Gen Z, the generation born after 1995, has grown up with smartphones and social media. They are a startling mix of certainty and pessimism. Based on U.S. research, this generation is certain in their beliefs about questions of gender identity and the need to restrict certain forms of speech. They are convinced that there is little hope for the world and believe that the only solution is to start over. Different patterns of belief are only part of the breakneck cultural change that means growing up today is a completely different experience from growing up in the 1950s, or the 1980s, or even the 2000s.
Psychologist and author of Generations and iGen Jean Twenge, researcher and geriatrician expert on ABC’s Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and Teenagers Stephanie Ward, and co-founder of youth media platform The Daily Aus Sam Koslowski will discuss what is driving these changes and where could the widening generation gap take us as a society?
Business leader, journalist, presenter and commentator, Sam Koslowski is the co-founder of The Daily Aus alongside Zara Seidler. The Daily Aus is Australia’s leading social-first news organisation targeted at young Australians with an audience of over two million Australians per month engaging with its Instagram, TikTok, website, videos, podcasts and newsletters – 70% of their audience report The Daily Aus is their primary news source. Sam has been listed in the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and has released a book on understanding the news with Penguin Random House.
Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 180 scientific publications and seven books, including Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future and iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Chicago and a PhD from the University of Michigan. She writes the Generation Tech substack.
Stephanie Ward is a Senior Research Fellow for the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at UNSW Sydney, along with being the Clinical Lead of the Australian Dementia Network Registry, the first clinical quality registry for dementia in Australia. Stephanie leads the SNORE-ASA substudy of the ASPREE study, investigating sleep apnea and its relationship with cognition and neuroimaging in healthy older adults. She is also involved in randomised controlled trials evaluating interventions to promote healthy ageing, including a trial of intergenerational contact. Stephanie has been an expert geriatrician on the award-winning ABC factual series Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and Teenagers that has further exemplified the reciprocal benefits of joining young and old together. Dr Ward is also a practicing geriatrician at the Prince of Wales Hospital, leading an inpatient acute medical unit and working in a cognitive disorders clinic.
Bridie Jabour is associate editor (audio/visual) at Guardian Australia. She is the author of the book of essays Trivial Grievances.