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The iGen Shift: Colleges Are Changing to Reach the Next Generation 

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The iGen Shift: Colleges Are Changing to Reach the Next Generation 

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This Article is about how our generation is never reading books or emails  and how were stuck in social media. It states that this generation defies the stereotype of young adults. Even though this generation is known as always being stuck with technology we need to learn how to use it for education purposes

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Credit... Henning Wagenbreth

The newest students are transforming the way schools serve and educate them, including sending presidents and deans to Instagram and Twitter.

Credit... Henning Wagenbreth

They are, of course, super connected. But on their terms. Which is why college-bound iGens (Gen Zers, if you prefer) present a challenge to the grown-ups on campus eager to reach and teach them.

Consider orientation season. Katie Sermersheim, dean of students at Purdue University, has a mother lode of information and resources to share (including wellness initiatives and a new mindfulness room). But getting iGen's attention?

"It can be frustrating slash extra challenging to figure out how to get the word out, whatever that word is," Ms. Sermersheim said. "I do get discouraged."

A generation that rarely reads books or emails, breathes through social media, feels isolated and stressed but is crazy driven and wants to solve the world's problems (not just volunteer) is now on campus. Born from 1995 to 2012, its members are the most ethnically diverse generation in history, said Jean M. Twenge, psychology professor at San Diego State University.

They began arriving at colleges a few years ago, and now they are exerting their presence. They are driving shifts, subtle and not, in how colleges serve, guide and educate them, sending presidents and deans to Instagram and Twitter.

They are forcing course makeovers, spurring increased investments in mental health - from more counselors and wellness messages to campaigns drawing students to nature (hug a tree, take a break to look at insects) - and pushing academics to be more hands-on and job-relevant.

They are a frugal but ambitious lot, less excited by climbing walls and en suite kitchens than by career development.

Most critically, they expect to be treated as individuals. Students raised amid the tailored analytics of online retailers or college recruiters presume that anything put in front of them is customized for them, said Thomas C. Golden of Capture Higher Ed, a Lexington, Ky., data firm. He sees group designations evolving into "segments of one."

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Ingrid Koester, 19, center, and other Princeton University students shooting a video, based on the Taylor Swift song "22," that welcomes the class of 2022. Orientation leaders and staff members from the office of the dean of undergraduate students were extras in the video. Credit... Mark Makela for The New York Times

Students want to navigate campus life, getting food or help, when it is convenient for them. And, yes, on their mobile devices or phones. "It's not really technology to them," said Cory Tressler, associate director of learning programs at Ohio State University, noting that the iPhone came out when most were in grade school.

It is why Ohio State this year, rather than battle device use, issued iPads to 11,000 incoming students. The school designated 42 fall courses "iPad required" (21 more will be added in the spring) and is building an app that in addition to maps and bus routes has a course planner, grades, schedules and a Get Involved feature displaying student organizations.

In the works is more customization, so when students open the app it knows which campus they are enrolled at, their major and which student groups they belong to.

Speaking to students on their terms just makes sense, said Nicole Kraft, a journalism professor at Ohio State who takes attendance via Twitter (she has separate hashtags for each of her three courses). She posts assignments on Slack, an app used in many workplaces. And she holds office hours at 10 p.m. via the video conference site Zoom, "because that is when they have questions."

Dr. Kraft does not use email for class, except to teach students how to write a "proper" one. "That is a skill they need to have," she said.

While these students are called "digital natives," they still must be taught how to use devices and apps for academic purposes, Dr. Kraft said. She's had students not know that they could use Microsoft Word on an iPad. "We make a lot of assumptions about what they know how to do."

Campuses also have been slow to recognize that this age group is not millennials, version 2.0.

"IGen has a different flavor," said Dr. Twenge of San Diego State University and author of "iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy - and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood - and What That Means for the Rest of Us."

It is tricky to define a large part of the population. But Dr. Twenge said big data sets revealed broad psychological patterns shared by those coming of age amid defining social, cultural and economic events.

The difference between growing up in the prosperous 1990s versus seeing family members lose jobs and homes during the 2008 recession alters one's perspective, she said. It is why iGens are so focused on debt and insist that they get skills and experiences that will lead to a career.

The prevalence of school shootings and domestic terrorism has also shaped them.

"This generation defies the stereotypes of young adults," in terms of risk-taking, Dr. Twenge said. They are "more receptive to messages around safety" and less eager to get driver's licenses, and they come to college "with much less experience with sex and alcohol."

They are also more cautious when it comes to academics, fear failure and have learning preferences distinct from millennials, said Corey Seemiller, professor at Wright State University and co-author of "Generation Z Goes to College," who queried 1,200 students on 50 campuses.

"They do not like to learn in groups," favor videos over static content and like to think about information, then be walked through it to be certain they have it right.

"They want a model" and then to practice, said Dr. Seemiller, who posts samples when assigning a paper. "I'll say, 'Let's look through them and see what works.'" Having grown up with public successes and failures online, she said, students are hungry to have a big impact, yet "worry they will not live up to that expectation."

And despite their digital obsession, Dr. Seemiller's research shows this generation favors visual, face-to-face communication over texting. They are not always good at live social interaction, but they crave it. "They want authenticity and transparency," she said. "They like the idea of human beings being behind things."

As a generation that "has been sold a lot of stuff," said Dr. Seemiller, iGens are shrewd consumers of the tone and quality of communication. That's pushing colleges to focus not only on what they say, but also how they say it.

Which is what orientation leaders and staffers in Princeton's office of the dean of undergraduate students - known on social media as ODUS - have tried to master in the way they welcome the class of 2022.

Mayra Mateo of Columbus, Ohio, an incoming freshman at Ohio State University, working on the iPad given to her by the university, which issued the devices to 11,000 incoming students. The college designated many fall courses "iPad required." Credit... Jessica Phelps for The New York Times

A brainstorming session in March generated what became a Princetified cover of Taylor Swift's"22," a video with orientation leaders and ODUS staff members as extras, a cappella groups singing the score and Nicolas Chae, a sophomore, directing.

Cody Babineaux, an incoming freshman from Lafayette, La., whose video of his acceptance to Princeton has 4.6 million Twitter views, appreciated it, especially the Harvard shirt sniffed and tossed out in the first 20 seconds. "It was hilarious," he said. "It didn't try too hard."

Getting student attention and keeping it matters to administrators trying to build excitement for campus events, but also in prodding students about housing contracts and honor codes. "We are an office that enforces university standards. We can't be firing off," said Thomas Dunne, deputy dean of undergraduate students. "But you have to be animated and human-sounding. Our voice is very personal."

ODUS has become an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter with a vibe that winks, pokes, weaves in memes and slang terms like BAE (before anyone else) and on fleek (flawlessly styled), and applies hashtags with wit (a free ice cream for dropping by the ODUS office with dance moves worthy of Dean Dunne? #GetServed, #GameOfCones).

Mr. Dunne, whose Facebook page began as a student prank without his knowledge more than a decade ago, leans on staff members who include 20-somethings. One, Ian Deas, who favors Snapchat, identifies student "influencers," following them on Facebook and Instagram.

In posts, he looks for "those trendy phrases that help us stay in the conversation." When ODUS staff members respond to student posts, it amplifies their reach. "When we are being interactive, our stuff pops up in other people's feeds" and drives curiosity about "who is behind the voice."

Being social on social media attracts students who might tune out official communication. Mr. Babineaux said he and his friends noted when college posts sounded "goofy" or "like your grandfather trying to say swag."

He also notices that his generation is criticized "because we are always on our phones," which gets interpreted as being disconnected. In fact, he said, "we just have more connection with everyone all the time."

It is also how students like Mr. Babineaux learn and get information.

"Social media has helped me get a lot more prepared for Princeton," he said, adding that he has scrolled through old posts of campus ("I have never seen snow") and watched videos, including of graduation. "I thought, 'That will be on my Instagram page in four years.'"

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The iGen Shift: Colleges Are Changing to Reach the Next Generation (Published 2018)

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The newest students are transforming the way schools serve and educate them, including sending presidents and deans to Instagram and Twitter. Credit... Henning Wagenbreth They are, of course, super connected. But on their terms. Which is why college-bound iGens (Gen Zers, if you prefer) present a challenge to the grown-ups on campus eager to reach and teach them.

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Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get ‘Customers for Life’?

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Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get ‘Customers for Life’?

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The campaign for Juuls has been popular across the nation for many teenagers. The company says that they were not trying to get people to stop smoking but trying to get teenagers to start vaping. Towards the end the company, now called Juul Labs, denies that it ever sought to attract teenagers. Overall, Mr. Monsees, a Juul co-founder, states they he believes that e-cigarettes are the key to reduce smoking

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Juul is under federal investigation for marketing its discreet, flash-drive-resembling e-cigarette product to youth. Credit Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times

The e-cigarette company says it never sought teenage users, but the F.D.A. is investigating whether Juul intentionally marketed its devices to youth.

Juul is under federal investigation for marketing its discreet, flash-drive-resembling e-cigarette product to youth. Credit Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO - The leaders of a small start-up, PAX Labs, gathered at a board meeting in early 2015 to review the marketing strategy for its sleek new electronic cigarette, called Juul. They watched video clips of hip young people, posed flirtatiously holding Juuls. And they talked about the name of the gadget, meant to suggest an object of beauty and to catch on as a verb - as in "to Juul."

While the campaign wasn't targeted specifically at teenagers, a former senior manager said that he and others in the company were well aware it could appeal to them. After Juuls went on sale in June 2015, he said, the company quickly realized that teenagers were, in fact, using them because they posted images of themselves vaping Juuls on social media.

The former manager said the company was careful to make sure the models in its original campaign were at least 21, but it wasn't until late 2016 or January 2017 that the company said it decided the models in all Juul ads should be over age 35 - to be "better aligned" with a mission of focusing on adult smokers. Only in June of this year did the company again change its policy, this time to using only real people who had switched from cigarettes to Juul.

The company recently modified the names of its flavors - using creme instead of crème brûlée and cucumber instead of cool cucumber. Juul said it "heard the criticism" that teenagers might be attracted to the flavors and "responded by simplifying the names and losing the descriptors."

The sales campaigns for Juuls - now hugely popular with teenagers across the nation - are at the heart of a federal investigation into whether the company intentionally marketed its devices to youth. The attorney general of Massachusetts, also investigating the company, contends that Juul has been luring teenagers to try the product and has introduced many to nicotine. Her investigation will examine Juul's efforts to audit its own website and other online retailers that sell its products to see how effective they are at preventing minors from accessing Juul or Juul-compatible products. (Federal law prohibits sales of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18.)

"From our perspective, this is not about getting adults to stop smoking," the Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, said in an interview. "This is about getting kids to start vaping, and make money and have them as customers for life."

And Cult Collective, the marketing company that created the 2015 campaign, "Vaporized," claims on its website that the work "created ridiculous enthusiasm" for the campaign hashtag, part of a larger advertising effort that included music event sponsorships and retail marketing. A spokesman for Cult Collective declined to comment.

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Examples of Juul's advertising from 2015. The company's current marketing is far more sober-looking, with a less colorful, more adult design.

The company, now called Juul Labs, denies that it ever sought to attract teenagers. James Monsees, one of the company's co-founders, said selling Juuls to youth was "antithetical to the company's mission."

The original sales campaign was aimed at persuading adult smokers in their 20s and 30s to try an alternative to cigarettes, but it "failed to gain traction on social media and failed to gain sales" and was abandoned after five months, in the fall of 2015, said a company spokesman, Matt David.

Mr. David said sales didn't take off until 2017, after Juul had improved its sales and distribution expertise, and, by then, had a more sober online marketing campaign.

The former Juul manager, who spoke to The New York Times on the condition that his name not be used, saying he worried about facing the ire of the company, said that within months of Juul's 2015 introduction, it became evident that teenagers were either buying Juuls online or finding others who made the purchases for them. Some people bought more Juul kits on the company's website than they could individually use - sometimes 10 or more devices.

"First, they just knew it was being bought for resale," said the former senior manager, who was briefed on the company's business strategy. "Then, when they saw the social media, in fall and winter of 2015, they suspected it was teens."

The Food and Drug Administration announced it was investigating Juul's marketing efforts in April. Juuls and other e-cigarettes are regulated by the F.D.A. as tobacco products because nicotine derives from tobacco leaves. E-cigarette users inhale far fewer toxins than do smokers of traditional cigarettes. The nicotine inhaled while vaping is less a concern for adults than these toxins, but it remains a serious health issue for teenagers, whose brains are still developing.

The Juul story highlights a central dilemma in public health. Cigarettes remain the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 480,000 people a year. But will it be possible to get people who are addicted to cigarettes to switch to e-cigarettes, which are less harmful, without enticing a new generation or non-smokers to try them?

Juul, in a letter responding to the F.D.A.'s demand for documents, said it had converted one million smokers to Juul, but the company data is drawn from self-reported surveys on its website and is unverifiable.
[Here's how schools are dealing with the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes.]
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who heads the F.D.A., declined to comment on the agency's investigation of Juul. But he has long been hopeful that e-cigarettes or other similar devices, properly regulated, will prove a safer alternative to smoking and help people quit the deadly habit. Before becoming F.D.A. commissioner, he served on the board of directors of Kure, a retailer that sells e-cigarette products.

"Two-thirds of adult smokers have stated they want to quit," he said. "They know it's hard, and they've probably tried many times to quit. We must recognize the potential for innovation to lead to less harmful products."
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But Eric Lindblom, a former F.D.A. tobacco official who heads the tobacco control program at Georgetown Law, said Juul's internal concerns about teenage use demonstrate they are in some ways "no different than the cigarette industry."

"They are going to maximize their sales and profits any way they can," he said. "They are going to do that within the law, but they are going to press the gray areas as much as they can."

Over the last three years, Juul has had a meteoric rise. It has become the dominant seller of e-cigarettes, now controlling a remarkable 72 percent of the market, according to Nielsen data. In July, the company completed a round of fund-raising for $1.2 billion, putting it in rarefied air. From a virtual standing-start in 2015, it is now valued by investors at $16 billion.

Across the country, Juuls have become so popular that "Juuling" has indeed become a verb, and officials from several state governments have sent alerts to schools warning them about the problem.

A survey of adolescent drug use last year found that 11 percent of 12th graders, 8.2 percent of 10th graders and 3.5 percent of eighth graders had vaped nicotine in the previous 30 days.

Juul's other co-founder, Adam Bowen, said that he was aware early on of the risks e-cigarettes posed to teenagers, and that the company had tried to make the gadgets "as adult-oriented as possible," purposely choosing not to use cartoon characters or candy names for its flavors.

The F.D.A. has ordered Juul to turn over the company's research and marketing documents, including focus group data and toxicology reports, to determine whether it intentionally courted the youth market.

The day after receiving the F.D.A. letter, Juul announced it would spend $30 million to combat underage vaping and recruited Tom Miller, the attorney general of Iowa, who helped lead the multistate 1998 master settlement with tobacco companies, to run an advisory board to counsel Juul on its efforts. Mr. Miller said recommendations might include more controls on social media marketing and better surveillance of retail outlets, but the ultimate decision on how to spend the money remains with Juul.

Mr. Miller says he sees huge potential in e-cigarettes. He believes Juul and other e-cigarette companies have already helped lower the adult smoking rate to 13.9 percent in 2017 from 16.8 percent in 2014. "The only plausible explanation is e-cigarettes," he said.

A report from Citigroup, citing Nielsen data, said that sales of traditional cigarettes dropped 6 percent in the first quarter of this year and "it's impossible to say what has caused the change for sure but the most obvious case is Juul."

Juul recently deleted months of social media posts, including ones with images of cool-looking young people vaping Juuls. This spring it made major changes to its website, which had prominently displayed a Juul surrounded by luscious-looking images of fruit and the words "Mango, it's back." The site is now a more sober-looking affair, featuring video of adults vaping with a tagline "For smokers. By design." Across the top of the page, visitors are invited to "learn about our youth prevention efforts."

Mr. Bowen, 42, and Mr. Monsees, 38, the company's founders, met in 2003 in a graduate product-design program at Stanford University, bonding over brainstorming sessions and cigarettes. Both had been smokers since their teens, and both have since quit; Mr. Monsees regularly uses a Juul.

The culmination of the program was a masters thesis, and both had struggled to find a worthy subject. In 2004, about six months before the thesis was due, they got to talking about their smoking habits and, within days, were excitedly sending emails back and forth about developing an alternative to cigarettes.

Big tobacco companies were experimenting with e-cigarettes, but there was no real market for them until around 2010, when NJoy, an Arizona company, became the industry's first darling. By 2013, e-cigarettes were a $1.7-billion-a-year business, still only a small fraction of the $90 billion cigarette business.

But then NJoy gambled on an e-cigarette that looked virtually identical to a cigarette. It was a mistake, said Craig Weiss, the chief executive who pushed the so-called cigalike strategy and now consults for Juul. As NJoy's fortuned flagged, he said he realized that people didn't want a product that looked so much like a cigarette that it still left them with the stigma of being a smoker. NJoy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016, later re-emerging.

Juul initially developed a product in 2010 that looked like a fountain pen and distributed it in specialty vape shops. Its sales grew to a modest $30 million by 2015.

Then the company found its current design, a sleek stick that looks like a flash drive, and largely stumbled onto a new way of delivering nicotine: it mixes nicotine with a chemical called benzoic acid. The result is that when Juul users inhale, they get a very quick and powerful burst of nicotine. This gives smokers a more cigarette-like experience, but medical researchers say it also makes the product more addictive for youth.

The company launched its new product in June 2015, with starter kits costing $35, and packs of four nicotine refill cartridges selling for $16 - each roughly the equivalent of the cost of a pack of cigarettes. According to Nielsen, sales in the first month were roughly $1,500 and reached over $1 million that December. It began a steady climb, and then experienced explosive growth in the beginning of 2017, with sales rising 627 percent in the four weeks ending June 17, 2017, according to Nielsen and Wells Fargo Securities.

The company said that toward the end of 2016 and around the beginning of 2017, it changed its social marketing campaign and guidelines to require all models to be over the age of 35.

In the last two months, Juul has removed the flavor focus and now uses only "real people" who have used Juul to switch from smoking cigarettes, the company said.

Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that he was prepared to be a fan of a product like Juul if it is responsibly marketed and shown to help adults quit smoking. But he cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that in 2017 2.1 million high schoolers and middle schoolers used e-cigarettes - "and the reports about high school students using Juul are rampant," he said.

Mr. Myers observed that Juul "delivers nicotine so much better than any comparable product on the market," and so its popularity means that "both the hopes of the e-cig fans, and fears of those concerned about e-cigs and kids, rise exponentially."

On Jan. 23, The Boulder Daily Camera published a front-page story about the growing concerns of local educators in Colorado about student use of Juuls.

Five days later, Carrie Yantzer, the principal at Nederland Middle-Senior High School, received an email that immediately struck her as suspicious. The writer introduced himself as Bruce Harter, a former educator working with Juul to develop an anti-vaping curriculum for schools.

[Here's why public health experts believe vaping may lure teenagers into smoking.]
"I read about the challenges you're having with Juul," Mr. Harter wrote. He offered a free, three-hour curriculum provided by Juul to discourage teens from using e-cigarettes by teaching them about their brains and giving them mindfulness exercises.

"What we've found from focus groups with teenage Juul users is that young people don't understand the dangers of nicotine addiction," the letter read. "They sometimes feel 'pushed' by friends to use e-cigarettes. We also found that they don't have operative ways to deal with stress and the emotional ups and downs of their lives right now."

Ms. Yantzer was angry. "It sounded preposterous," she said, and the company "deceptive."

She wasn't the only school administrator to get such a letter. The Boulder school district and, ultimately, the state of Colorado condemned the offer as a brand-building exercise that was tone-deaf at the very least.

"The way we see this is a fox guarding the henhouse," said Alison Reidmohr, tobacco communications specialist for the Colorado Department of Public Health. "A company that stands to profit from, and currently profit off, youth using a product can't be trusted to prevent use of this product."

Ashley Gould, Juul's chief administrative officer, said the company, because it has not built management around former tobacco-industry employees, was unaware the tactic had been used by cigarette companies. However, Juul's board of directors includes experienced investors, including Nicholas Pritzker, a billionaire whose family controlled one of the country's largest chewing tobacco companies, Conwood, which was acquired in 2006 by Reynolds American for $3.5 billion.

For its part, Juul said it was still deciding what to do with that school program. Ms. Gould said the company did not realize the curriculum would offend or that the idea harked to a tactic big tobacco companies used decades ago. "We didn't know," she said. "We should've known."

Juul has a new innovation in the works, a Bluetooth-enabled version of its e-cigarette that it hopes could push more smokers to switch without risking youth uptake. Mr. Monsees called it a "smart" e-cigarette.

The Bluetooth-equipped Juul might provide a way for adult vapers to measure their nicotine use. It also might discourage teen use by disabling the device unless it's in the presence of its adult buyer, perhaps by linking it to the buyer's cellphone. The solution would still require effective controls on sales to minors at brick-and-mortar stores and online retail outlets.

Juul officials contend their ability to offer such innovations is hamstrung by regulatory policies. The company is building a high-powered operation in Washington to help it navigate such issues. It's run by Tevi Troy, a political strategist who worked with Dr. Gottlieb, the F.D.A. commissioner, at the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush and who wrote an opinion article with him for The Wall Street Journal.

The company has also hired Jim Esquea, who was an assistant secretary at the health department during the Obama administration, and Gerald Masoudi, a former F.D.A. chief counsel.

The company is also ratcheting up its lobbying efforts. It has reported spending $450,000 on lobbying so far in 2018 - substantially more than the $120,000 reported spent for all of 2017. It also recently started a political action committee, although no donations have yet been reported. In June, Kevin Burns, Juul's chief executive, gave $50,000 to the Republican congressional leadership fund.

The centerpiece of Dr. Gottlieb's tobacco control strategy is a plan that would potentially greatly benefit e-cigarette companies, including Juul. It would require tobacco companies to reduce nicotine levels in traditional cigarettes so much that they were no longer addictive. The proposal is still in the early discussion phase, with the tobacco industry strongly opposed. But it would potentially make Juul, a potent nicotine delivery device, far more appealing to smokers.

Mr. Monsees, a Juul co-founder, says he believes that e-cigarettes are a key to reducing smoking, and can be profitable without sales to teenagers.

"Yes, I want to make money," he said. "I'm on the board with a fiduciary duty that obligates me to make money."

But he added, "The best investor return in the long term comes from more adults turning away from combustible cigarettes."

Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Investigators Ask if Vaping Ads Tried to Hook Teenagers for Life. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get 'Customers for Life'?

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The e-cigarette company says it never sought teenage users, but the F.D.A. is investigating whether Juul intentionally marketed its devices to youth. Juul is under federal investigation for marketing its discreet, flash-drive-resembling e-cigarette product to youth.

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‘Lit’ Is Over, and Other Things You Can Pay Teens to Teach You

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‘Lit’ Is Over, and Other Things You Can Pay Teens to Teach You

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Lit isn’t cool anymore. If adults were to use it, it would be known as cringey towards others. Memes are popular now because people like like the humor in a short picture and caption. Overall, the article is stating that generation z grew up on social media.

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Consulting firms like JÜV are helping grown-up brands talk to young people without condescending to them.

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Employees of JÜV, a consultancy firm run by teens and college kids, lived and worked in a loft-like apartment in Brooklyn for the summer. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

When CJ DeLeo founded his record label, Right Coast Music, he knew that reaching teenagers would be crucial to its success. But rather than thumbing through Instagram to figure out how to talk to 10- to 21-year-olds - or, Generation Z, as the demographic after millennials is sometimes called - he reached out to JÜV Consulting.

The company is one of several new marketing firms that illuminate the inner workings of kids these days without condescending to them. How? JÜV Consulting is staffed entirely by young people who range in age from 14 to 22.

"I was honestly quite skeptical when I found out they were teenagers," Mr. DeLeo admitted. "After the first call, they blew me away. They could walk into a regular business setting with people in their 30s and 40s and be completely comfortable. They are living the demographic we were targeting."

That's the whole point. The employees at JÜV (named for a combination of the words "juvenile" and "rejuvenate") are out to teach brands, companies and nonprofits what it means to be a young person by commodifying their own quality time.

JÜV's creative director, Nico Trigo, 18, left, and the director of marketing Jacob Chang, 19, in their shared bedroom. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

"Don't talk about teenagers, talk to teenagers," said Ziad Ahmed, 19, JÜV's C.E.O. and a rising sophomore at Yale (major undecided). He co-founded the consultancy firm in 2016 with Nick Jain, 19, the company's C.O.O. and a rising sophomore at Princeton and Melinda Guo, 19, who goes to Stanford and serves as a member of the board.

This summer, Mr. Ahmed, Mr. Jain and six other members of the executive team lived and worked in a loft in Brooklyn, where they would meet with clients and then just hang out. In addition to an executive team, JÜV has five senior partners, 15 junior partners and 90 consultants on staff, all of whom (it should perhaps go without saying) are paid. Their de facto informants consist of friends - and friends of friends - from around the world.

"Gen Z moves fast, and so do the trends," said Jacob Chang, 19, JÜV's director of marketing, and a rising sophomore at the University of Chicago. A big part of his job is flagging memes and whatever is catching viral fire on Twitter. "There are a lot of things coming in and out of favor," he said.

JÜV's co-founder and chief executive, Ziad Ahmed, 19, confers with Shaina Zafar, 18, the company's chief of staff. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

For example, "'Lit' isn't really cool anymore," said Mr. Ahmed. "Even though a lot of us still colloquially use it, if a company did it, that's cringey. Because lit, our parents now know it." On the other hand, he said, "if you were to, in a tweet, use a word like 'hella,' no one's going to be like, that's so cringey, because that's just how we type."

"Generation Z is Generation We," said Mr. Chang. "We love sharing experiences with each other. And that's why memes have taken off, because it's like the short, shared experience of our humor."

To be clear, the JÜV team scoffs at the idea of a "Gen Z expert": anyone who pretends to speak for a generation, whether that's a peer or adult. They aren't a research firm, they say. They aren't a focus group. They are, according to Emma Himes, JÜV's 18-year-old director of development and a rising sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, "a really diverse group of trained teen consultants who can help you."

That approach has earned them work with big-name clients like Viacom and Edelman, as well consulting gigs with smaller nonprofits and businesses. One of the company's most appealing offerings is helping clients navigate social media to avoid the kinds of pitfalls that might make them infamous overnight - or canceled, in the lingo of the day.

JÜV teens, at work and at play. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

"We grew up on social media. That's kind of the way we describe it to clients," Mr. Jain said. "The vast majority of us are fluent in it."

Before the executive team disbanded this month to go back to their colleges (where they will work remotely on a part-time basis during the school year), they would host clients at their loft in Clinton Hill.

The space looked like a hangout spot from a high schooler's dreams. There was a long desk in the middle of the light-filled room, where the team plugged in their earbuds and got to work, and a comfy sectional in the corner, where the team would occasionally stop working long enough to watch The Bachelorette. There were walls covered in Post-it notes (both to organize work tasks and delegate chores among the roommates), and pool floats were flung about the space as decoration.

Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

For meals, JÜV employees ate a lot of pasta. They would gather together at a high kitchen table, debating the efficacy of subway ads and whether Kim and Kanye might divorce with equal passion.

Liz Toney, a JÜV client who is the head of brand and engagement for a social media start-up launching this fall, described a typical meeting:

"One minute there are Nerfs, card games and inflatable pool toys," she said. "The next our laptops are out and it's focused, brilliant conversation, and two hours of exciting brainstorming."

For a room full of students who have yet to experience the existential dread of graduating? Sounds about right.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page ST5 of the New York edition with the headline: Things You Can Learn From Teenagers: 'Lit' Is No Longer Lit. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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'Lit' Is Over, and Other Things You Can Pay Teens to Teach You

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Consulting firms like JÜV are helping grown-up brands talk to young people without condescending to them. When CJ DeLeo founded his record label, Right Coast Music, he knew that reaching teenagers would be crucial to its success.

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In this article it states the the “new group” of people are going to make there mark on the world. Generation Z is known as the most diverse in American history. We wouldn’t know what to do is we didn’t have internet is our lives. The world is starting to pay closer to this generation because we are the ones next in line as the country’s cultural and political leaders.

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After years of headlines about Millennials, a new group of young people is poised to make their mark on the world: meet Generation Z.

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Move Over, Millennials: How Generation Z Is Disrupting Work As We Know It

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Move Over, Millennials: How Generation Z Is Disrupting Work As We Know It

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I’m the article it states that Gen Z-ers say getting a four-year degree no longer makes economic sense. We are known to observe the world through our smart phones. If millennials were to help us guide us in an era in which it is normal to go through several careers and have flexible schedules, Generation Z may find ways to have all those careers at the same time.

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Move Over, Millennials: How Generation Z Is Disrupting Work As We Know It

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The generation best known as Gen Z- those born in the mid­'90s and later-looked on as their parents lost jobs during the Great Recession.

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In this article it states that is “Gen Z-ers have been living with internet since birth. We are known to have a fear of miss out (FOMO) so that’s why we have a more DIY attitude when it’s about job skills. As more Gen Z-ers start to break into the work force it’s goinh to be harder for employers to adapt to these changes.

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A new book by a father-son duo explores the question

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Digital terrorism in 2018 - Generation Z has arrived

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Digital terrorism in 2018 - Generation Z has arrived

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Online hate is increasingly targeting African Americans and Jews.A culture of online conspiracy theories is flourishing on social media. We must use every tool in our own powerful arsenal to reach digital-savvy teens and young adults with compelling messages of inclusion, compassion and love.

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For 24 years, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has released an annual "Digital Terrorism and Hate" report providing stakeholders, law enforcement and the media a snapshot that illustrates how extremists leverage online platforms to promote their insidious agendas.

Over the course of this time, we've witnessed a frightening evolution in the sophistication of the tools they use and professionalism by which they go about their work. Today, we're on the verge of a tipping point.

The post-millennial Generation Z has grown up with a smartphone in its hands and is reaching adulthood with an unprecedented ability to organize, fundraise, and, if so inclined, to create hateful content and distribute it through fragmented, but interconnected media channels.

Here are the principal 2018 takeaways, all tying back to the common theme that we are dealing with more agile and increasingly capable adversaries:

Here is the good news: While far from perfect, most major social media providers, led by Facebook, are removing hate and terror postings.

Here is the bad news: With 3 billion people online, committed bigots and terrorists still have little trouble mounting sophisticated marketing campaigns and propaganda onslaughts against their enemies.

Online hate is increasingly targeting African Americans and Jews, mirroring real-world FBI hate crime statistics that confirm blacks and American Jews as the top victims of hate crimes in America.

Here are only a few examples:

--The caliphate's zip code may be shrinking in the Middle East but ISIS' online presence and impact continues to surge. Evocative imagery rallies the faithful and gullible - especially lone wolves - to target innocents in Europe and North America with stabbings, car rammings and other acts of violence. While some counter-measures have become more commonly deployed, social media remains terrorists' most potent and effective weapon.

--Extremists are deploying off-the-shelf encryption apps to effectively mask communications and evade authorities' efforts to track their whereabouts.

--The Alt Tech phenomenon is gaining traction. Extremists in the Alt-Right movement reject the rules laid out by social media companies and others to curb online hate. As a result, they increasingly use platforms where there are few if any rules and, when necessary, start their own online funding efforts. Taking their inspiration from far-right gains in Europe, the U.S.-based extremists are recasting neo-Nazism, xenophobia, Anti-Semitism and white supremacism with a new vocabulary (e.g. "It's OK to Be White," "Stop White Genocide"). An entire subculture of hate is taking shape online ranging from Pepe the Frog's icon to gaming apps to t-shirts-all using insiders' vocabulary.

--Online hate is increasingly targeting African Americans and Jews, mirroring real-world FBI hate crime statistics that confirm blacks and American Jews as the top victims of hate crimes in America. There has been an explosion of anti-black imagery and discussion groups validating base racism. The Jewish community finds itself targeted by multiple enemies. These include: imams at mosques on both sides of the Atlantic delivering theological and genocidal dictates; alt-right fanatics recycling classic anti-Semitic screeds that blame Jews for society's problems; extreme anti-Israel and anti-Semitic campaigns led by groups like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions); as well as state-sanctioned anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial led by Iran.

--A culture of online conspiracy theories is flourishing on social media. These range from attacking the legitimacy of the narratives of victims of the Parkland shootings, blaming the 9/11 catastrophes on CIA or Mossad and resurrecting the 'Big Lies' of the long-debunked "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in order to infect new generations of young people with history's oldest hate-anti-Semitism.

Here is the challenge ahead: America needs a consortium to tackle and degrade online hate. The players must include social media companies-both large and small - and our communities, including kids, their parents and teachers, and our elected officials.

This isn't a Pollyannaish suggestion but an urgent call to action. We must use every tool in our own powerful arsenal to reach digital-savvy teens and young adults with compelling messages of inclusion, compassion and love. The recent mass murder in South Florida is but one brutal reminder of the price we all pay for lessons unlearned in the social media age. The only way to fight a smart, organized, effective enemy is to be smarter, more effective and better organized.

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Digital terrorism in 2018 - Generation Z has arrived

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The post-millennial Generation Z has grown up with a smartphone in its hands and is reaching adulthood with an unprecedented ability to organize, fundraise, and, if so inclined, to create hateful content and distribute it through fragmented, but interconnected media channels.

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5 Myths About Gen Z's Expectations in the Workplace

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5 Myths About Gen Z's Expectations in the Workplace

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Employers are placing a higher value on the workplace because they are afraid that the the Gen Z-ers are going to have a different mindset compared to others. A myth is that employers see young people always on their devices. The Gen Z-ers are known as sensitive so we wont be able to take feedback.

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As more and more Generation Z employees enter the workforce, employers may be concerned about adapting their workplace -- or, worse, may be wary to hire them altogether. However, Randstand's July report of 4,066 respondents, Managing Gen Y and Z in the Workplace, found that Generation Z employees aren't much different from millennials in terms of what they want and expect from a workplace.
Related: Why 'Gen Z' May Be More Entrepreneurial Than 'Gen Y'
Employers are placing a higher emphasis on workplace culture and fear that Generation Z candidates (born between the mid-1990s and the 2010s) will have a completely different mindset from that of their coworkers. Organizations, in fact, may be surprised to find Generation Z is full of quality hires they want on their team. They just have to stop believing the myths out there:

Myth 1: They're bad at face-to-face interaction.

Employers see young people constantly using mobile devices and fear that this has harmed their ability to communicate in person. They worry this addiction will carry over into the workplace and has stunted their growth to the point where they don't know how to interact face-to-face.

Fact: Almost everyone in every generation is glued to technology -- and Gen Z actually finds too much technology distracting. They especially love to communicate in person about all other forms of communication. Millennial Branding's Gen Y and Gen Z Global Workplace Expectations Study in April 2014 surveyed 1,005 Gen Z respondents and found that 53 percent preferred face-to-face communications.

Takeaway: Organizations concerned about interaction skills should attack the issue head-on. Bring candidates in for an in-person interview to truly gauge how their face-to-face communication skills rank. Gather an interview panel of a few personalities to see how well this interaction holds up in a group situation.

Myth 2: They demand new/trendy office environments.

With the new generation in mind, companies discount future prospects as they look around their traditional office spaces. After hearing stories of outdoor lounge areas, onsite baristas and break-room ping-pong tables, they wonder if Gen Z would fit well with an office that lacks such flashy perks.

Fact: These young people have bigger and better things on their minds. Beyond all office perks, they're looking for flexibility, quality in-person communication, and coworkers who will inspire their best work. According to the above Randstad survey, 41 percent of Gen Z said they hoped to work in a corporate office space.

Takeaway: Organizations should step away from the ping pong table -- the younger generation is not here for that. Try easing Gen Z employees into the office setting. Internship programs are a great way to start training them, allowing them to dip their toes into the workforce waters before things really take off.
Related: Are You Ready for Gen Z?
Myth 3: Managers can't give feedback because Gen Z members are too sensitive.

Leaders look at these "kids," thinking they have been trained to believe everyone's a winner and receives trophies at the end of the day. Those leaders feel that there's just no room for this belief system in the workplace -- where negative feedback sometimes needs to be shared so employees can grow within their positions.

Fact: We do need to share critical feedback with employees, and Generation Z's members will be the first to agree. Millennial Branding asked participants about important leadership qualities, and over half said honesty is the best policy.

Takeaway: Since this generation values both face-to-face interaction and feedback, it's best to approach them in a one-on-one meeting style. Gen Z likes to be highly involved in team situations, so it's no surprise that they'll likely perform at their best when relationships are formed. Don't be afraid to let them know where improvements can still be made -- and when they're excelling.

Myth 4: Their passion is the only thing they care about.

Young people place a lot of emphasis on their passions -- too much so for some business leaders' taste. Organizations think this will lead Gen Z employees to hop from job to job until the one matching their exact passion comes along.

Fact: Being passionate about the workplace is important, but it isn't at the top of the list for Gen Z employees. The March 2015 Way to Work Survey of 1,001 students by Adecco found that 79 percent of college students surveyed were highly concerned about securing a job in their future, making it no surprise that they prioritize job security over passion.

Takeaway: Let Gen Z employees know you see a future for them at your company by having a simple project idea box. At the end of each month, pick an idea from the box, and let the creator be the lead for the project. Nothing says job stability like, "I trust you to be in charge."

Myth 5: Gen Z is just too young.

Many think Generation Z is still too young and immature for the workforce -- and that they'll never fit in with the organization's workplace culture.

Fact: Older members of Gen Z are entering their 20s. They want to enter the workforce, starting now. So, how do you find these fresh-out-of-school candidates?
Takeaway: Co-op stints with colleges and universities can provide organizations with opportunities to prepare Gen Z to work in an office environment. Related: 5 Trends That Will Inspire and Engage Both Millennials and Gen Z
There are also invaluable online tools where companies can find quality Gen Z candidates. For example, The Chemistry Group can alter job search preferences to match the type of candidate managers are seeking. This will help companies set their sights on Gen Z candidates who will best match their workplace culture and goals.

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5 Myths About Gen Z's Expectations in the Workplace

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As more and more Generation Z employees enter the workforce, employers may be concerned about adapting their workplace -- or, worse, may be wary to hire them altogether. However, Randstand's July report of 4,066 respondents, Managing Gen Y and Z in the Workplace , found that Generation Z employees aren't much different from millennials in terms of what they want and expect from a workplace.

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'We are Generation Z, we're misunderstood but this is who we are'

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'We are Generation Z, we're misunderstood but this is who we are'

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Generation Z is more optimistic about its future than the older generation. In is article it states that they spoke to to four people from Gen z to see what they believe. They say that young people need an opportunity, Generation Z is worried about what future they will bring, younger generations are happier to live at home, and young people are more accepting when it comes to gender.

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Newsbeat has commissioned the BBC's biggest ever survey of the attitudes of 16 to 22-year-olds and found a generation wanting to fight back against a perception from older people that they're "lazy" and "social media obsessed".
In fact, it's a group which believes it prioritises family and education over going out and the internet.

It's a generation more optimistic about its future than older generations think it should be - and one which sees itself as hard-working and creative.

We've talked to four people from Generation Z to see what they believe, what drives them and what they fear.

Charlotte Danks says young people need an opportunity

Charlotte Danks, who's from Newquay in Cornwall, says she decided to start her own business selling cut-price food to locals after being laid off repeatedly.

The 22-year-old says she always wanted a career where she could help her community - but it hasn't been easy.

"I've had a lot of stick," she says. "I've had people spit in my face. I've had people throw products at me.

"But at the end of the day I'm helping my community and I've got a lot of support behind me."

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsbeat/status/912276605636096000

Charlotte opened her first 25p Affordable Foods store in Newquay but now has others in St Austell, Bude, Bodmin and Truro.

She says older generations who think her generation is lazy are wrong.

"If our generation's lazy, then every generation is lazy. We all want something, but we're all fighting for the same thing.

"I think people my age need to get more of an opportunity and a chance to prove ourselves."

Ife Grillo says Generation Z is worried about what the future will bring

Eighteen-year-old Ife, from Hackney in east London, was a member of England's winning team at last year's World Schools Debating Championships in Germany and used to be the youth MP for Shoreditch.

Despite his achievements, he says he still suffers from anxiety.

And he says many people in Generation Z have mental health issues because they're unsure what the future will bring.

"We grew up in a generation which felt really insecure for a number of reasons.

"We're constantly told things are going badly. So you're aware there's a housing crisis, you're aware you're going to be in debt and you have no idea how you're going to find success.

"I feel like I can't plan my life."

Declan says younger generations are happy to live at home

Declan James is from Selby in North Yorkshire, is in the merchant navy and lives with his mum and dad, his gran and granddad and his girlfriend.

His grandfather has Alzheimer's and he takes him to a singing group which helps him cope with the disease.

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsbeat/status/912678740257333250

"It cheers him up and puts him in a good mood. It's something he enjoys doing and I don't know whether you'd call it a coping strategy, but all we know is that he likes it, so we'll do it.

"[But] the banter is still there and it's great to grow up with that. I'd like to think of myself as a good person and it comes from the whole family unit."

Jack says young people are more accepting when it comes to gender

Jack Raynsford is a cosplay enthusiast from Surrey and says they became Jack just under three years ago.

"I think what non-binary means to me, is distancing myself from the expectations. So if you're male you should be one way, if you're female you should be another.

"It's me going, 'I'm not either of those. I don't want to be either of those. I'm just going to be here in the middle being me.'

"Our expectations and our roles of, 'This is what women do, this is what men do. We can't go outside that' is incredibly limiting.

"It's quite useful to have this shift and this understanding of non-binary genders so people can really think about what their gender means to them and what makes them happy, rather than what they're expected to do."
The Ipsos research is based on replies from 3,007 people Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat - 1,003 from Generation Z, 660 people in Generation Y, 667 in Generation X and 677 baby boomers.

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'We are Generation Z, we're misunderstood but this is who we are'

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Newsbeat has commissioned the BBC's biggest ever survey of the attitudes of 16 to 22-year-olds and found a generation wanting to fight back against a perception from older people that they're "lazy" and "social media obsessed". In fact, it's a group which believes it prioritises family and education over going out and the internet.

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The Generation Z Study of Tech Intimates

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The Generation Z Study of Tech Intimates

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Gen zers use technology to save and waste time. Smartphone and/or devices are always within reach. Our phones is something to use during down time. The phone is known to make the Gen Zers feel secure, it’s them comfort and a purpose to focus.

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The Generation Z Study of Tech Intimates is an annual study created to better understand the emerging technology, network and communication needs of today's savviest generation. Reflecting the global perspectives of eight tech-leading cities around the world, the findings here can inform your strategy, product development and activation.

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Gen Z is the loneliest generation, and it's not just because of social media

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Gen Z is the loneliest generation, and it's not just because of social media

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Our generation is supposedly known as the loneliness because of social media. Gen Z would be more contributed to loneliness if we kept using our phones to interact instead of in-person interaction. Something Gen Z-ers can start doing to change the world is to say hello.

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CLOSE

The loneliness of Generation Z reflects not just rising social media use but a broader decline in interactions with neighbors, co-workers and church friends.

At a time when we're supposedly more connected than ever, there are an awful lot of lonely people.

"Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone or left out," according to a new survey from health company Cigna. One out of five Americans has no person they can talk to.

And the loneliest generation? That would be Generation Z, defined in this survey as those 18 to 22. Their average loneliness score is nearly 10 points higher than the least lonely generation - the Greatest Generation, those 72 and older.

While it's tempting to blame Gen Z's reliance on smartphones and social media, the data don't bear that out: The survey didn't find a significant difference in loneliness levels between those who used social media often or infrequently.

More: Aziz Ansari lesson: Women should feel free to hurt the guy's feelings

More: Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg is right that Millennials are key to #MeToo

Given the worrying consequences, the loneliness of Gen Z - and other generations - should be taken seriously. In fact, Cigna, citing a 2010 Brigham Young University study, says "loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more dangerous than obesity."

One initiative to encourage Gen Z should be #WalkUpNotOut, a movement that urged high school students to reach out to students perceived as socially isolated after the tragic high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Regardless of your position on gun control, it can only help to have students focus on being kind and welcoming to each other, particularly when the pervasiveness of social media has made it increasingly easy to bully both on and off campuses.

Plus, this encourages face-to-face interaction - and the Cigna survey found a huge difference in average loneliness scores between those who had daily meaningful in-person encounters and those who didn't. (Astonishingly, one of five Americans surveyed reported having such encounters less frequently than once a week.)

It's also important for Gen Z - and other Americans - to take "social capital" seriously. Thanks to the erosion of neighborhood communities, the fracturing of many families and the decline in church attendance, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for finding new friends or developing meaningful relationships. And that puts even more pressure on students. Imagine being unhappy at school and having no other community to turn to.

According to a 2017 report prepared for Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, several factors show the decline in our interaction with each other:

► Monthly church attendance fell from the early 1970s to the present, with 50% to 57% attending in the past compared with 42% to 44% now.

► In 1974, a third of Americans spent time socially with their neighbors several times a week. Now, only 19% do.

► We're also spending less time schmoozing with our co-workers, going from an average of 2.5 hours a week in the mid 1970s to just under an hour in 2012.

► Families are also becoming smaller, and the percentage of children raised by a single parent or no parent has doubled, from 15% to 31%.

More: Liberals need to close the Millennials funding gap
POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media
Given these declining numbers, it makes sense that more Americans are falling through the cracks, losing ways to get to know other people.

And if Gen Z is using phones instead of in-person interactions, that could be contributing to these young adults' loneliness. In an Atlantic article last year, psychology professor Jean Twenge highlighted how teens were less interested in driving and getting out of the house than past generations.

Describing one unnamed 13-year-old, Twenge wrote: "She spent much of her summer keeping up with friends, but nearly all of it was over text or Snapchat. 'I've been on my phone more than I've been with actual people,' she said. 'My bed has, like, an imprint of my body.' "

That's not healthy - and if these are the habits Gen Z is developing in these crucial years, it doesn't bode well for this generation becoming less lonely in the future.

The American writer Flannery O'Connor, a Catholic, was fond of a prayer that included these lines, "Raphael, lead us toward those we are waiting for, those who are waiting for us: Raphael, Angel of happy meeting, lead us by the hand toward those we are looking for."

You don't need to be religious to realize that we both need - and are needed by - others, and that our own lives grow in meaning through many of our interactions with others.

It's easy to toss out opinions on Facebook or on bumper stickers, but at the end of the day, one of the most powerful things many of us may do to change the world could be our "hello" to someone, our reaching out to that person who seems in danger of being on the fringe, making eye contact and sharing a smile with a homeless person even if we don't have change. Let's look up from our phones a little more often - and start acknowledging the people right in front of us.

Katrina Trinko, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is managing editor for The Daily Signal. Her views do not necessarily represent The Heritage Foundation, her employer. Follow her on Twitter: @KatrinaTrinko

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2I9a6wO

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Gen Z is the loneliest generation, and it's not just because of social media

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CLOSE The loneliness of Generation Z reflects not just rising social media use but a broader decline in interactions with neighbors, co-workers and church friends. At a time when we're supposedly more connected than ever, there are an awful lot of lonely people.

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Parents worry about their teens’ smartphone habits. But what about their own?

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Parents worry about their teens’ smartphone habits. But what about their own?

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in this article it states that if were talking about Generation Z, there is no way you cant talk about smart phones. Parents think teens are distracted because of their phones. There are two different opinions, where some are worried about teens screen time and some parents will just limit the screen time.

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August 22
Talking about Generation Z without talking about smartphones is impossible. The interconnectedness between teen and device has become the defining question about the generation following Millennials.

But a new Pew Research Center study suggests that the smartphone habits of those teens' parents can be worrisome too.

Take the dinner table, the cliched scene where a parent tries to have a conversation with their cell phone-wielding teen, headphones in and distracted. Seventy-two percent of parents feel their teens are often or sometimes distracted by their phones while trying to have a conversation. But when Pew asked teens the same question about their parents, 51 percent of them said they believe their parents are either often or sometimes distracted by their phones during real-life conversations.
[Forty-five percent of teens are online 'almost constantly' - and they don't know if it's good for them]
In some cases, teens might be a little bit better at managing their own distraction than their parents are. Fifteen percent of parents told Pew that they are often distracted at work because of their phones. Just 8 percent of teens said the same about themselves at school. And similar numbers of teens and parents (18 percent and 20 percent) report that they feel obligated to respond to messages from others immediately.

For a long time, the conversation about teens and their phones has focused almost exclusively on concerns about addiction. The Pew study does show that many teens have an intense relationship to their devices: 42 percent of teens said they felt "anxious" without their phones. But teens have also demonstrated with increasing frequency that their relationship to their phones is often neither wholly good or wholly bad.

For instance, the Parkland students responded to the massacre at their high school in February by using their phones to broadcast what was happening to the rest of the world and, in private group chats and messages, check in on each other. In the wake of the shooting, a group of students created a viral campaign that became a march against gun violence.
['Just try to keep calm' How one Parkland student's phone became his lifeline, and his voice]
Pew surveyed 1,058 parents with at least one teen ages 13 to 17, and 743 teens. The margin of error for those samples was plus or minus 5.0 percentage points for the teens, and 4.5 percent for the parents.

The results also show some of the generational gaps you'd expect to see comparing these two groups's attitudes toward their smartphone usage - although the gaps aren't quite as big as you'd expect.

For instance, 54 percent teens, according to Pew, believe they spend too much time on their phones. Thirty-six percent of parents feel the same about themselves. Seventy-two percent of teens often, or sometimes, check their phone message right after waking up in the morning. Fifty-seven percent of parents do the same.

Meanwhile, 52 percent of teens have said that they've cut back on the time they spend on their phones - 57 percent say the same about social media, and 58 percent about video games.

But not all screen time management is self-imposed. Sixty-five percent of parents told Pew they are worried about their teens' screen time, and 57 percent said they limit how much time, or when, their teens can access their phones or the Internet. Those restrictions were more common among parents of younger teens - ages 13 or 14 - than they were for those with teens aged 15 to 17.

In May, Pew released another study looking at teens' relationship to connectivity, and found that 45 percent of teens say they're online "almost constantly," a percentage that has nearly doubled in just a few years.
More reading: YouTube is the new way to get famous. At VidCon, the tweens want to be next in line. The murky facts of the 'deodorant challenge' - and other viral teen 'crazes' A guide to the racism scandal that's tearing Beauty YouTube apart

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Parents worry about their teens' smartphone habits. But what about their own?

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August 22 Talking about Generation Z without talking about smartphones is impossible. The interconnectedness between teen and device has become the defining question about the generation following Millennials. But a new Pew Research Center study suggests that the smartphone habits of those teens' parents can be worrisome too.

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Young Americans are the loneliest, surprising study from Cigna shows

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Young Americans are the loneliest, surprising study from Cigna shows

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Studies show that young people are more likely to be lonely than elders. In the article when the young Americans took the survey that asked questions based on UCLA’s Loneliness Scale and used to create the Cigna Loneliness Index. Also, surprisingly, young people with high rates on social media have a higher rate of loneliness.

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Young people are far more likely than senior citizens to report being lonely and in poor health, a surprising survey of 20,000 American s released Tuesday shows.

The overall national loneliness score was alarmingly high at 44 on a 20-to-80 scale, but the prevalence of social isolation among those ages 18 to 22 raises even more concern. The younger people, part of Generation Z, had loneliness scores of about 48 compared with nearly 39 for those 72 and older.

The study was sponsored by the global insurer and health services company Cigna, which is concerned about loneliness as a societal problem but also because it's not just making us sad: It can literally make us sick.

Loneliness actually has the same effect on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, which makes it even more dangerous than obesity, says Cigna, citing a 2010 report. And while the new findings don't draw any direct links to increased rates of suicide among teens or the opioid epidemic, Cigna CEO David Cordani says it's clear addressing loneliness will help solve other problems.

"If their sense of health and well-being is more positive, then less destructive activities transpire," Cordani says.

The market research firm Ipsos posed questions online between Feb. 21 to March 6 to more than 20,000 people 18 and older in the U.S. The questions were based on UCLA's Loneliness Scale and used to create the Cigna Loneliness Index.

Cigna CEO and president David Cordani is shown in December 2015. (Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY)

Also surprising: Young people with the highest rates of social media use reported very similar feelings of loneliness to those who barely use it, Still, Cordani says, "meaningful social interaction" was seen as key to reducing isolation so more face-to-face conversations are needed.

While some people may compensate by finding connections on social media, that can provide a false sense of relief, says Jagdish Khubchandani, a health science professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. This type of socialization often leads people to spend time alone on computers in their homes, leading them to gain weight and shun face-to-face interaction, he said.

"I have students who tell me they have 500 'friends,' but when they're in need, there's no one," Khubchandani says.

Isolation is of such concern that young people 16 to 24 who are neither employed nor in school are now tracked and classified as "disconnected youth." The former surgeon general, physician Vivek Murthy, made emotional well-being and loneliness a focus while he was in office and is now writing a book and setting up an institute focused on the problem.

"Stress from loneliness is an insidious type of stress," Murthy says.

Vivek Murthy, an internal medicine physician, was the 19th U.S. Surgeon General. (Photo: Meredith Nierman)

It creates a biological response, Murthy says, that leads to chronic inflammation, damaged tissue and blood vessels, and an increased risk of heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked with the non-profit project Measure of America to publicize the problem because disconnection in young people is such a predictor of poor health and early death.

When people are disconnected at 16 or 18, it's "not a spontaneously occurring event," says Sarah Burd-Sharps, Measure of America's co-director. "It's an accumulation of all the events in teens' lifetimes, experiences in your family, any trauma you faced."

There's considerable research on the 10 traumatic "adverse childhood experiences" (ACEs) that contribute to the poor mental and physical health associated with "disconnected youth" - and what should be done to address them.

More than half of these 18- to 24-year-old members of Gen Z identified with 10 of the 11 feelings associated with loneliness, while more than 90% of people 72 and older reported feeling close to others, having people to turn to and talk to, and feeling "in tune with others."

Death by isolation?

When police arrived at a home in Hamden, Conn., late last month, Andrew and Maureen Lipko were found dead of natural causes. The Connecticut medical examiner's office reports the elderly husband and wife both had heart disease, and Maureen also had diabetes.

Neighbors called police after realizing they hadn't seen anyone come out of the house in weeks. Neighbors, including former New Haven schoolteacher Phyllis Grenet, say that wasn't unusual for the couple. Andrew Lipko occasionally would leave the home wearing a medical mask in one of his old cars; his wife was almost never seen.

"You can be together and alone," Murthy says.

Andrew and Maureen Lipko were found dead March 27 of natural causes in their home in Hamden, Conn. Andrew Lipko was the only one seen coming out of the house, and that was rare. (Photo: Jack O'Donnell)

Seniors often report loneliness, especially as they age, step out of the workplace and lose family and friends, said Mary Durell, chief operating officer of CICOA, Indiana's largest Area Agency on Aging.

Although older people reported being less lonely than the youngest respondents, the Cigna study confirmed earlier studies that showed more than 40% of people over 65 reported being occasionally lonely.

Moving closer to family can actually make matters worse, adds Dana Robinson, CICOA's director of marketing and communications, as seniors lose social connections beyond the family. Before moving, adult children and their parents should devise a plan for how the seniors will be connected to the community in their new home.

Caregivers of seniors with cognitive impairment often experience loneliness and isolation, whether they are seniors themselves or an adult child caring for a parent with dementia, says Nicole Fowler, a Regenstrief Institute investigator at the Indiana University School of Medicine who studies the caregiver experience.

Spouses in particular may have an enhanced sense of loneliness because their partner is still there but can no longer interact as he or she might have in the past.

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"They're experiencing the loss even before that person is gone, which brings that unique sense of loneliness," Fowler says.

Cigna is testing the integration of "mental wellness" into medical care at doctors' offices in Denver, New Jersey and Virginia and plans to expand the pilot to ten office by the end of the year. The program will be offered to patients with chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart and gastrointestinal disease, depression, eating disorders and substance use disorders.

Other solutions include getting enough - but not too much - sleep, as well as spending just enough time with family, at work and exercising.
If you are interested in connecting with people online who have overcome or are currently struggling with loneliness, join USA TODAY's 'I Survived It' Facebook support group.
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Young Americans are the loneliest, surprising study from Cigna shows

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CLOSE Young people are far more likely than senior citizens to report being lonely and in poor health, a surprising survey of 20,000 American s released Tuesday shows. The overall national loneliness score was alarmingly high at 44 on a 20-to-80 scale, but the prevalence of social isolation among those ages 18 to 22 raises even more concern.