In an interview with BBC, Russell Forrest, a 16-year old student said, “It’s hard to remember a world without technology.”
He is one of the UK’s “brilliant minds” in digital technology, and one who is committed to reducing the country’s skill gap in this field. Considering that his cutting-edge app called “History Hunter” teaches world history with the aid of video game characters who travel through time, where players score points and earn “level-ups” for paying attention in class, it is evident that Forrest and similarly talented people of his generation are sure to make it to the top in the years to come.
Forrest’s game was prototyped by University of Cambridge undergraduates and won the House of Commons award. Additionally, between school exams, he works on his own social network application, which holds the promise to be a hyper-local version of Facebook. With people like Russell Forrest soon to enter the workforce, the future of technology sounds quite exciting.
Forrest is part of the Generation Z – the digital natives’ who are “plugged in” as soon as they pass post-infant age; tech-savvy gamers who take the Millennials’ “digital” mentality to a completely new level. Gen Z-ers readily embrace technology at work to encourage collaboration between peers and to promote innovation within their teams. If gadgets and technology pose a problem or even cause distraction for most of us, iGen’s have managed to master digital technology and effectively use it in education and communication from a very young age.
As the most tech and web-savvy generation, Generation Z-ers belong to a class that has grown up amidst the world of the social media and has been shaped by Facebook and Twitter. Already, this group of young minds has started to shape digital technology and social media in a different and original way that hardly preserves any resemblance to the already outdated social media channels we are used to.
Born and growing up in the era of high tech and super-speed Internet, where sharing personal information on social media is the rule of thumb, where using digital technology is the norm and where social media technology changes rapidly, it is clear that this generation of young tech geeks are likely to re-develop technology in their own original way.
Generation Z’s and How They Will Ignite Technology
Despite the belief that Generation Z comprises of a bunch of screen addicts with a limited attention span, the reality is that options for this generation are limitless. No doubt their attention shifts quickly – within 8 seconds as estimated – if something does not prove worthy of their attention. But beware, once something catches their eye, they are fully committed and focused. As Edyne Plancy, founder of Awakening The Superwoman Within says, “Success in your career or business is about creating value and being true to yourself. Don’t stay stuck in someone else box, be limitless,” and Generation Z seems to be following exactly that approach.
Having a sharp eye for details, gen Z-ers are critical thinkers and even though they are not able at this stage to earn their own money, they still have an incredible power to influence their parents’ choices. So, for businesses of today and tomorrow, it is crucially important to understand their way of thinking.
With a diverse and social media addict audience, businesses can only survive by running multi-channel campaigns with primarily visual content, with little amount of text and to the point. Time is money and quality remains they key. If the product does not rise to their expectations of that brand, gen Z-ers will not shut up about it. And that is why they will continuously make an effort to make things better – both in terms of technology and usage.
Growing up with successful businesses like Uber, Airbnb, not to mention Facebook and Twitter, gen Z-ers already have a basic know-how of how to make money using their time and resources. Research suggests that 72% of them would say “no” to employment and “yes” to starting their own business. The takeaway message is thus simple. Highly individualistic, Generation Z individuals are creative, hard workers who, if given the opportunity, will take any organization to the top.
But… give them the chance to grow! That’s all they want.
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