive that way.

Furthermore, the world has grown more unpredictable than ever before with the emergence of AI, potential pandemics, unexpected wars, and extreme climate.

It is then inevitable that the uncertain and unstable trends in the world will make a lasting psychological impact on the generations who are expected to embrace and deal with those in coming days. In the current predicament of unpredictability, a paradox of peace and prosperity is “justified” with imposed irrational wars, unstoppable industrialisation with growing carbon footprints, and uncontrolled rise and race for automation.

There are more to add to the complexity to the growing unpredictability. For example, Sweden has reversed their policy to bring back printed text books by replacing digital teaching and learning tools in schools.

Gen Z who were trained and educated with digital technology have to deal with future generations - such as Gen-Alpha or the next ones who are yet to be named - who will be given printed textbooks.

The more the maturing Gen Z are able to track such unpredictability, the more they might become confused (or vulnerable) to cope with their responsibility. In fact, any generation would find it challenging if they had to deal with an uncertain future - GenZ is not an exception.

Nevertheless, if there is a way to reverse the ongoing unpredictability - it is the Gen Z who have to shoulder that responsibility for that change. Not because they are named Gen Z but because that growing generation have fresh blood running in their veins and dormant soaring spirits in their hearts.

Professor Dr Mohammad Tariqur Rahman Deputy Executive Director International Institute of Public Policy & Management (INPUMA) Universiti Malaya. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of Sinar Daily.

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