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One on the most true thing abut generation Z is what Micheal Cooper stated,  “Over-entitled, lazy, tech-obsessed, lacking dedication, impatient these are some of the typical complaints". Gen Z is the laziest of them all

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I've had so many calls from frantic HR managers and executives about millennials, that it's become routine. "Over-entitled, lazy, tech-obsessed, lacking dedication, impatient" these are some of the typical complaints I get about the largest generation in U.S. history, who also happen to be "the most educated generation." With the impact millennials are having on the rising costs of recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, and attrition due to turnover, it's no wonder that businesses are starting to worry. Many of us have been warning of the shift in values that millennials bring to the workforce for over 10 years. If you're just starting to panic now, you're behind the times! What's more, millennials are about to become old-school. Yep, brace yourselves, because the next generation, Gen Z, is about to enter the workforce with a value system all their own. That means, you're going to have to adapt again -- and quickly. Let's explore the burgeoning data on Gen Z and get a heads up on how businesses can adjust to meet the needs of the newest members of our workforce, and thrive in a brand new business world.
Related: 5 Ways Millennials Are Like No Generation Before Them
Every generation has a unique impact on the workforce, both positive and negative. In order to get a handle on how the latest generation of workers will be different, Essentials LLC, in one of the largest studies of its kind, surveyed nearly 70,000 high school students. In the study, all students took an identical 200-item assessment that described key behaviors such as proactivity, endurance, self-control and follow-through. The study's Gen Z subjects were compared to Baby Boomers surveyed at the same age using a similar methodology. Findings show that there are some striking differences in proactivity and exhibition scores that will have an impact on your business culture.

Shift in proactivity.

Proactivity is associated with the drive for individual achievement, which predicts how much your workforce will focus on meeting goals and achieving promotions. For the past several generations, this score has been high, but according to the study, it's substantially lower for Gen Z, which means these individuals are less driven and not as goal-oriented. While it may seem odd, that the most educated generation in history would score low in the proactivity category, there are logical reasons for this. Our educational system has shifted from focus on individual achievement to emphasizing and rewarding teamwork and cooperation. In addition to this our internet culture makes instant sharing and connectivity the norm. In the study, the Gen Z students who do the best in school are those with a balance of achievement-oriented behaviors (measured by proactivity, order, self-control, follow-through) and socially-oriented behaviors (measured by networking, change and exhibition).

In order to address this shift,your company will need to recognize that for Gen Z workers, the balance between social and achievement-oriented traits is highly regarded. Adapting your culture to take this fact into consideration, and use it to your advantage, will go a long way toward your continued success. I'm already hearing from many companies that shared decision-making and group-oriented achievement have emerged as traits for millennials. Expect this trend to gain even more momentum as Gen Z hits the workforce. Plan for your strategies- from incentives to performance-reviews to promotions to decision-making methods to leadership training to accommodate this shift in values.
Related: How to Motivate Millennials, By Millennials
Shift in exhibition.

For Gen Z, the need for attention and to be seen, has grown substantially, compared to Baby Boomers surveyed at the same age. While this makes sense, given the selfie craze and the ability to always be virtually connected to friends and family, the impact on work culture will be significant. Imagine all of your employees needing the spotlight, constantly craving attention from their managers and peers. What's even more interesting about this behavioral scale is that according to the study, when the need for exhibition is high among students, it negatively affects their GPA, indicating that this group will place less emphasis on achievement.

What this means is that we'll likely have to return to the managerial methods of 20 years ago. The managers of today, since they're managing mostly high-performers, have been given significant individual contributor responsibilities on top of their management responsibilities. With the advent of Gen Z, who are demonstrably less achievement-oriented, we'll need real "managers" who spend most of their jobs actually managing employees.
Related: Why 'Gen Z' May Be More Entrepreneurial Than 'Gen Y'
The silver lining.

With the continual improvement in productivity over the past few decades, we have come to expect high output from nearly every employee, but is this necessarily a good thing? With individual achievement as the core competitive advantage within organizations, we do see negative fallout. Employees are stretched thin. Stress and stress-related illness is rampant. The shifting values from millennials and Gen Z, can actually be a balm to what is likely an unsustainable trajectory for our businesses. We will no longer be able to rely on individual achievement as the core factor for getting things done. Leaders will need to learn how to be more collaborative, share decision-making, give attention to their employees and coach them to become more productive. We will likely see a shift to a more supportive work environment, with full-time coaches within organizations and more managers who spend most of their time managing, rather than contributing individual work. Are you ready for Gen Z? How will you need to adapt?

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I've had so many calls from frantic HR managers and executives about millennials, that it's become routine. "Over-entitled, lazy, tech-obsessed, lacking dedication, impatient" these are some of the typical complaints I get about the largest generation in U.S. history, who also happen to be "the most educated generation."

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Everyone is talking about everything but the upcoming generation. We are all so blinded by music,movies,TV stars and sports. But we should focus on are in generation.With the culture changing and people way of thinking we need to be ready.

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We've all been there. You're chatting with a younger colleague about popular music, movies or sports, and you wistfully mention Michael Jordan scoring 55 in his comeback game against the New York Knicks, or the twist ending to The Usual Suspects, or seeing Dave Matthews Band tour their debut album. This is when your counterpart says something along the lines of, "No, I actually don't remember that, I was born in 1995."

Oof. What a gut punch! But beyond a clarion sign of your own impending mortality, these moments are good reminders for leaders that while these young professionals comport themselves well and are often very impressive, they come from a different time.

There's a danger in generational reductionism. Publications are often guilty of overgeneralizing and assigning common characteristics to entire generations based on decontextualized data points. "Gen X is disaffected, bitter, and likes flannel. Millennials won't buy houses, get married, or eat mayonnaise."

These blanket statements sell magazines and generate clicks, but people are far more than the years they chanced to be born. Still, it is important to understand the times people exist in. For the Gen Z professional that you, a brand leader, will need to manage, the times they've occupied have been complex and likely will inform their behaviors as workers.

Kathryn Dill's 7 Things Employers Should Know About The Gen Z Workforce is required reading for leaders, but at almost 3 years old it is already a bit dated-which says more about the dynamism of this group and how quickly their expectations are shifting. When Dill authored the piece, most Gen Zers were still in high school. This fall, the first fully-Gen Z crop of grads is hitting the workforce. I personally have interviewed several in recent months.

The most crucial thing that separates this group from their Millennial forbearers is their expectations. Graduating in the midst of the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression with the memory of 9-11 fresh in their minds, Millennials (and many of us Gen Xers, as well) carry a nonspecific sense of dread about our economic and social conditions. They and we toiled during a particularly dour moment in the country's history, one where we were told that recovery would be slow, that we should be happy just to have a job, and that we probably would not enjoy the same quality of life our parents did.

That has an affect on you. As the economy slowly improved, Millennial wages remained mostly flat. More opportunities came, and today if you weathered the worst of it and came out with 5-10 years of experience in your profession, you have your pick of jobs around the world. But if you joined the workforce between the years 2008 to 2014, you're likely still wearing some scars.

Conversely, Gen Z did most of its "grown-up preparation" during a time of unprecedented growth-couched in the recovery that led to a current streak of 94 consecutive months of job creation. They've heard the horror stories from their older siblings, but the reality for them has been the opposite.

To manage them, leaders must keep this context in mind. The freedom these workers feel manifests in their work decisions. This is a shared trait with Millennials, who are famously generalized as " following their passion " in their work. Accepting that no work conditions are ideal, they're attracted to opportunities where they nonetheless have a chance to do what they want. Good managers must foster this instinct, and point it in constructive directions. Make rote tasks mean something; illustrate exactly what the big picture is, and how their role is helping it become realized. Remember, a sense of purpose is paramount.

Generation Z has also come of age in the shadow of Millennials who prize hyper-competence (or at least the appearance of it), which, in my experience so far, has manifested in a strong desire to learn. Specifically, I have noticed that recent grads are less likely to think they "know everything" and are instead keenly interested to know more. More than the preceding generation-or my generation, for that matter-they are seeking out opportunities to add or sharpen skills.

And you need to reward that instinct. Sure, it means they're likely going to take those skills on the open market, and if they don't leave they will likely cost more to retain. But would your rather that motivation wither away? Rather, make the investment in internal multimedia training (this is the first native YouTube generation) and the secondary investment of dedicated time in their schedule to actually do it.

Finally, don't believe the generational generalizing hype. Like almost all generations before them, the ascendance of Gen Z is coming replete with "Gen Z is too _____"-think pieces. This type of bloviating opinionating is almost always wrong.

Already, some "experts" are tagging Gen Z as a cohort of introverts who struggle to make personal social connections. This echoes all manner of assumptions made about "these darn kids" for decades-maybe longer.

Forget the trend pieces and assumptions. When managing your new influx of Gen Z employees, consider the context, and react to that.

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Gen Z Is Officially Here. How Will We Manage?

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We've all been there. You're chatting with a younger colleague about popular music, movies or sports, and you wistfully mention Michael Jordan scoring 55 in his comeback game against the New York Knicks, or the twist ending to The Usual Suspects, or seeing Dave Matthews Band tour their debut album.

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The Juul is ruining generation z and leading them down a path of addiction. The Juul is a new them and nobody know how it with affect gen z in the future. All we do know is that it is spreading like wild fire across the U.S.

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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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Thinking about the lives of young people today and what they need most.

By Kathleen O'Brien

Ms. O'Brien is a staff editor for the Opinion section.

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Elsie Fisher as Kayla in the film "Eighth Grade." Credit Credit Josh Ethan Johnson/A24

I watched the superb movie "Eighth Grade" this week, a film about the awkward inner life of a girl about to finish middle school. Her agonies made me squirm and recall my own emotional roller coaster at that age. The mom in me wanted to let her know that everything would be O.K.

So this weekend I wanted to share some favorite recent pieces on the fraught teen years. Several I found revolved around the anxiety many teens feel. What can adults do to understand what they are going through? What should we remember as we try to guide them through rough times? These might be a starting point for answers.

Other writers were grappling with issues like racial bias and the cultural forces that contribute to school shootings. All I could think was that our young people deserve a better world than the one we're leaving them - and I hope we can create it. One of my favorites in this collection argues for lowering the voting age to 16. A little power at the ballot box could go a long way.

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Credit Anna Parini

Teenagers are struggling with anxiety more than any other problem, perhaps more than ever before, the psychologist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary writes. There's a good chance that it is anxiety that is driving teenagers (and the rest of us) to escape into screens as a way to flee fears.

There is a darker side to adolescence that, until recently, was poorly understood: a surge during teenage years in anxiety and fearfulness, the psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman writes. Largely because of a quirk of brain development, adolescents, on average, have a harder time learning how not to be afraid than either children or adults.

Also from Laurence Steinberg: We lament the delayed entry of young people into adulthood. But prolonged adolescence, in the right circumstances, is actually a good thing. It fosters novelty-seeking and the acquisition of new skills.

Josephine Sittenfeld, a photographer, was sorting through her high school bedroom and created this poignant photo essay about what she discovered. "My takeaways from a weekend visiting my former self? I was boy-crazy. I worked really hard in school. I yearned for a bigger, more exciting life."

After the March for Our Lives rally, the historian Jon Grinspan wrote about times that young Americans changed the country's politics, even in periods of bleak partisan divide. Will they do it again?

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Opinion | Weekend Reads: Those Terrible Teenage Years

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Thinking about the lives of young people today and what they need most. By Kathleen O'Brien Ms. O'Brien is a staff editor for the Opinion section. I watched the superb movie "Eighth Grade" this week, a film about the awkward inner life of a girl about to finish middle school.

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Teens in generation z are starting to have a lot more anxiety and adults do not know why. We need to remember to guide them through the ways of their rough times. Another thing we want to find out is should voting be moved down to 16 because at the end of the day we need to realize,these kids are soon be on there own and the future

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Generation Z is a lot different then the millennial. Gen Z is all abut looking good and dressing to impress. Where the millennia are worried about dress code and there skirt being to high. A in Gen Z we also like to dress how ever we want man or female. A male Gen Z style icon showed up in his skirt. “This group seem much less attached to traditional gender binaries or linear definitions of sexuality,” said Lucie Greene

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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This generation has the worst religious aspect, out of all the generations. With ll these new cultures coming into the U.S. and parents now not forcing the religious aspect.

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Gen Z-the generation following the millennials-is the least Christian generation to date, according to a new Barna study - 34 percent of Gen Z's religious affiliation is either atheist, agnostic or none. In fact, teens 13-18 years old are twice as likely as adults to say they are atheist. And just three in five 13- to 18-year-olds say they are some kind of Christian (59 percent).
Creating Disney World-like Environments in our Churches is not Preparing Gen Z
As Christian parents, pastors, educators, and leaders, we want what's best for our kids. We want to see them grow up and follow Jesus for a lifetime. Yet, we all know young people who have become disillusioned or drifted away from the faith. It doesn't have to be this way: no student should "outgrow" their faith.

As my friend David Kinnaman, the president of the Barna Group, put it while we were working on this Gen Z study together, "Is it possible that many churches are preparing young Christians to face a world that no longer exists?" Based on my experience working with students, the answer to this question is yes.

Many Christian teens are simply unprepared for the world that is waiting for them. With the best of intentions, we bubble wrap our kids and create Disney World-like environments for them in our churches, and then wonder why they have no resilience in faith or life. Students are entertained but not prepared. They've had a lot of fun but are not ready to lead. When the pressure to conform is turned up, Christian teenagers tend to wilt if they do not have the confidence that only comes from knowing why they believe what they believe. As one teenager told me, "following Jesus today is hard because sometimes you feel like the only one."
Culture is Changing Fast and Teenagers are Confused
Gen Z has been discipled by their smart phones, taught sex ed by Google, and conditioned to assume that just because they believe something makes it true.

Contrary to what you may have heard, Christianity is not a fairytale for grown-ups invented to make ourselves feel better. Followers of Jesus have nothing to fear from tough questions, honest doubts, and challenging conversations. Gen Z needs to know that Christians care about truth.

Our culture is changing fast and teenagers are confused-morally and spiritually. At Impact 360 Institute, we've been studying Gen Z alongside the Barna Group for the past year and a half and the research and focus groups confirm this trend. For example, only 34 percent of Gen Z agree that lying is morally wrong; 24 percent say what is morally right and wrong changes over time based on society, and 58 percent of this least-Christian generation agree that "Many religions can lead to eternal life; there is no 'one true religion.'"
Let's Stop Pretending
So why is the fact that Gen Z is less Christian than ever good news again? Because we need to stop pretending and start living in reality.

We need to stop pretending that if we entertain teenagers then they will stick around after they graduate.

We need to stop pretending that if we protect them from everything they won't question, doubt, or walk away.

And we need to stop pretending that a few minutes of a moralistic, watered down Bible lesson on a Sunday morning will prepare them to stand firm in their faith.

In short, teenagers need a grown-up worldview, not coloring book Jesus.

We can do better.

By the time teenagers should be owning their faith, we've already lost their attention and the culture has captured their imagination.

Contrary to what you may have heard, Christian faith is not blind. Christianity is not a fairytale for grown-ups invented to make ourselves feel better. Followers of Jesus have nothing to fear from tough questions, honest doubts, and challenging conversations. Gen Z needs to know that Christians care about truth.
Attendance Is Not Enough
We need to reject the idea that if teenagers just attend church enough they will build a strong faith. The attendance model is not working-training is necessary.

As one of our students shared with me this past summer, "I know why I am a Christian now...I know it's true. I am able to defend my faith and live my life out for him [Jesus] in ways I wasn't before." Training makes all the difference.

Whether we are in the majority or being marginalized, our charge as followers of Jesus is to be faithful to pass on our faith to the next generation.

As our post-Christian culture increasingly marginalizes Christianity, it is critical for those of us who care about Gen Z not to take a business-as-usual approach to their formation. If we do nothing they will be shaped away from life with God. We have the opportunity to reimagine what passing on our faith to the next generation looks like in this unique cultural moment. But first, we must stop pretending.

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Why Generation Z is less Christian than ever -- and why that's good news

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Gen Z-the generation following the millennials-is the least Christian generation to date, according to a new Barna study - 34 percent of Gen Z's religious affiliation is either atheist, agnostic or none. In fact, teens 13-18 years old are twice as likely as adults to say they are atheist.

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Nike signed Kaepernick to be the face of there 30th anniversary of Just do It. And the goal is for generation Z and showing the that you should take risks for hat you believe. Kaepenick is going to lead the way for Gen Z

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What did Nike just do? Kaepernick ad may gain more from Gen Z than it loses

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Nike’s move to feature Colin Kaepernick in new ad campaign may boost brand and woo Generation Z despite backlash, retail watchers say

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Gen Z has the worst addiction I have ever seen, people might think its drugs. But what it really is social media and cell phones. Their are making tings kids go crazy.

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For retailers, Generation Z is a force to be reckoned with.

The post-millennial group, generally regarded as the 86 million people born between 1997 and 2016, is expected to represent 40 percent of all shoppers by 2020 and currently influences $600 billion of family spending.

When it comes to what's hot - and what's not - chatter matters. Conversations, both through social media and in person, spark 19 percent of purchases, according to Engagement Labs, a data and analytics company that helps marketers.

"You see an advertisement, people know it's a paid endorsement,'' says Brad Fay, Engagement Labs chief commercial officer. "It's only got so much credibility ... The most powerful messages are ones that come from someone you know.''

Based on surveys of 6,736 teens over 12 months that asked them what they spoke about in the previous 24 hours, Engagement Labs found the top talkers were the gadgets, beverages and snack foods that bring young people together.

"One of the things we find about Generation Z is it's an incredibly social generation,'' Fay says. While Apple and Samsung create devices that allow teens to connect, "Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Pepsi are all brands you typically consume with other people face to face, so they, too, could be thought of as social brands.''

But the popularity of some products may be waning with this health-conscious group. The percentage of young people talking about Pepsi on an average day has plunged 49 percent since 2013. Coke slipped 21 percent in the same period.

"Both Coke and Pepsi are taking significant declines,'' Fay says, "and I think that is symptomatic of a shift away from the more sugary types of beverages toward a wider diversity of healthier types of beverages.'' McDonald's also experienced a slight 2 percent dip.

Here are the brands that generate the most buzz.

1. iPhone 18 percent

2. Apple 15 percent

3. Coke 14.6 percent

4. Samsung 12.1 percent

5. Nike 11.2 percent

6. McDonald's 11 percent

7. Walmart 7.9 percent

8. Pepsi 6.3 percent

*Percentages reflect the number of teenagers who speak about the brand on an average day.

More Money: Generation Z predicts the future: America's kids explain love, marriage and gender roles

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

More Money: How I became a journalist for the younger generation: 'Stay Tuned' host Savannah Sellers
What products are you and your friends talking about most? Share it with us on social
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For Generation Z, iPhone, Apple have most buzz while Coke, Pepsi fizzle

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CLOSE For retailers, Generation Z is a force to be reckoned with. The post-millennial group, generally regarded as the 86 million people born between 1997 and 2016, is expected to represent 40 percent of all shoppers by 2020 and currently influences $600 billion of family spending.

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Gen Z are getting older and older. The oldest ones are getting ready to be on their own and home owners. Everyone is saying they will not make it. The too lazy with a bad work ethic.

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The oldest members of Generation Z are setting their sights on home ownership nearly as often as millennials, according to a new survey.

Property Shark, which provides data to real estate professionals, found in a recent survey that 83 percent of Gen Zers born between 1995 and 1999 plan to buy a home in the next five years. The survey defined Gen Z as those born from 1995 to 2010, but it included responses only from Gen Zers 18 or older.

Their aspirations compare to 87 percent of Gen Yers -- also known as millennials -- who expect to own a home in the next five years. Gen Xers are the least likely to buy a home in that time period, according to the survey.

Gen Z's biggest obstacle? Student loans, which hover at a record $1.5 trillion in the U.S. According to the survey, college debt was the top obstacle for both Gen Z and Gen Y. About 32 percent of Gen Z participants surveyed said college debt was their biggest hurdle, compared to 17 percent of millennials and 7 percent of Gen Xers.

About 60 percent of aspiring Gen Z homeowners have their eye on suburbia, while 30 percent are looking to settle down in an urban area. That's in contrast to Gen Y, about 40 percent of whom want to live in a city. More Gen X participants look to the country, with a quarter listing rural areas as their top choice.

For all three groups, the down payment is another top obstacle, with 30 percent of Gen Zers reporting that, 35 percent of Gen Yers and 31 percent of Gen Xers.

"The high numbers of the Instagram Generation who see themselves becoming homeowners in the near future may be attributed to youthful optimism and lack of knowledge, but that's not necessarily the case," according to the survey.

More prone to look for fixer-uppers, about half of Gen Z survey respondents paid less than $10,000 as a down payment, compared to 31 percent for Gen Y and 28 percent for Gen X, the survey found. Just 12 percent invested more than $50,000.

Gravitating toward less expensive homes, about 93 percent of Gen Z buyers saved for less than five years for down payments, though that payment is likely to be supported or subsidized by parents, the survey found. Perhaps because they put less into a down payment, Gen Z buyers get to their savings goal faster than their elders.

The likelihood of owning a home rises 8.4 percentage points if the buyer's parents also own, according to a recent report from the Urban Institute on millennial homeownership.

For millennials, 68 percent had their down payment within five years, and about 25 percent took between five years and 10 years to save up. Gen X buyers tended to save for more than a decade, the survey found.

Property Shark surveyed 2,134 U.S. renters, owners and people living with family. In addition to Gen Z, it grouped the generations this way: Gen X born before 1980 and millennials between 1981 and 1994.

The survey included questions about savings, homeownership and preferences about amenities and community. It also asked for demographic data such as employment and marital status, and it has a 3 percent margin of error.

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The oldest members of Generation Z are setting their sights on home ownership nearly as often as millennials, according to a new survey. Property Shark, which provides data to real estate professionals, found in a recent survey that 83 percent of Gen Zers born between 1995 and 1999 plan to buy a home in the next five years.

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Gen Z is a very interesting with its diversity and trends. With being bi-sexual a normal thing. And all the new styles thing generation is very different from all the ones before it. And with higher tech its becoming a problem.

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In an age where so much time and money is spent marketing to Millennials, the focus may soon shift to Generation Z - huge, pragmatic and uber tech savvy

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What we can expect from Gen Z is a lot of success with everyone fighting to be the best and have the best. Also with personal success, saying I made it and I did it.

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When you hear the word "millennial," you probably think of people in their 20s eating avocado toast and dominating social media. However, the oldest millennials are now actually in their late 30s, with Pew Research Center defining the generation as anyone born between 1981-1996. With most millennials now well into adulthood and transitioning into leadership roles, a new, younger generation is now taking over the workforce: generation z.

Pew Research Center has now turned their focus to g eneration z after over a decade of research dedicated to millennials. But why is g eneration z suddenly so important?

The generation is defined as anyone born from 1997 onward, which means the oldest members ofg eneration z are graduating college this year. While millennials still dominate the market, outnumbering any other generation, we will soon see an influx ofg eneration z workers entering the workforce. Andg eneration z are made up of approximately 61 million people in the U.S. So what can we expect from this new generation in terms of the job market?

Generation z's life experiences affect the types of jobs they seek, and what's most important to them. They highly value success, with professional and academic achievement ranking as most important. Generation z is perhaps even more success-oriented than any other generation, due to the shifting demographics over the years. Baby boomers were more likely to cite family and religion as "central to their identity," whereasg eneration z is all about that personal success.

You may have heard the stereotype that millennials are chronic job-hoppers who can't stay settled down in one job. Don't look tog eneration z for similar habits. They're interested mostly in "future-proof" jobs and job stability, according to studies conducted by Indeed.com. Having grown up in a tumultuous time for economics and politics (they were only four when 9/11 occurred, and grew up during the Great Recession),g en zers are incredibly focused on finding stable jobs, mostly in tech and health-care.

And they're learning from previous generation's pitfalls... Only 11% of gen zers said they'd take on debt in order to cover the costs of higher education. In fact, they aren't even that focused on higher education to begin with. 75% said they didn't consider college the only path to a strong education, and many are choosing to go straight into the workforce. After watching their parents deal with the Great Recession, and seeing the student loan issue play out, it's no wonder gen zers are determined to find stable jobs as quickly as possible, while getting into as little debt as possible.

But companies will still have to put the effort in to hiring this new generation. Studies showg eneration z workers are invested in positive work environments, with 77% saying a company's diversity would be a deciding factor. Company marketing and branding is also crucial, as 70% of prospective employees look at company reviews on sites such as Glassdoor, and 69% are more likely to apply for a specific job if the company manages its brand well.

As the workforce changes, so will the ways in which companies seek out and hire employees, and how these employees engage with the job market. With fewer gen zers prepared to shell out for higher education, we can expect a surge of new employees sooner rather than later. We can also expect a new sort of generation, one more interested in workplace atmosphere and job fluidity ( 75% of gen zers expressed interest in inhabiting numerous roles within a company).

Get ready for generation z - the new workforce is here.

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Gen Z: What To Expect From The New Workforce

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When you hear the word "millennial," you probably think of people in their 20s eating avocado toast and dominating social media. However, the oldest millennials are now actually in their late 30s, with Pew Research Center defining the generation as anyone born between 1981-1996.

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Gen Z is more about talking on the internet and not in person. Which lead to depression and unhappiness. Gen Z does no know how to put down the phone. Phone will be used in a better way in the future.

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How Generation Z Will Change The World According To Experts | TIME

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Millennial are more about business and just trying to be a normal successful person.As Gen Z thinks everyone will be worth billions. Gen Z likes to work alone and mils like o work in groups.

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Millennials vs Generation Z - How Do They Compare & What's the Difference?