Whether you like it or not, the generation you were born into forms how you view life. It forms your personality, experiences, and characteristics. Every generation has its own stereotype, and most of the time it’s far from the truth.

Older generations don’t understand being us—Gen Z—but to be frank, they never will. Each generation has its own thing that it’s focused on. The Baby Boomers? Politics. They have been ruling America since 1946—that was five generations ago—during the Korean War—Cold War—and the end of World War 2, which ended exactly in 1945. These are the same people who look down upon Gen Z for how we are, and how we live. They don’t know us, but they already view us as less without even giving us a chance.

“I think a stereotype about Gen Z that is inaccurate is that we are lazy, and don’t do anything at all. Even though whenever we try to do something—like get a job—they never allow us. It doesn’t matter if you have an entire degree—they say it’s because of a lack of ‘experience,'” Hailey Drenth stated.

“We often get told that we, Gen Z, are a lazy generation. However, realistically—we aren’t given fair opportunities to learn and join the workforce. They ask for unrealistic years of experience, or hundreds of rejected resumes despite having all the needed academic requirements,” L.L stated.

Generation Z doesn’t have it easy, and from the looks of it? It feels like we never will. The average amount of groceries in 1990 would only be around $20. Prices have skyrocketed up to 150%. If you’ve watched Home Alone, you would know about the “Grocery Store” scene. Where Kevin, the main character, bought 10 things for only $19.83. Those same exact items today? It would be $72.

You used to be able to have a minimum wage job, family, your own car, and even your own home before. Now? The average home is $514,000. Minimum wage is only $7.14 to $17.00, and college is $38,270 per year. There are 4 years of college, so that would be $153,080. They say Gen Z is lazy, but with prices like these, everything seems so out of reach. “I wanna go to college, but I’m not sure if I can afford it. There’s also the cost of living on your own. Unless we raise wages, being an adult will be impossible for Gen Z,” Michelle McDonell said.

Another stereotype for Gen Z is that we don’t care about anything in the world. They believe that we live our lives with zero thought about our government and nation. “The idea that we don’t care about anything is so off. I feel like a lot of people don’t show it, but we do care about our society and country,” said Michelle McDonell. We do care about the world—we live in it. Everything will be on us when we’re adults. We are the ones who will have to endure the conflicts of the world when everything is passed down. “Trusting our government, schools, and media—it’s hard because there are so many things out there that are already destroyed. It’s hard to trust anything when everything is put into the wrong hands, especially with lies and rumors,” said Hailey Drenth.

A major difference between Gen Z and the older generations is Mental Health Awareness. Before, mental health wasn’t a thing. People often pushed it aside, ignored it, and people who seemed to have issues were put into terrible places because it wasn’t recognized. “Mental Health is very important. I feel like the older generations are less honest with their feelings, while we are always encouraged to talk to people about them,” said Michelle McDonell. Now that it is, Gen Z values it a lot. We talk about our emotions with friends and family who will listen because we know that it is important. After learning about what life was like in history, we don’t want to end up down the same path. “I believe that mental health awareness is important for so many people now. For some people, it could be hard to get through the next day, and that is something that everyone should never overlook because it’s not something that we should try to battle ourselves,” Hailey Drenth said.

There are so many issues in the world; we can’t just pinpoint one. Even after the Civil Rights Movement, we still fight against discrimination and racism every day. Our earth is dying because of climate change, and we need to do something about it before we lose the only place humans call home. “There is not a single issue to this world, but our newest issue in the world these days is the use of AI,” said Sirgie Chirinos. Discrimination, climate change, and AI taking away jobs from people is our reality now. We are more aware of the world than we appear, and we want to do something to fix it. “I think Gen Z cares more about the state of the world than the older generations do,” Michelle McDonell said.

The future of this world seems like it is in shambles. It is devastating to think that the people of Gen Z don’t have faith in what’s to come, but we can’t blame them when the problems are written in red ink. “No. Not as much as I would like to because there are too many problems in the world today that make the future uncertain,” said Sirgie Chirinos.

“No, because of AI and several people losing their jobs from it,” said Allison Herrera-Mendez.

“I want to feel hopeful for the future because I want to believe that everyone has a sole purpose in that even if everyone had a hard start right now, they will do good things in the future,” said Hailey Drenth.

Even though the future for the world is uncertain, Gen Z will always conquer. We can’t ponder on the issues of the world too much because it will affect our mental health, but we can express our concerns with friends and family whenever we feel like it is needed. No other generation will truly understand Gen Z because they have to try, and most of the time they don’t recognize that as a fact. The point is that Generation Z is aware of the world and the problems it comes with. We are not as oblivious as we may seem—even if we are on our phones all the time. Social media is full of opinions all the time.

Do you feel hopeful for the future?