Gen Z is Lowkey Delulu
People occasionally ask if my kids are bothered by the fact that I include anecdotes or playful jabs about them in my newsletter. As any parent of teens could easily predict, the answer is that my kids aren’t subscribers. (If I include anecdotes about my mom, that’s another matter — she’s not only a subscriber, she regularly responds with her take on a news item with the aside, “this was interesting, maybe you should actually read the article.”) Short of tying the action to an allowance increase, I don’t expect my kids to subscribe to NextDraft anytime soon. But I seriously wish the rest of their generation would. It turns out that the most online generation is the most susceptible to misinformation. Politico Magazine: How Gen Z Became the Most Gullible Generation. “While social media may make news more accessible, there’s also little quality control to the information on the platforms. And although people of all ages are bad at detecting misinformation — which is only getting harder amid the rise of AI — members of Gen Z are particularly vulnerable to being fooled. Why? There’s a dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities — which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful algorithms and further deepens their distrust. It’s the kind of media consumption that differs drastically from older generations who spend far more time with mainstream media, and the consequences can be grim.” And you can be sure that Gen Alpha is no beta. This means a less informed republic, increased political polarization, and almost nothing for me to talk about with my kids (if they ever take their AirPods out). The scariest line from this article: “When it comes to fact-checking, Gen Z tends to have its own distinct method: Opening up the comment section.”
+ Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to squelch the influence of the few trusted media outlets we still have. And the parent companies of those media outlets seem all too willing to oblige. If you missed it yesterday, please read: The Hour is Getting Late.
