The Internet is a monumental discovery that has forever changed the way people lead their daily lives. From buying products, gathering information, keeping in touch with friends as well as entertainment, it has an ever-expanding reach which is changing the very way these actions are pursued. The way they are slowly evolving can be observed just by looking at the past decade: Generation Z consists of those born from the mid-1990s to mid-2010s. This generation marks the first, which has been constantly exposed to products on the Internet from the time they have been born. The multitude of cultural and psychological changes that have been brought upon society by the widespread use of the internet has several fundamental implications on the human psyche as observed by generation Z, the internet generation; through various aspects such as privacy, how time is spent and product preferences.
One of the most well-observed implications is the changing value of privacy. With the advent of social media, very little information is actually kept private. Especially among generation Z, it can be considered the norm to be constantly posting information on their day to day activities for the world to see. From their very thoughts, their location, their feelings to photographs and videos and even the people they know, such information is constantly being uploaded into the internet through social media creating an ever-present trace of their actions, of who they are, their opinions, which will be forever stored within servers. From a marketing perspective, this is a boon as it can be used as vital information to specifically engineer advertisements perfectly suited to each individual user. Various marketing companies purchase/gather large amounts of data about the users to keep a history of their actions and preferences to use as a knowledge base in order to predict the type of products the user would be interested in. It begs the question of whether the loss of privacy from having their life readily apparent is worth the convenience. This may, however, be the hesitation of the older generations. Though younger users do insist on the importance of their privacy, their own actions do not live up their stated preferences. It can be hypothesized that what is changing with the advent of social media, is what’s considered private. We may be heading towards a society where broadcasting our lives to be constantly shared with the world is the norm as it becomes a fundamental part of a person’s social image and reputation.
This can be further seen in the second observed change, what the generation primarily do with their time on the Internet. The millennials and the older generations, while they still use social media to keep in touch; use the internet mainly for information gathering, work, and entertainment and still prefer live interactions over virtual ones. The internet generation, however, sees social media as a direct extension of their social lives and as such, the majority of their time online is spent on social pursuits. Distance and time are no longer barriers that keep people apart, thus creating a form of never-ending social scenario which is brought together via social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Thus, the youngest generation has been brought up in a time where they are always in the social spotlight resulting in this higher focus on social applications. This change is also contributed by the second smaller factor, namely, the value of information and media. The older generations grew up in a time where information was not as readily available and required effort, for example, going to the library and reading through multiple books, to gather data. Even entertainment required visiting cinemas or shows, buying tapes, etc. Generation Z, however, has grown up from a time where all the possible information and media they could ever require are available to them at a heartbeat with a few clicks.
This ease of access has relatively lowered the “value” of such media, as scarcity and effort raises value. These two factors together have brought about the change of what people primarily spend their time on and the psychological necessity of constant social interactions.
A third difference can be observed in their preferences in products. When purchasing or using any form of product, be it a physical object or a free utility, the internet generation places a larger emphasis on brand/product recognition compared to the older generation which places more importance on the quality and usage of said products. To simplify, Generation Z prefers having a “cool product” over a “good experience”. This is reflected in “Lifestyle of Gen Z” which shows that when it comes to advertisements, Generation Y prefers that which form an emotional connection with them as opposed to Generation Z who prefer those with celebrity appearances. Factors such as the uniqueness of products and value for money playa markedly secondary importance compared to recognition.
This preference demonstrates a fundamental change in how they psychologically evaluate products and what they value; which has vast impacts on how various companies and organizations design products and advertisements to gain their attention creating further impacts on the nature of media in society as a whole. With constant usage of the internet, even though it may be present on the corner of the screen, advertisements indirectly implement ideas and information into one’s mind.
While there is a multitude of other changes cultural and psychological changes seen in the internet generation, these three observed differences provide a glimpse into the preoccupation this generation has with their social image. Given the much higher levels of inter-connectivity brought about by the internet, one’s social life no longer “ends” when a person reaches home. Since their social life is constantly broadcast to the world for the public to see, their actions and preferences largely revolve in how they present themselves in such media. They constantly inform the world about their pursuits, their choices, their opinions to constantly maintain this social image which has to be in place in this world of endless inter-connectivity. This emphasis on their online social image, to always be seen, to always let everyone know what they have done is one of the defining landmarks of the change in social culture.
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