“I think I’m technically Gen-Z,” says Steven, a 27-year-old graduate student from Akron, Ohio. Meet the Zillennials, the microgeneration shoved awkwardly between “brunch-loving Millennials” and “internet-addicted Gen-Z.”
Generations are confusing, and not everyone feels like they fit their assigned labels. As a result, microgeneration subreddits like r/Zillennials, r/Younger_GenZ, and r/OlderGenZ have emerged along with a sort of “generation war” culture in online spaces.
With all this talk around generations, the factions forming, and plenty of infighting, I wanted to meet my (?) microgeneration, understand the schism, and figure out if any of this actually matters.
According to the Zillennial subreddit, people who are born from 1994-1999 qualify as Zillennials. Since I was born in 1998, that means I’m also a Zillennial. Upon entering r/Zillennials, I’m greeted with the very nostalgic Jazz design that graced every childhood paper cup and my subconscious for most of the 1990s and early 2000s.
So, besides vibrant paper cup designs, nostalgia, and pushing 30, what really defines a Zillennial? To find out, I interviewed six Zillennial redditors under their chosen aliases.
The (micro) divide
So, why the split, and what makes a Zillennial different from a Millennial or Gen-Z? Five out of six interviewees cited rapid advancement in technology, the absence of constant internet use, and the omnipresence of social media as major dividing factors.
“Much of the core and later Gen Z have no memory of using VHS, VCRs, dialup internet, or landlines—things which were very much part of my life for a significant portion of my childhood—whereas others have never known a world without smartphones and the ensuing technological integration that they have brought to business, education, and personal lives,” says Alexander Tibbitts, age 26.
Overall, based on the answers I received, it appears as though there is more of a push for Zillennials to distinguish themselves from “core Gen-Z” instead of from Millennials. Hannah, a 27-year-old teacher, laments about her internet-addicted Gen-Z brothers and their lack of “proper socialization skills,” which she believes causes the infamous “Gen-Z stare.”
Zillennial political perspectives
While Zillennials have experienced the same political events Gen-Z has, and a few that Millennials have, respondents see major perspective differences.
“A lot of us were alive for 9/11 but don’t remember it, where most Millennials remember it, and most of Gen-Z wasn’t alive. Many of us felt the 2008 recession as kids. We were old enough to somewhat know what was happening, while Gen Z were literal babies and millennials associate it with their college years,” explains Hannah.
“For older Millennials, they were born while the Cold War was still ongoing, and they were already adults when the Great Recession hit in 2008. Younger Gen Z were still K-12 or just starting high school when the Pandemic hit in 2020. Zillennials are sandwiched in between, where we were still minors in 2008 but still young enough in 2020 that we had college or graduate programs impacted by the lockdowns,” adds Alexander Tibbitts.
Despite these major political changes, some surveyed Zillennials view their childhood as less “political” than that of core Gen-Z.
Nicko, a 26-year-old head office worker for a grocery chain, says, “[P]olitics also played next to no role in my childhood (Yes, I understand everything is political, but prolific politicians like Trump did not really exist to nearly the same level).”
It appears that Zillennials view the age at which one experiences something as more important than designated generational labels. It also seems that Zillennials believe that their younger cohorts have experienced a more politicized world.
Zillennial stereotypes
When I asked the respondents to describe a stereotypical Zillennial, I got six very different answers with a few common themes. All six respondents mentioned some sort of struggle, whether that be with income, mental health, education, or dashed dreams.
“Stereotypical Zillennials had high hopes as a kid (actor, writer, professional athlete) but dropped out of college for financial reasons and works a regular job now,” says LegitimateBeing2, age 29.
Interviewee Jimmy Dean’s Sausage (yes, really) also paints a similar, bleak picture: “…you live in an apartment with four other people regardless of age, no savings, you have like three jobs and Uber to make a living.”
Despite four out of six respondents being engaged or married, another theme I noticed in responses is that the stereotypical Zillennial has less luck with love.
According to Alexander Tibbitts, “The stereotypical Zillennial is someone who is probably either single or in a dating relationship but not married.”
“Marriage feels like a scam, so they get into Tinder situationships,” adds LegitimateBeing2.
Finally, it seems as though there’s a deep sense of longing for the past.
Hannah describes a stereotypical Zillennial as “[in their] mid 20s, nostalgic, [and] disillusioned with the current world situation.”
“We share a sense of fear for what the world may become while seemingly having the last, vague memories of a saner world,” remarks Nicko.
Overall, while this seems to be a mindset that many generations and microgenerations share, it appears that Zillennials believe they were some of the last to experience the “good old days.”
Are generations nonsense?
Yes, actually—at least according to a 2023 research article by Costanza et al. that covers the usefulness of generations. Long story short, the very foundational framework of our generational research is flawed. What started out as a biological concept became more of a social one with looser definitions and guidelines than what are acceptable for scientific research.
On top of this, after a broad review of existing studies, Costanza et al. found “little evidence” for distinct differences between generations. These findings make a lot of sense, especially after I conducted my interviews. While I thought I would get a clear answer of what Zillennials look like through this process, I was left more confused than ever.
The range of answers I received made it difficult to come to any sort of conclusion on an actual definition of a Zillennial. Whether it was the media they consume, their marital status, or the jobs they held, everyone I talked to was was very different with a few common themes between them. As I kept reading through the study, I started to wonder if all such generation designations are pointless.
What about generational differences?
According to Costanza et al., most of these “generational differences” found within the reviewed literature could be explained by another variable or do not apply at all. One example they use is the misconception of higher narcissism rates in college-age students. While one 2013 study did find higher narcissism rates, another later study found no difference between the 2013 cohort and previous ones.
In addition,”[r]esearch findings on other variables that supposedly show generational differences such as job satisfaction, work ethic, and work engagement show similar patterns, with mixed results accompanied by a lack of meaningful differences.”
There are a lot of negative sentiments about younger generations entering the workforce, especially Gen-Z, like that they’re poor employees, entitled, lazy, and internet addicts. Although my own interview process was far from a scientific study or review, all the people I interviewed were either employed or in school full-time. Between the Costanza et al. review and what I found anecdotally, the entire idea of generational categorization started to feel as arbitrary as someone’s Zodiac sign.
Are generations problematic?
I know, I know, but hear me out. Since we’re applying these stereotypes based on flawed research and methodology, we are, however inadvertently, perpetuating injustices.
One example that affects me and other people my age is the fear of hiring recent graduates. Companies are taking these flawed studies seriously, and it’s directly impacting the lives of innocent, hardworking people that just want a chance to prove themselves. Researchers are calling this effect generationalism, and reluctance to hire young people is just one example of the real-world harm it causes.
So, what did we learn?
One of the most important questions I asked during the interview process was whether or not we collectively place too much importance on generational differences. To my surprise, five out of the six interviewees cast doubt on how much importance we place on generations.
What this tells me is, deep down, most of us know the truth; generations as we study them now don’t mean nearly as much as we thought. To me, generations as we know them are like horoscopes. They’re fun to mess around with and make memes and TikToks about, but pretending they’re meaningful beyond that or enacting policy based on them is blatantly discriminatory.
As for the Zillennials, well, it is certainly better to categorize yourself willingly than have it forced upon you. Perhaps when it comes to generations, we should take note of these redditors and carve out our own category—at least, as long as we remember it’s not that deep.
