8 minute read
What will Gen Z’s legacy be?
The Big Question sheds light on a topical issue of global relevance, providing a platform for some of Bond’s best and brightest academics and alumni to share their unique perspectives.
Juliette Levinge is a current Indigenous medical scholar, supported by the Optical Superstore.
Generation Z is a cohort of thinkers and doers, willing to challenge the status quo, question previous generations and deviate from a traditionalist approach. In the past decade we have witnessed monumental societal, environmental, and economic challenges, plus a global pandemic that has become this generation’s new normal. From the lens of a Gen Z-er, I believe the future holds much excitement and the pace will be rapid, with an everchanging environment full of opportunities. Previous societal norms are undergoing changes and Gen Z is at the forefront of driving, creating, and embracing change.
We have grown up through a digital age and the technological resources at our fingertips today have fundamentally shaped, informed and educated this generation to think, feel and question all aspects of life like never before. As technology dictates current lifestyles, our future job prospects will be vastly different to previous generations, and I believe that entrepreneurial skills are required to succeed and stand out in a generation like ours.
Whilst technology and digital environments such as social media make it easy to connect to anyone, anywhere and at any time, it is easy to lose sight of what is and is not reality. Social media is a huge influencer on many generations in this modern world; however, it is predominantly targeted at young people, thus, it is easy to succumb to the misconceptions of what a perfect lifestyle looks like. This misconception is leading to greater expectations and pressures of what one’s job, future, and life in general should look like. Technology and social media platforms generate an unhealthy competition between people, which inadvertently can cause more harm than good, bringing sadness and depression rather than joy to the users and subscribers. The bar and expectations of Gen Z appear to be extremely high and consequently, the pressure is more evident on the cohort to succeed and be exemplary future leaders.
Equality and collectivism are attributes that Gen Z strive to achieve. Additionally, our generation must collectively work together to repair and reduce environmental impacts caused by years of inaction. To fix these planetary impacts, we will need to do more in less time, thus, the entrepreneurial skills of Gen Z will be required to protect the health of the planet and that of future generations. This will require adaptation skills, a positive outlook on acclimatising to different lifestyles and a willingness to make it right.
From the perspective of a Gen Z-er, I believe our cohort’s legacy will be that we can adapt optimistically in a fast-paced, advanced, digital world. My vision for the future is that we will work together as a collective with a common focus that ensures future generations are well-informed and feel less pressured to fix the mistakes of the past. I am looking forward to the endless possibilities, advancements, and improvements we will oversee as we journey through our lives.
Steven Freeland is a Professorial Fellow at Bond University, Emeritus Professor at Western Sydney University, Advisory Board Member at the Australian Space Agency, and Co-Chair of the United Nations Working Group on Space Resources.
In the six decades since the dawn of the Space Age in 1957, the development of space-related technologies has transformed our lives, revolutionising communication, medicine, navigation, finance, agriculture and computing, to name but a few.
This trend will continue at an expanding rate, providing Generation Z with seemingly unimpeded opportunities to engage with space in ways that we currently might not be able to fully envisage. They will, for example, be the first generation to more broadly enjoy space tourism. Since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space 60 years ago, almost 600 trained astronauts have followed, but very few people as tourists. However, there is now anticipation of a burgeoning commercial tourism industry that could ultimately see thousands of Generation Zs journeying to Earth’s orbit, the Moon and beyond.
Yet, with enticing opportunity comes great responsibility. Space is crucial to the world economy, strategic thinking, terrestrial military strategy, geopolitics, human rights, science, commercial enterprise, technological innovation and, frankly, the future of humankind. Even a ‘day without space’ would be disastrous for lives, livelihoods, and communities around the world.
Space is also hard, and despite our remarkable technological progress, we need to understand that each advance brings with it many challenges. For example, if Generation Z maintains a ‘business as usual’ approach to space, the threats associated with the increasing proliferation of debris loom ever larger. The avoidance of a ‘tragedy of the commons’ scenario for space is an absolute imperative.
It is important that space is managed in a way that preserves its safety, stability and sustainability not only for Generation Z, but also for subsequent generations. Given its legal characterisation as an area beyond national jurisdiction and not subject to national appropriation, this is done primarily through international law and multilateral governance structures, supplemented by national legislation. That said, as space becomes ever more complex, any possible future space activities will necessarily involve not only legal and governance considerations, but also very significant technical, economic, political, cultural, scientific, and other factors.
As such, more than any generation before it, Generation Z stands at a crossroads in terms of our use of space. Depending on the path it takes, the legacy it leaves will be very different. Generation Z must understand their stewardship role in space, and not repeat those mistakes made on Earth that threaten our ability to coexist here into the very long term. Central to this is remaining true to the core principles of humanity that underpin our relationship with space. The alternate scenarios do not bear contemplation.
Larissa Rose (Class of 2010) is Director Consultant at GG Enviro.
No generation wants to go past without making a mark. Their mark.
And the truth is: they all do leave a mark; they just don’t often realise they’re leaving a legacy until ‘Generation Next’ is rising up beneath them. The same goes for Gen Z.
Like the Baby Boomers and Millennials before them, the post-90s babies are revolutionising the world around them, and in the most profound ways. As the director of one of Australia’s leading environmental consultancy companies, GG Enviro, I’m seeing first-hand how Gen Z is making its mark.
For a start, they’re initiating a complete reprogramming of the professional workplace. What it literally looks like (work from home), to how they behave, communicate and interact with each other - and dare I say it, with we Millennials. A job used to be nine-tofive in a centralised office. Now it’s 24/7 and not necessarily in a negative sense - Gen Z picks and chooses when it wants to work, and on balance, that seems to be working (at least for them).
This brings me to my next point - they’re efficient, by default. Gen Z is a generation that wants to work hard but it is also about working smart for them. If the same job can be done in half the time, using whatever resources available, they’ll do it. There’s no such thing as the old-fashioned way, not if there’s a better way to do it. And a lot of that has to do with the technology they’ve grown up with. They’ve figured out how to simplify everyday tasks. It’s all automatic in 2021 - an email (which long ago replaced a time consuming hand-written note) can now be scheduled to send while we’re asleep.
And finally, they’re progressive. Far more so than the generations before them. They know how they want to show up to consumers and deliver to their markets. A case in point is social media. Even for us Millennials, to make our mark, we had to mix it with the big end of town, the top executives, the real movers and shakers in our world. Gen Z engages with itself (almost exclusively) through the power of social media and while many might dismiss the technology as ‘disconnected’, the fact is, Gen Z has a touchpoint with sometimes millions of people in the palm of their hands. And it’s instantaneous.
Gen Z, for me, is an optimistic generation. It’s their time, and they’re teaching us more than we’re teaching them now. What their mark ultimately looks like, only time will tell, but as an environmental consultant, I only hope it is a world that looks and feels as good in real life as the one they’re viewing on their screens.
