A Gen Z defense of America

I am twenty-one. Not being on social media, I am ill-informed of the true depth of rage and fear available to the human psyche. Even so, I’ve heard that the planet will overheat. My pastor tells me the churches will sit empty, and the WSJ warns I’ll never buy a home. Boomers bemoan the laziness of my generation. Given these prophecies of doom, it is no wonder that we are a bit anxious.

But if we were ever to look up from our screens and allow the evidence within sight to form our perception of reality, we might be pleasantly surprised: America’s social fabric is strong, and so are we. 

I went on a run on the prairie today. This solitary excursion signifies that I, a young woman, am not debilitatingly fearful of male violence (which I would have good cause to be in most societies, past or present). It means that a functional economy has presented me with new running shoes, which are a very complex product. It implies that my local government has the forethought and effectiveness to not only protect an open-space area from development, but to build and maintain trails. This society’s health care and food systems have given me the vigor to run; its schools have taught me to appreciate wildflowers’ beauty and biology; its culture encourages a girl to wear shorts and to become strong. 

Why, the world seems to be conspiring to endow me with agency. Call me privileged – a thousand times, yes – and call yourself the same, and declare it a blessing. 

Addiction to a cold screen hasn’t killed Gen Z’s warmth. Time honored American values of friendliness and respect, whether at happy hour or a chance meeting on a plane, are still ubiquitous. Contrary to what our venerable reader may believe, nine out of ten Zoomers say they enjoy spending time with their parents and care what they think. Our dating scene is bland but, by historical standards, respectful – “we should hang out sometime” is a pleasant enough aberration from the more time-tested methods of arranging, buying or kidnapping a wife. Gen Z may have strange ideas of tolerance, high expectations of wellbeing and non-confrontational habits (at least offline). But a generation inclined toward harmony is not all bad.  

Our third places – those arenas of social interaction outside the home and the workplace – are vibrant. In the past two weeks, I have attended a running club and a line-dancing night; a church picnic and a wedding; a backyard concert and a breakfast gathering with home-baked bread. At each, the average age was under thirty. Most Americans are lonely, and I am sometimes lonely. But videogames, politics and pandemics have not seriously prevented us from loving each other.

The nation’s institutions are stable. Some things are happening over in DC, but not too quickly or irrevocably. The government works well enough. A pothole that used to swallow my tire was repaired when I wasn’t looking, and I have never even thought to be fearful when fighter jets fly overhead. As for technological progress, perhaps it has slowed down, and perhaps it is speeding into an unknown AI future. Either way, we do not seem to be experiencing severe cultural whiplash, and despite big tech’s best attempts, I still have agency over my technology use. If there are two things Gen Z is good at, it is absorbing new technology and not quite trusting it.

Decline narratives are nothing new. Mesopotamian kings inscribed in stone that “the world has waxed very old and wicked.” Since then, this earth has creaked along through another four thousand years of affection, suffering and surprise. 

Boomers, please give us half a chance to earn your hope. Zoomers, look up from your phones. Your life is not hell, nor everyone else’s heaven. A normal job is enough, a normal body is enough and a normal life is enough. If we dedicate half the energy into living our lives as we currently put into performing them, we can prove those pessimists wrong.