Boomers versus Gen Z
In the UK, different generations have faced vastly different circumstances, technologically, economically, socially, and even environmentally. In some cases Gen Z have it much better compared to baby boomers, but in others it was better for Boomers in their youth than it is for young people today.
Undoubtedly Gen Z (today's young people) have greater access to Information.
For Boomers, libraries, newspapers, and TV were the main sources. Today Gen Z has instant access to global knowledge via the internet, YouTube, Wikipedia, etc.
Technology and communications are better now. Boomers had rotary phones, and communicated by snail mail. These days there are smartphones, texting, video calls, global social media. Communication is instant, visual, and borderless.
There is greater mental health awareness, especially after the problems caused by the lockdowns. In Boomer days mental health was stigmatized, mocked or ignored. Now there is increased openness, more resources, and normalization of therapy and self-care.
Boomers were required to conform to social and sexual norms, or at least to pretend to do so. Now there is greater social acceptance for LGBT people, diverse gender identities, and more fluid expression of self.
In Boomer days there was less global awareness, ideas spread more slowly, and there were fewer youth-led movements with international reach. The UK was largely insular back then, looking on foreigners with amusement. Nowadays Gen Z is highly engaged in a multitude of global causes, often coordinating digitally.
Education for Boomers tended to be local and limited by geography, whereas now there are online courses, coding boot camps, and remote learning to open up new paths. Gen Z are much readier to study abroad than their predecessors, and to find foreign students among their classmates in UK higher education.
UK food for the Boomer generation was awful. Tinned and tasteless food. Overcooked vegetables, stewed meat loaf passed off as burgers, sliced processed cheese and sliced white bread that turned back to dough in the mouth. Gen Z has access to cheap, nourishing food, and the world’s cuisine to draw on.
On the other hand, some things were better for Baby Boomers. They could more readily afford housing and education. University fees were paid for by the state, and local authority grants provided students with living expenses. House prices were low relative to wages, and many people could afford to buy a house on a single income.
Today, student debt is crushing, housing prices have skyrocketed, and wage growth hasn’t kept up. The state could afford to put 5% of Boomers through university, but it cannot afford to do the same for 45% of Gen Z.
Boomers could hope for job security and a predictable career trajectory. Stable, long-term employment was the norm, and pensions were more reliable. Today’s young people face a gig economy, short-term contracts, and less job stability.
Many boomers experienced rising incomes and better living standards than their parents. Through grammar and church schools, they could achieve social mobility. Upward mobility is more difficult now for Gen Z, with shrinking middle-class opportunities.
Boomers had some privacy. There were no social media, and negligible surveillance. Digital footprints are nearly unavoidable these days, and privacy is hard to protect.
There used to be less existential anxiety. During the nuclear peace, Boomers felt that global stability post-WWII was attainable. Movies feature apocalyptic post-nuclear Armageddon, but it didn’t happen in real life. There were distant proxy wars, but no world wars. Gen Z faces geopolitical instability, the threat of more immediate wars, and economic precariousness on a broader scale.
The future for Gen Z appears to hold more anxiety. They are less confident than about the future than their Boomer predecessors were. The world moves on. Most things are better than before, but some are worse.
Madsen Pirie