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One of my favorite things to do is take pictures. I have a camera that I use to take photos of people, places, nature, sunsets, and other things as well. I love having a camera to keep all of my pictures and memories together for me to look back at in the future!

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Fashion plays a big part in embracing culture. There are multiple different types of styles and clothing that are worn by different people. I like fashion, because I think it's cool to see how people choose to express themselves, and it makes us all unique.

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English has always been my first language and will always be what I know, but I really want to become bilingual. I believe it is really important to know the basics of other languages, simply because that's our way of communication with one another between differing cultures and ethnicities.

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London Things to do, Lifestyle, Food & Drink News | The Resident

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All the latest things to do, lifestyle, home and garden, food and drink news for London from The Resident.

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Because I was born in 2004, I am a Gen Z. My Generation is big on the use of technology and social media, so I think our future rests a lot on technology based things. Gen Z is the most ethnically diverse and largest in American history! I am thankful that I got to grow up with little use of technology, but excited to see where it takes me in the future.

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Generation Z refers to the generation born between 1997-2012, following millennials.

Gen Z will soon become the largest cohort of consumers-and brands who want a piece of this opportunity will need to understand their tendencies and digital expectations.

Do you work in the Ecommerce and Retail industry? Get business insights on the latest tech innovations, market trends, and your competitors with data-driven research.

Generation Z (aka Gen Z, iGen, or centennials), refers to the generation that was born between 1997-2012, following millennials. This generation has been raised on the internet and social media, with some of the oldest finishing college by 2020 and entering the workforce.

Insider Intelligence has been tracking Gen Z's characteristics, traits, values, and trends to develop in-depth statistics, facts, and marketing strategies targeting what will soon become the largest cohort of consumers.

Featured Gen Z Articles

Gen Z Terms and Definitions

What is Generation Z (Gen Z)?

Generation Z, is the youngest, most ethnically-diverse, and largest generation in American history, comprising 27% of the US population. Pew Research recently defined Gen Z as anyone born 1997 onwards. Gen Z grew up with technology, the internet, and social media, which sometimes causes them to be stereotyped as tech-addicted, anti-social, or "social justice warriors."

What are Millennials (Gen Y)?

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, include anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 26 to 41 in 2022) and represent about a quarter of the US population. Much of this cohort entered the workforce at the height of the Great Recession, and have struggled with the subsequent widening of the generational wealth gap.

Millennials have led older generations in technology adoption and embracing digital solutions. Their financial status and tech-savviness have fundamentally changed how they live and work-earning them stereotypes that they job hop and have killed a number of industries. Prior to Gen Z, millennials were the largest and most racially and ethnically diverse generation.
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What is Generation X (Gen X)?

Generation X, also known as Gen X, the latchkey generation or, jokingly, the forgotten or middle child generation, consists of people born between 1965 and 1980 (ages 42-57 in 2022). Currently, Gen X comprises 20.6% of the US population, making them smaller than any other age demographic.

This cohort grew up with higher divorce rates and more two-income households, resulting in a general lack of an adult presence in their childhoods and teenage years. As such, Gen X is generally viewed as peer-oriented and entrepreneurial in spirit.

What is Generation Alpha?

Gen Alpha, which includes children born after 2010, is already set to be the most transformative generation yet. Alphas haven't just grown up with technology-they've been completely immersed in it since birth. Early in their formative years, these children are comfortable speaking to voice assistants and swiping on smartphones. They don't consider technologies to be tools used to help achieve tasks, but rather as deeply integrated parts of everyday life.

FAQs About Gen Z

What are the Generation Z birth years & age range?

Generation Z is broadly defined as the 72 million people born between 1997 and 2012.

Generation Z vs. Millennials (Gen Y)

Gen Z most closely mirrors millennials on key social and political issues, but without much of the optimism; More US Gen Zers than any other generation (68%) feel the US is headed in the wrong direction, and fewer Gen Zers than any other generation (32%) feel the country is headed in the right direction.

Is Generation Z conservative?

Generation Z considers itself more accepting and open-minded than any generation before it. Almost half of Gen Zs are minorities, compared to 22% of Baby Boomers, and the majority of Gen Z supports social movements such as Black Lives Matter, transgender rights, and climate change.

What are common names for Generation Z?

Generation Z, or Gen Z, is also sometimes referred to as iGen, or Centennials.

What is after Generation Z?

The generation that follows Gen Z is Generation Alpha, which includes anyone born after 2010. Gen Alpha is still very young, but is on track to be the most transformative age group ever.

What are the common Generation Z characteristics?

The average Gen Z got their first smartphone just before their 12th birthday. They communicate primarily through social media and texts, and spend as much time on their phones as older generations do watching television.

The majority of Gen Zs prefer streaming services to traditional cable, as well as getting snackable content they can get on their phones and computers.

In terms of US population by generation, Gen Z is the most ethnically diverse and largest generation in American history, and eclipses all other generations before it in embracing diversity and inclusion.

More to Learn

Generation Z will soon become the most pivotal generation to the future of retail, and many will have huge spending power by 2026. To capture a piece of this growing cohort, retailers and brands need to start establishing relationships with Gen Zers now.

But Gen Zers are different from older generations, because they are the first consumers to have grown up wholly in the digital era. They're tech-savvy and mobile-first-and they have high standards for how they spend their time online.

After ignoring the digital revolution and millennial buyers for too long, retailers and brands have spent the last decade trying to catch up to millennials' interests and habits-so it's critical for them to get ahead of Gen Z's tendency to be online at all times, and make sure to meet this generation's digital expectations.

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Generation Z News: Latest characteristics, research, and facts

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Generation Z refers to the generation that was born between 1997-2012, following millennials. Learn more about the generation raised on the internet & social media.

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School has always been something I enjoy. I love going to school to learn new things, go to social outings, and be with my friends. I think it is important to take classes like spanish, social studies, and sciences because these classes can help teach us culture.

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Soccer has always been my favorite sport. I have played since I was 6, and I really enjoy it. I like to watch my friends play, and also watch it on TV sometimes, as soccer is a national sport favored by many people. My culture is involved in lots of exercise, so this is my favorite way to get a good workout in.

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I love listening to music, I listen every day. Music is good for bringing people together, as different cultures listen to different types of music. I have several different playlists with different types of music on them!

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Recently I realized that while I often say that I love listening to music, what I really mean is that I like a playlist of about fifty songs, and that's it. While there's nothing wrong with the comforting chords I tend to surround myself with, there's a whole world of music out there. As a fun challenge, I decided to broaden my musical horizons and listen to anything and everything, including entire genres I had previously dismissed because I "didn't like them"-and I was wowed by what I learned.

There are certainly social benefits to becoming a more diverse connoisseur of music; for example, you'll be very well prepared to recommend music to other people and better able to select suitable music for any occasion. I was, however, particularly fascinated to find that different types of music meet our brains in different ways.

As it turns out, listening to a diverse array of music doesn't just help us broaden our tastes; each genre has unique benefits to offer.
Music and the brain
Listening to music, any music, engages our brains. Different parts of the brain interact with music and create our physiological experience of it, from the auditory cortex, which first works to break down what we're hearing in terms of pitch and volume, to the amygdala, which processes emotions, and the mesolimbic system, which deals with pleasure response and neurotransmitters like dopamine. Our memory centers and motor systems also get in on the groove: MRI scans of people listening to music show significant activity in those areas when specific songs were played, indicating the strong link between music and memory and (very simply) the urge to dance when our jam is played. One study found that listening to music can even alter visual perception -meaning that what you listen to and how it makes you feel may actually impact how you see and navigate the world.

Furthermore, different genres of music affect the brain in different ways-causing differing cascades of hormones, triggering different neurons to fire, calling up specific sets of memories and giving rise to disparate wells of emotion.

Patrick Wong, a researcher at Northwestern University, has coined a term- bimusicality -to describe an innate comfortableness with music from more than one culture (like Western music, Indian, Latin, etc). In a recent study, he found that "if you are bimusical, you tend to engage a larger network of the brain when you listen to the two kinds of music." According to Wong's research, the ability to listen to music from different cultures and only feel a low-degree of "tension" indicates the brain is utilizing not only the auditory area, but also perhaps needs the emotional areas of the brain more, too.

This research has me thinking-are we using different parts of our brain when we're listening to different genres of music (pop, rap, classical, etc)? Here's some of the evidence I've found.

Pop

One study I found indicates that popular music is associated with higher levels of endurance and spurts of energy, possibly because of its usual upbeat personality. This makes it an excellent choice for your workout playlists-it may literally help you run the extra mile. However, I like to think that there's a secondary benefit to taking in pop music. As a genre defined by the fact that everyone's tuning in, pop music can serve as a means of connection for us all-the accessibility of the lyrics and the unforgettableness of its melodies can give even strangers something in common to discuss.

Good places to get started: Word of mouth, local radio, Spotify's "New Music Friday" playlist

Rap

The stories told through rap songs are often ones of hard work and personal transformation, which has led many to believe that listening to rap and hip-hop can help those experiencing depression. According to research from Cambridge University's department of psychology, rap music, "with its rags-to-riches narrative trajectories, displays 'positive visual imagery,' a psychotherapeutic technique common among sports stars, in which one envisages the place where one would like to be, so as to facilitate one's progression to a better mental place."

Additionally, because of the intricate beats and often intense word counts, relative to other genres of music, rap songs often include incredibly clever wordplay-which can make the genre a great creative resource for poets and authors.

Good places to get started: I will never not recommend the Hamilton soundtrack-yes, I know this isn't a new idea! However, in addition to being a Broadway sensation, Hamilton was the #1 Billboard rap album in its own right shortly after its debut. It's got hip-hop, it's got jazz, it's got rap-and it's eminently accessible, making it a great gateway to enjoying genres of music that you might not have previously turned to. I've also enjoyed following its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's inspiration for similar sparkling, witty turns of phrase-artists such as Big Pun, Biggie, and Lauryn Hill laid a lot of the groundwork for Hamilton.

Classical

The classical genre is a wide field which contains in itself an incredible spectrum of music. Its pieces may sometimes suggest a sense of calm but often can evoke the complete opposite. The strength of orchestral music-what we often think of as "classical"-involves telling a story, oftentimes without using words. Classical music is a genre that often suggests music from the past. And for good reasons: many of the composers who immediately come to mind when we think of classical music (Bach! Mozart! Beethoven!) lived hundreds of years ago. But classical music is also a genre thriving in modernity with composers such as Unsuk Chin and Philip Glass, continuing to compose exciting and new works. There are also applications for classical music that are very practical. We've all heard of Baby Mozart and how it's supposed to make our children smarter. That may or may not be accurate-but, studies have indicated that listening to classical music in traffic reduces road rage. (Which leads me to a tip: just set the radio in your car to your classical station, and forget it. It's mindless classiness.)

Good places to get started: Verily has a few classical playlists for you: Focused Classical, An Hour with Debussy, An Hour with Daniel Hope; your local classical radio station; The Piano Guys playlist and "Peaceful Piano" playlist on Spotify are favorites of mine, along with John Williams for favorite movie soundtracks. I also love Spotify's "Classical Romance" playlist!

Jazz

This genre of music (for a while) was relegated to elevator music, but it could be experiencing a resurgence in popularity. This is good news for your brain as music with a more mellow tempo (of about 60 bpm) is associated with a feeling of calmness and relaxation. Many classic jazz songs run at that more relaxing clip, providing a great incentive to slow down and take a journey through popular songs of the past.

Good places to get started: The La La Land soundtrack-particularly, the slower songs-for a modern bridge to the genre; and then on to the classics, such as Miles Davis (a good example would be his song "Kind of Blue") and Ella Fitzgerald (start with "Shiny Stockings" or "Basin Street Blues"). Here's a playlist to listen to first!

Metal

This genre of music-which includes screamo, punk, and other extreme styles of singing-often gets a bad rap, but studies have shown that listening to this music is associated with enhanced positive emotions.

Good places to get started: metal isn't a genre of music that I am very familiar with-so I began with learning a bit about its history and searched for a few best-of lists for beginners. Ultimately, Spotify's "Old School Metal" playlist has you covered if you're curious to learn more!

The next time you're looking to listen to music or you're in need of a mood shift, select your musical ambiance with a bit more intention. When you open yourself up to a world of diverse music, and when you are listening for things other than quick, catchy enjoyment, you open yourself up to a dizzying array of options to really help set a mood. With an expanded library of music to choose from, you can decide if you want your morning to be upbeat or moody; you can decide if you want your next party to lean classy or casual. Appreciating a wide selection of music gives you more options as well as exercising your brain. Let's make a point of making our musical diet as healthy and varied as the wide world around us-we may all just be a little happier for it.

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The Brain Science of Listening to a Diverse Array of Music

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Recently I realized that while I often say that I love listening to music, what I really mean is that I like a playlist of about fifty songs, and that's it. While there's nothing wrong with the comforting chords I tend to surround myself with, there's a whole world of music out there.

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I love eating and trying new foods. I think it is really cool that there are so many different types of foods based on culture, (such as the basic american food, mexican food, chinese food, etc.) and I want to try as many as I can!

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I often use Instagram to gather information on celebrities or any big events happening. It is a good source of social media, because it's a platform used by many people and is easy to work with.

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My family and I are really close. We like to go out to dinner together and also go on lots of vacations.