There are more than 30 percent of them in the world. In Russia, they say, only 18.
Since the middle of the last century, provoking primitivism among young people - in dress, speech, level of knowledge, but above all in feelings - Western civilization has acquired a “magic wand” that en masse educates consumers of those goods that were most profitable for business to produce. Eastern civilization, after the collapse of the USSR, also did not keep itself waiting and seized on it. And today this "stick" has turned into a "club" everywhere, destroying the cultural layer of civilization and replacing intelligence with a set of popular memes.
From the school bench, making the craving for knowledge itself not prestigious for the absolute majority of the population, the new philosophy of life greatly simplified the manipulation of the public consciousness of the meme majority, leaving in the hands of the elected the reins of government of this new community of people who lose the ability to perceive even the “old” knowledge already accumulated by civilization. The ability of this community for moral improvement or development of fundamental science is becoming more and more speculative and already exists only as a theoretical assumption, and not as a real factor of social progress. At the same time, a narrow circle of the elite, who form the mechanism of the meme perception of the world through blogs, forums, instant messengers and other tools of the Internet social networks, becomes a hostage itself, to which the “generation Z” will inevitably inflict a fatal blow. Unable to compare (and therefore choose) the digital world with the world without the Internet, with its live communication, penetrating into all pores of life and reflecting this very living life in all forms of art, Generation Z is doomed to carry a digital utopia imposed on it, depriving it taste, color and joy of the real world.
Yes, Russia was the last to cross this Rubicon and, I would like to assume, is still capable of resistance, but … There are now more than 30 percent of them in the world. In Russia, statistics say, only 18.
Growing up on emoticons and memes, chats and messengers, they did not perceive the system of values and views based on the ethnocultural heritage of the society in which they live, having perceived the push-button world as their own intrinsic value.
And what do we want from them now? There is no need even to strain - the mechanism of control of such a consciousness, which is short on intelligence, is known. This is the internet. And anyone entering the network can easily put their own "reasonable, good, eternal" into z-minds.
It is quite understandable that generation Z carries the hypertrophied traits of "self", which is provoked in it by trade globalism, which erases the boundaries of political and national - and, therefore, indigenous social - values. Make this thing your own, education - a paid service, family - a business contract, your own smartphone - the only source of information, the reliability of which you define to your taste, and online life - the main manifestation of your "I" … There are all signs of belonging to this generation every day more. The network has created its own values, which often negate morality and ethics. The meme on the web has become stronger than the fact of life.
The source of this new power is quite prosaic. Money. Instagram, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, bloggers of various calibers … The more users a resource collects, the more eagerly advertisers, sellers, marketers climb there, and with them politicians, propagandists and numerous "weft" cases of the master. You'd be surprised - the most influential YouTube contributor today is PewDiePie, with 102 million subscribers. The paper and electronic newspaper editions of the Americas today barely reach 30 million. Why is PewDiePie interesting? Makes funny videos about video games and culture "online".
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Statisticians say that in the employment service they demand a salary of at least 40 thousand, while having neither experience nor education. Accustomed from childhood to do everything "by button", they will go through life like that.
The saddest thing is that this generation Z will not be followed by a new one - hardworking and purposeful. Psychologists will tell you that a social phenomenon that has taken root in society is extremely difficult to overcome. This requires just the very hard work and dedication.
The fact that this is a real process, beyond the control of a generation capable of assessing all its shortcomings and losses in social relations and the economy from its own personal life experience, already sounds from the rostrum of the UN. According to The Economist, at the September UN General Assembly, politicians lined up talking about how teens and 20-year-olds perceive the news. Why was it so important to them? Because this part of society “is almost entirely on social media. Almost entirely visual. And the content of the news "President makes a speech at the UN" is less important to them than how it is framed. It is often presented with humor or commentary. Or, just as often, it is presented by individuals who rule a huge number of followers among young people, but few are familiar in society at large."
In the UK, teens are far less familiar with the BBC than with YouTube. As the UK telecoms broadcasting regulator warns, public service broadcasters "face challenges in the future if they fail to attract enough young people."
And now let's imagine that a third of the planet is just them who have not reached their twentieth birthday. The very same generation Z that replaced us, the gamers (Y), who crossed the threshold of the XXI century with knowledge of real, not digital reality. Despite the fact that more than half of the world is connected to the global network today. And young people are our plenipotentiary representatives in the near future. What will it be?
The teenagers realized before us that they now have tremendous power in their hands. A Swedish girl with a problem consciousness is already teaching us in her own "climate school". Protests by teenagers and students lead to the resignation of presidents and governments from Chile to Hong Kong. Likewise, their actions, orchestrated by the "web", tomorrow could drastically change the politics and economy of our own country.
A business miracle that brings huge profits, vividly illustrating the "American Dream", clearly illustrates the absence of a real, useful product for society. Except for one - generation Z, mimicking a free-voluntary supplement to the "network", the usefulness of which should be discussed especially.
Most importantly, in all this variety of online information providers, there is not a single person who has signed an editor's code of conduct seeking to conform to traditional journalistic practices that demand fairness and objectivity or the public good.
At the first attempt to do this, on both sides of the Atlantic and on Sakharov Square, defenders of "democracy and freedom" will reared up.
Elena Pustovoitova