Gen Zers feel their future is slipping away from them.
They are playing the game of academic achievement, but where are the well-paying jobs they were promised? Meanwhile, as they work two jobs or wake up at 3 a.m. simply to get a good seat in overcrowded university classes, social media offers a steady stream of Instagram-perfect lives – the privileged living in luxury. So Gen Z has used the internet to fight back.
The revolution has come with plentiful brushstrokes of youth, from the use of a gaming platform to organize to the ubiquitous symbol of the movement – a Jolly Roger flag taken from a popular Japanese comic. Some protesters needed their parents’ permission to participate.
Yet what is perhaps most extraordinary about the Gen Z protests worldwide, experts say, is their unprecedented interconnection. A global generation has spawned a global movement.
David Clark of Binghamton University has studied protest movements for years. This is the first time he’s seen so many protests refer to one another. With hashtags, movements are creating chain reactions.