Gen Z is often called “The Meaning Generation”. The fact is that there are many factors in the world that influence generational trends: wars, diseases, economic events, and cultural trends. Major world wars led to the name, “The Greatest Generation” followed by “The Baby Boomers”, while the lack of a major defining moment for them is what caused the moniker, “Generation X”. “Millennials” were defined by the explosion of computers, the internet, and rapidly advancing technology at the turn of the millennium. The “Gen Y” and “Gen Z” monikers were following the Gen X label (i.e., sequential order) before generations had a defining characteristic, but many are identifying the theme of meaning in the Gen Z worldview. Here, we’ll discuss both the drivers and implications of that moniker.
First of all, what would cause a whole generation to have meaning as being such a focal point that it defines it? Well, the first, most obvious influencing factor is the quality of life of the average person. Yes, there are always factors like inflation and so forth that make the average person’s life more difficult, but putting aside market cycles that affect every generation and the struggles of life that exist for everyone, what is specifically unique about this generation is that it’s the first where the previous generation built up enough wealth that the next generation really could do whatever they wanted with their lives. They had food, clothing, shelter, love, toys, healthcare, entertainment, and education. When they graduated from high school, they were told that they could do anything and to make an impact on the world. For the first time in history, the majority of people went into college majors and fields based more on interest and passion than on necessity.
The irony of this is that when you need to struggle to survive, your life has built-in meaning: don’t die. Make enough money for the next meal. Feed and clothe your kids. Get enough home and material things so that your future generation had it better than you had. Or, as with the Greatest Generation, protect yourself and the world from complete and total annihilation.
In a world where you can order anything on a computer screen and have it seemingly magically appear at your door in days or even hours or click a button and listen to any music, watch any movie, or read any book that has ever existed, life is very, very different. Now, people have to actively go looking for things to complain about: other countries where people are starving or oppressed, diseases that hit people at random, changes in climate that are not controllable without immediate catastrophic consequences to developing nations, or the fact that life is simply not fair because some people are born into different situations. Imagine living in a world where millions of people every day go out of their way to look for reasons to be unhappy because they are bored with how uneventful their daily lives are.
Now add onto this the power of social media. Millions of people vying for clicks and attention. There are many ways to do this: be exceptional, be different or unique, entertain, or make people feel good. That last one can be broken up into different techniques like helping people feel good about themselves or making people feel schadenfreude (feeling good about someone else’s negative experiences). But the most famous is “virtue signaling” where stating the correct opinion or showing yourself performing socially acceptable behaviors gets you “likes” and praise from others. Because we’re a social species, nothing feels better than having everyone else telling you how good of a person you are.
Next, we’re going to add in the loneliness epidemic. People live so much on their devices and spend less time socializing with others. You don’t call and talk to people; you text 3-word sentences to them or share memes. You don’t get together and bond with people; you post and view content on social media. So the only way to find others through common interests is to find something you’re passionate about, and the “cause” is one of the more popular ones (due to this plus the above influencing factors of needing something meaningful to do with your life now that your needs are met). What people often know as “identity politics” is a combination of uniting with others around a shared identity while simultaneously adding a cause, doubling the sense of meaning that comes from those associations. It’s no wonder everyone has to put symbols on their backpacks, cars, social media profiles, clothes, and even bodies (see: blue hair) to show their allegiance to the group and its cause—how else can you be part of a group and bond with people these days?
Finally, the weird new combination of doing what makes you happy and making an impact. On the happiness side, there is this idea that you should always be happy and that you should do whatever pleases you in the moment. Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be happy the majority of the time, but many people misinterpret this and end up falling into addictions to drugs, gambling, social media, and other substances or habits to escape the pain or discomfort of their lives. Additionally, the willingness to sacrifice fun for hard work that leads to success has gone down a little (no hyperbole here—not a lot, just somewhat) as, to quote Kramer from Seinfeld, “Why fly a kite when you can just pop a pill?” So many people seek pleasure instead of fulfillment and shelter themselves from things that would lead to the latter to gain the former.
When they discover that the pleasure happiness and fulfillment happiness are different, they then seek to make an impact and join a cause. Unfortunately, many causes utilize the same tactics as cults: make the lost, dejected person feel welcome and loved for who they are, introduce them to a new belief system, indoctrinate them over time, and then begin to enact psychological tactics such as shunning dissenters and making people take purity tests to ensure compliance. There is also the high that comes with supporting a cause verbally without actually doing anything—several psychological studies have found that many people who get the high from posting the “virtue signal” online don’t actually go on to support the cause through labor or investment because they already received the social benefits without having to do any real work.
Put all this together, and what do you have? More people seeking their own sense of meaning in life than ever before. There is no inherent meaning by just living life anymore: no wars, no bears, no unifying crisis like WWI or 9/11 (remember: the pandemic divided people, elections divide people, etc.). You have to find it. Basic needs are generally met (example: kids have iPhones). People are lonely even while they’re consuming massive amounts of social media. They’re trying to get attention and approval, and they’re trying to find something to do that people will deem significant. There is no doubt that meaning underlies so many of the behaviors of this generation.
So, is there anything to take away from this trend? Only one thing is necessary to remember: meaning comes from growth. Not causes, not drama, not fighting, not Tik Tok videos, not protesting, not virtue signaling, and not masturbating to online pornography while on drugs, eating fast food, and playing a video game. If you want to feel a sense of purpose in your life, you have to identify a desired future state for yourself in any area of your life: better relationships, more education, a better job, a greater contribution to society, more money, greater fitness, better health, or love and children. Then, you have to take the actions necessary every day to work toward it. It’s the process, not the destination, so every day you get better and make your life and the world a better place is a day where you had meaning and purpose. If you feel either enjoyment or fulfillment from the fun or job well done, then you have succeeded.
What will this generation find? Well, I hope they find that meaning doesn’t come from having the right political opinion, becoming famous on social media, or having the right mix of drugs to optimize your high. It comes from building a house that someone lives in, having a child, or writing a song that people love. It comes from growth. It comes from actually making the world a better place by you participating in it, not from yelling at everything you don’t like about the world and feeling a sense of self-righteousness for doing so. It comes from doing things that you enjoy that feel rewarding, not doing things that you might not care about or like to fit in.
I will end with this: there is a strange battle between the idea that “you’re perfect just the way you are” and “you can always improve”. The truth is that we live in a society where every human has value for existing—it’s why we have laws against harming another person. But having value as a human is not the same thing as being perfect just the way you are—it’s okay to be content with your existence and appreciate every moment, but when something is perfect then it never needs to get better and, therefore, never will. And that idea—that you could never get better—is the antithesis of growth. So it’s no wonder why “the meaning generation” is having so many problems: they told to think that they’re perfect and the world sucks and to scream at it until it changes. There’s no way that will ever do anything useful, hence why there is a lack of meaning in that. So love yourself and find value in yourself, but don’t confuse that with not having to do anything with your life because that is a sure-fire recipe for a loss of purpose.
If you are in this generation, will you be the part of it that finds meaning or becomes completely devoid of it? Only you can control what the answer is.