Not a Problem to Solve

Over six parts, we have examined how the attention economy, the collapse in educational performance, exclusion from the labour market and the demographic crunch have reshaped Generation Z. But who are they, really? Not victims, and not data points. They are young people contending with digital dependency, climate anxiety and an uncertain future — and, at the same time, the most active, most empathetic and most creative generation surveys have yet found. This closing part looks at the human face of Generation Z and at the ways it resists — and at what the rest of us might learn from both.

1. The diversity of Generation Z — not a monolith, but millions of individuals

2. The new forms of activism — more than protest

The greatest strength of Generation Z's activism is its breadth. It is not confined to conventional demonstrations and petitions — though Generation Z is active in those too — but extends to consumer behaviour, to pressure exerted in the workplace and to digital campaigning.

A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that 32% of Generation Z in America had taken part in some form of climate action in the previous year — the highest share of any generation. Deloitte's 2024 survey is more striking still: 54% of Generation Z put pressure on their employer to act on climate change, and the figure has risen year on year. These young people do not merely expect companies to operate sustainably; they are prepared to act on those concerns: 20% have already changed jobs over environmental concerns, and a further 25% intend to.

Digital activism is the form Generation Z has made its own. Hashtag campaigns, viral videos, organising through social media — these are tools young people use instinctively. The Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, the Fridays for Future climate strikes and the #MeToo campaign are all movements Generation Z amplified with digital tools. Nor is the concern behind them confined to the internet: Pew's survey found that 67% of Generation Z say reducing the effects of climate change should be a top priority, against 57% of baby boomers.

3. The offline revival — the return of real relationships

One of the most surprising forms Generation Z's activism takes is the revival of in-person communities. A generation shaped by the digital environment is now deliberately seeking out in-person connection. Running clubs, book clubs, craft workshops and community gardens are all spaces where young people meet face to face.

McKinsey's research finds that young people are making a wide range of behavioural changes to improve their mental health: from skincare and sleep hygiene to regular exercise and social activity. These are not seen as "self-actualisation" luxuries but as a survival strategy: young people have recognised that digital well-being is an illusion, and that real well-being depends on physical health and habits.

Peer support matters particularly to Generation Z. A 2025 survey by Blue Shield of California found that 69% of young people have already talked about their mental health with a friend. That openness — which would have been unthinkable for earlier generations — is one of Generation Z's most important strengths. Breaking the stigma helps not just the individual but the wider community: someone who speaks openly about their problems makes it easier for others to do the same.

The digital detox — deliberately carving out screen-free periods — is likewise a Generation Z invention. It is not about rejecting technology altogether but about using it consciously: they switch off notifications, limit infinite scrolling, and set aside time for activities that do not involve a screen. The "dumb phone" movement — young people returning to the basic handsets of the pre-smartphone era — is the most extreme expression of the trend, but less extreme versions, such as restricting phone use to certain hours, are far more widespread.

Peer support is not limited to conversations between friends; it also exists in more structured forms. On university campuses, peer counselling programmes are growing in popularity: trained students help fellow students with stress management, study strategies and finding mental health resources. These programmes do not replace professional help; they bridge the gap between recognising a problem and seeking professional care. The research on peer counselling is clear: young people who talk to a peer about mental health problems are more likely to seek professional help, because the conversation lowers the barrier that stigma creates.

Together, the offline revival and peer support are shaping a new kind of community culture — one in which vulnerability is not weakness but something that connects people. Generation Z is not doing it perfectly: digital dependency remains a serious problem, access to mental health care is uneven, and offline communities are not accessible to everyone. But the generation at least is willing to speak openly about its problems, and is actively looking for solutions — which in itself is a clear departure from earlier generations.

4. The gender gap — a divide and an opportunity

The political divide within Generation Z — young men and young women diverging politically — is among the generation's most contested features. In Gallup polling aggregated across 2017–2024, 40% of American women aged 18 to 29 describe themselves as liberal, against just 25% of men of the same age — a 15-percentage-point gap, the widest yet recorded in American generational research. The divide is evident in voting behaviour too: a majority of American women aged 18 to 29, around two-thirds of them, voted Democratic in the 2024 presidential election, while men of the same age were split roughly down the middle.

That gap is not merely a matter of political preference — it reflects genuinely different life trajectories. Young women are more likely to enter higher education, more likely to seek help for their mental health, and more likely to take part in activism. Among young men, gaming addiction, social withdrawal and the drift into radical online communities are more common.

The gender gap is not only a problem, though — it is also an opportunity. Recognising those differences and responding to them directly — through mental health programmes that take gender into account, say, or community spaces aimed at young men — can strengthen cohesion within the generation.

5. What can we learn from Generation Z?

Generation Z is not a problem to be solved — it is a mirror, and we need to look at what it reflects. Digital dependency, the mental health crisis, the collapse in educational performance and exclusion from the labour market are not the fault of the young but of a system that put profit ahead of public health and public education.

What Generation Z teaches us:

The importance of empathy. Young people's openness about mental health problems, the culture of peer support and the readiness to help one another — together they add up to a new kind of social cohesion that earlier generations lacked.

The critical use of technology. "Sleepmaxxing", the revival of in-person communities, the experiments with digital detox — none of these means rejecting technology; they are about using it consciously. Generation Z is the first generation to deliberately seek a balance between digital life and the physical world.

The power of activism. Young people are not waiting for politicians or for companies. Through their consumer choices, the pressure they apply at work and their digital campaigns, they are actively shaping the world — even where the conventional political system does not represent them adequately.

Adaptability and resilience. Generation Z is the first to confront the threat of climate catastrophe, economic insecurity, digital harm and a fraying social contract all at once. And even so — the surveys suggest — it is also the most hopeful generation.

In summary: over seven parts, we have traced Generation Z's path from the attention economy to the collapse of the pension system. The picture is not rosy — but nor is it hopeless. Generation Z consists of young people who understand the challenges, who are actively looking for solutions, and who refuse to remain passive victims. Our task — as an older generation — is not to rescue them but to listen to them, to support their initiatives, and to take responsibility for the world we have left them. Because in the end it is not technology that shapes the future — it is the decisions we make today.

Generation Z does not fight because it sees the future as hopeless — it fights because it believes the future can still be changed.

If we actually look at Generation Z, rather than treating them as a crowd of screen-addicted, emotionally paralysed children, we find them extraordinarily engaged with the world. And they have to be, because we handed them that world — the whole chaotic mess of it.

— reported closing lines of the documentary The Guinea Pig Generation: Born Into the Algorithm