MILANO – Generation Z, born in the new millennium and now adolescents, was not born among the luckiest in Italy: with zero growth in cradles and income, holed up at home and soon burdened with hundreds of billions of euros of new debts that it will have to honor. An exclusive survey carried out by Republic and ScuolaZoo notes that 70% of 1,550 teens interviewed across the country now feel “much more alone”, and considers social media a sad palliative compared to the (more) good days of school. However, the horizon of the Zillennials, the successors of the Millennials also called “generation Y”, is not the same everywhere. More international searches portray the first lever born in the world 100% online as one of the most numerous, rich and decisive registry cohorts in decades; and that for this reason, as Bank of America wrote in a substantial global research, “as it enters the world of work it forces other generations to adapt to it, not vice versa, and it will revolutionize the economies, markets and social systems” of the planet.
Young Italians: little money, some books and commitment
The investigation of Republic on young Italians it follows the same lines as that carried out annually by the Piper Sandler company about US teens. In mid-November, 1,550 young people from all over Italy participated, giving an updated sociocultural photograph. There are many confirmations, but also some surprises and paradoxes: young Italians buy many more books online (30%) than films and video games (13%, and on the contrary that in the US), although clothing is depopulated, with 55% of total purchases online. Only a third of them have a personal profile to pay for digital purchases, the others use those of their parents in case. Only 15% have more than 100 euros a month available, while 54% of the sample does not exceed 50 euros. A 28% of the interviewees had “desire to commit to a social cause” after the coronavirus crisis, while a 38.7% “were committed even before” (and a 27.5% remain disinterested). It is one of the reasons why no Italian company should neglect corporate social responsibility: especially when it comes to the environment, training, racism, LGBTQ rights, volunteering for health, the answers most provided.
In the lockdowns, a lot of loneliness and Netflix
On the other hand, one of the biggest problems is sociability: 69% feel “much more alone” since the beginning of the pandemic, but the other 26% who declare that “nothing has changed” is also quite worrying, or 4.4 % who feel “less just because social networks are even better” than physical reality. Almost everyone uses Whatsapp (96%) and Instagram (84%) to communicate: but the Discord and Playstation platforms, born for video games and now a means of communication and socializing, are also taking hold. “That about 70% of teenagers feel alone anymore is not surprising: for months children have been writing to us that they often feel more alone, anxious and unmotivated – says Francesco Marinelli, editorial director of ScuolaZoo, which has 4 million followers on social channels. especially Instagram – today yes
it requires everyone to make sacrifices, but adolescence is a particular phase, sometimes fragile, and the impact of lockdowns is likely to be stronger on young people. This is why we immediately took sides against the immediate and indiscriminate closure of schools, which could accentuate economic and social inequalities, and weigh on the physical and psychological health of many young people. “In the forced closures of activities to which they have been subject since March, one on two saved himself with cinema and TV series, replying: “I can’t stay without Netflix.” 27% also dedicated themselves to their hobbies, and 27% also to sports available “at home and around”, 21% to cooking and another 20% to streaming games with friends.
Generation Z makes its way into the world from Asia
The 2.5 billion young people in the world are also digital, but not all of their characteristics resemble those of Italian children. Meanwhile, 90% of them live in “emerging” countries, and with a very high rate of urbanization. A fifth of the total resides in India, and many others in Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand, all nations with a high rate of growth not only economically but also in terms of technological infrastructure and literacy. This is also why their purchasing power is running very fast: Bofa has estimated that by 2030 their incomes will quintuple, bringing them to 33 trillion dollars, 27% of total incomes and, by 2031, more than all the elderly. Millennials. If we add to this the passage between generations of assets, which in the US alone could be worth 78 trillion in the decade, we understand how the new habits of life of the “Z” will change the world.
The new habits that will sanction the overtaking on the West
They are, in fact, very different from their predecessors: they prefer to rent cars, houses and other goods rather than own them, they give great importance to ESG (environment, social, governance) issues and consume in a different way from the more “elderly”. What has already emerged in the US risks becoming reality everywhere: only half of the Zeds have a driving license, less than half drink alcohol, while more than half have restrictions of some kind on meat, 80% have ESG criteria at heart and very few are willing to use single-use plastics or poor-quality disposable products. These sectors could be penalized by new habits, while Bofa sees others flourish such as e-commerce, digital payments (but not by credit card, little used by teens who pay directly with the phone), luxury, new media. It will be thanks to these young people, whom Bofa has defined “the secret weapon of emerging markets”, that in the US bank’s estimates the countries of Asia Pacific will overcome, by 2035, the blockade of Europe and North America for total revenues. The forecast has to do precisely with the demographic trend: the Old Continent is the first in the world to have more over 65 than under 15, and North America in 2022 will join Europe in the sad club.
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