The Two Faces of Gen Z: How COVID Carved a Generation in Two

 The Two Faces of Gen Z: How COVID Carved a Generation in Two

We often think of generations as something simple — born between these years, share certain traits, move forward together. But science, history, and memory tell us that what matters is what you lived through when you were young. For Gen Z, COVID-19 was the kind of event that splits time.

On one side: those who had crossed into late high school or early adulthood before the world shut down — we could call them Gen Z-1. Their years of schooling had mostly played out in classrooms, their friendships largely face-to-face, their paths toward college or work already underway when the pandemic roared in. Then there’s Gen Z-2, younger, whose teenage years unfolded in mute screens, whose school halls were closed, whose rites of passage — prom, games, group projects — dissolved into pixels and schedules of hybrid school.

Research echoes this divide. Polls show Z-1 grappled with entering the workforce in chaos: job markets that shuttered, internships canceled, contracts delayed. Z-2, meanwhile, saw slower disruptions in work but deeper ruptures in schooling and social ties. Studies reveal greater learning loss, more waning trust in institutions, and more persistent questions about how to navigate identity with social life mediated by algorithms, not shared spaces. (And yes, Z-2-ers often report more anxiety, more enduring loneliness; the lost rituals still matter.)

Yet this isn’t a story of victims versus survivors. Z-2’s “new normal” bred skills Z-1 mostly had to relearn: virtual collaboration, adaptability in fractured environments, comfort online, hybrid life. Z-1 saw their own ruptures — but with earlier models of adulthood to compare to. Z-2 generally didn’t have that “before time” reference in the same way.

What does it mean for us — for schools, workplaces, democracy? We live in echo chambers, fed by platforms built for eyes, not years. What we assume to be “normal” — in school, in work, in protest, in politics — is different depending on which half of Gen Z you're standing in. Empathy means we map not just across generation lines, but through them: recognizing that birth date is more than a number — it’s a coordinate with respect to COVID, technology, institutions.

So, to every Z-1 student: yes, you faced upheaval — but you also saw “before life” and had something to compare. Z-2: you carry loss of experience, but also fluency in change. For both: the future leans on you — not the same future, perhaps, but a shared one made of choices you didn’t plan for but must now shape.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Norse Code: Vikings, Violence, and the Unexpected Birth of Empire

Image
  "The Norse Code: Vikings, Violence, and the Unexpected Birth of Empire" You know, when most people think of European colonialism, they jump straight to the Spanish in the Americas, or the British in India, all red uniforms and tea. But long before that — before muskets, flags, and treaties — there were bearded men in boats, with axes, and an alarming tendency to show up uninvited. I’m talking, of course, about the Vikings. Now the usual story goes: the Vikings were raiders. Plunderers. Pillagers. Yes, they were that — but also something more. Because while they were looting churches in England, they were also accidentally building the foundations of European expansion . Take the year 793 — the infamous raid on Lindisfarne. It wasn’t just the shock of violence. It was the realization that the sea was a highway , not a barrier. The Vikings weren’t trying to build an empire. They were looking for farmland, trade, and a good reason to leave Scandinavia — where, incidentally,...
Read more

Before Global Colonization: Europe’s Internal Empires

Image
  Throughout our shared history, humans have tirelessly sought to organize and structure society. At its most expansive, this quest for order and clarity has taken the form of empire. When we think of colonization, our minds often leap to distant shores—to the Americas, Asia, Africa. But long before these global journeys began, Europe itself was a continent colonized repeatedly from within. Here, within Europe's borders, we find a powerful story about human governance, expansion, exploitation, and the complicated legacy that empire leaves behind. The Roman Empire set the mold. From the first century BCE to its collapse in the fifth century CE, Rome reigned over vast territories stretching from Britain to North Africa. Romans were exceptional builders, organizers, and administrators. Their roads, bridges, aqueducts, and cities linked distant lands and diverse peoples into a single entity. Yet beneath Rome’s impressive engineering and cultural legacy lay the harsh reality of slavery....
Read more

Deep Research on Longevity, Elite Agendas, and the Population Decline Discourse

  Longevity, Elite Agendas, and the Population Decline Discourse Elite Voices Linking Population and Longevity Prominent tech billionaires and investors have increasingly weighed in on global birthrates – some drawing connections (implicitly or explicitly) to life-extension ambitions. Elon Musk has repeatedly sounded the alarm about falling fertility, calling population decline “the biggest danger civilization faces by far” newyorker.com . Musk has famously acted on his pronatalist stance (fathering around a dozen children), even allegedly offering to donate his own sperm to help others have kids (a claim he denied) newyorker.com . Intriguingly, Musk’s concern for more babies comes despite his skepticism of radical longevity; he argues that societal progress requires generational turnover and has said “it is important for us to die” lest society ossify under immortal leaders futurism.com persuasion.community . In other words, Musk fears a “gerontocracy” if people don’t age out,...
Read more