The Online Experience of A "Zellennial"
First, let us start by defining a "zellennial". Every generation has had a category and a label that they fall into. You have The Silent Generation which is anyone born in 1945 and before. Then there were the Baby Boomers who were born from 1946-1964. Then came Generation X from 1965-1976. Then finally the millennials that are from 1977-1995. Lastly is Generation Z (my generation) which is from 1996-2015
Every generation has specific characteristics that are attributed to them, so when people who are in that generation don't fall into those characteristics and traits they get put into micro generations. I fall into one of those. I am a "zellennial" which means I am an older member of Gen Z but not old enough to be a millennial. I grew up without an iPhone but have had one long enough to be very familiar with the internet.
When I was growing up the internet was still new and scary in a lot of ways. We were taught that you should never put out personal information and that behind every single profile picture was a creepy pedophile trying to seduce us into being kidnapped. If you ever had to share information, you lie. So I think the way the generations interact with the internet is changing and how much we share changes too.
I have social media and I use it frequently. But I don't have a personal website unless you count this blog account and everything that is being posted on it has been for class and heavily edited to be school appropriate and covers what is being asked of me to write about.
I use one social media site the most. That is Instagram, which is the one that I spend the most time on. I also have Twitter, Snapchat, and youtube. I don't post on any of those apps very often but I am constantly looking at them and seeing what is happening. I think that the younger people in my generation weren't taught about some of the aspects of keeping some of life off the internet. I've seen some people just post every single thought that goes through their heads.
I try to keep some stuff close to the chest when it comes to personal information. I know that I am linked to my Spotify page where you can see the podcast that I created. But I'm not dumb enough to imagine that there is no possible way for people to find information about me off of my account. I know that I have pictures of me in my uniform so people could easily figure out where I went high school and by proxy where I live ish.
Sites that have you sign up for them using all of your information make me nervous, why do you need all that information just for me to buy a shirt. But at the same time, I will happily sign up for text chains that send out discounts for stores that I use frequently. I throughout my life have become less and less worried about what is on the internet and can be traced back to me. When honestly I should be more careful now that more of my information is important to keep safe.
But also it can be so hard to use social media and not see other people having what seems to be a better day, week, or life than you. I know I had a lot of trouble when I was younger seeing girls who were so much prettier and way more successful than me. As I grew up I finally started to understand how people curate their image on social media.
As I grew up I learned more. But for some people, it is not that easy and it can be damaging, but it's the same as when girls were forced to look at magazine ads with severely edited women and told that that is what they should look like. There has always been pressure placed upon youths to look a certain way because that's how the fashion industry attracts people to them. "If you buy this shirt or this product, you will finally be pretty". I think everything would be healthier if we just started being more honest about our lives. But now that there is the push for more transparency and authenticity with people on the internet, I think we are moving toward a healthier outlook on social media.
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