God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, Fight the Power by Public Enemy or Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana were three memorable generational anthems. In each case, the younger generation delivered their uncompromising message to the older generation, pulling no punches in a musical style that broke with convention. Every generation has their Sex Pistols/Public Enemy/Nirvana moment, which seems to come out of nowhere, yet has been simmering under society’s surface.
British punk rock, the late -1970s' complete rejection of societal, political and musical norms, emerged against the background of economic underperformance, extremely high youth unemployment, post-imperial drift and a population boom.
Britain’s postwar births peaked in 1964. These babies were the late-1970s teenage punks. America’s baby boom peaked in 1955. These 1950s toddlers turned into late-60s anti-establishment hippies. Not that they might like to hear it, but London’s snarling punks were Britain’s hippies! Ireland’s baby boom peaked in June 1980, nine months after Pope John Paul II’s 1979 visit. This generation, now the engine of the Irish economy, I called the Pope’s Children in a 2005 book.
Each generation brings their signature to society, profoundly influenced by their experiences with economics, politics, technology and demography. Each generation remembers events in their past differently, interprets the present and uniquely imagines the future. Take the 2008 crash in Ireland. A 40-year-old at the time has a completely different memory of that event than a person who was 14. In both generations, the impact of the crash has been significantly different, which is why looking at history from a generational perspective can be surprisingly rewarding.
Gen Z will become the propulsive force that drives Irish society
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This week, the CSO provided us with a snapshot of a generation, Ireland’s so-called Gen Z, born between 1998 and 2012. The “Zoomer”“, as Americans call them, are a huge cohort, comprising in Ireland 21 per cent of the population, approximately 1.1 million people. Today in Ireland there are 508,000 people in their 60s and 350,000 people in their 70s, so there are about 850,000 Baby Boomers in the country (16.2 per cent). There are far more Irish Zoomers than Boomers.
When you look at the working population, the figures are yet even more stark. As the Boomer generation retires, we see that only about 9 per cent of the workforce is Boomers. In contrast, Zoomers are set to account for , this young Irish generation, far from being workshy, are showing up for work in significant numbers.
More of them work than their European counterparts. For example, the latest figures show that 47.6 per cent of Irish 15- to 24-year-olds were in some sort of work, usually part-time, compared with 36.6 per cent of Europeans. That’s a significant 11 per cent difference. The Zoomers are grafters and the norms, attitudes and everyday experience of Gen Z are exerting an enormous influence on the Irish economy and workplace. What will a society soon to be framed by this generation look like?
They are the most educated Irish people ever, with 60 per cent having a degree or higher qualification. They are also the best-paid young generation ever, and seven out of 10 indicate that they are regular savers. They are also the healthiest, with well over half of them exercising more than once a week.
Interestingly, international evidence indicates that these Zoomers might be even more affluent than the millennials, and work less, but they also hang out less, apparently have less sex, have fewer friends and drink less than their (allegedly) more regimented and conservative parents. By the time they are 25, this Irish generation is much less likely to be even thinking about having children or marrying, largely because they still live with their parents.
Half of them are not in any romantic relationship and this shift to being single is one of the most significant changes between the generations. It is also leading to rising levels of loneliness. According to the Central Statistics Office, one in four young Irish people (16-29) report feeling lonely, and they are hanging out with mates far less. They have fewer close friends and they are drinking less — but taking more drugs — than their parents.
Of the many reasons for this increased loneliness, social media is the dominant influence. While their parents met partners face to face and normally in big social groups, more than one in three Zoomers are hooking up with people they first meet online via apps or in chat rooms. This combination of loneliness and social isolation might be leading to greater levels of anxiety and depression.
According to the CSO, a quarter of all 25-year-olds in Ireland have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, and rates have increased significantly since this cohort was 20. Women, particularly those without a degree, report disproportionately higher rates of mental health issues, with 31.5 per cent.
The latest CSO figures reveal that a generation reshaping society while wealthier, better educated and digitally connected is often lonely and socially isolated. They are the first generation ever to fully experience a world where relationships, friendship, attitudes and work are mediated through screens. In the old days, young people socialised and fell in love in person, forming gangs of mates through shared experiences, friends-of-friends networks, schools, housing estates and colleges. Today friendships and relationships are increasingly digital first, leading to a paradox whereby Gen Z is hyperconnected online but struggling with face-to-face friendships. We’ve all seen groups of them hanging out in a cafe, each one on their phone in their own digital world. Together but not really together.
Unlike millennials, who entered the workforce after the 2008 financial crisis, when there were few jobs and wages were falling, Gen Z came of age in a thriving labour market, allowing them greater options and more money. Yet this economic advantage has not translated into greater social stability; if anything, they are more focused on individualism over community. One in five have no interest in politics at all.
In the years ahead, as the Boomers retire and millennials settle into stable middle age, these younger people, the Gen Z, more than one million of them, will become the propulsive force that drives Irish society. Where they take society is anyone’s guess but, like the punk movement, something will burst out just when you least expect it and it will smell like 21st-century teen spirit.
