Now showing items tagged Generations

Oxford Dictionary have announced their word of the year, and you will be forgiven if you have no idea what it means, if you have even heard it at all. The word of 2023 is, ‘Rizz.’

If you haven’t heard of it, ‘rizz’ is a slang word derived from ‘charisma’, defined by The Oxford Dictionary as, "Pertaining to someone’s ability to attract another person through style, charm, or attractiveness."

“Rizz” is one word among many proliferated primarily through Gen Z’s social media presence – Gen Z being the 2 billion people born between 1995 and 2009.[1] Other key words in the lexicon include, “slay”, “sus”, “drip”, “simp”, “stan” and “cap”, all commonly used among Gen Zs but completely opaque to the untrained ears of older generations.

Gen Z have never known a world without the Internet. As a result, their hobbies, careers, identities and language are being powerfully shaped by their relationship with the online world.

A Deloitte survey found that only 10% of Gen Zs opt to watch a TV show or a film in order to switch off or recharge. In comparison, 26% say that online gaming is their favourite way to pass the time. For the rest of the Gen Zs in the survey, their favourite forms of entertainment are listening to music (14%), browsing the Internet (12%) or scrolling through social media (11%).[1]

When talking about the online world, however, we are likely to mean something completely different in relation to Gen Z than we do in relation to their older counterparts.

Working from home has certainly been far from bliss for many of us. Attempting to do our office work within the clutter and distraction of home, navigating complex online modes of engagement and doing so within the stress of such an uncertain time has made this new work form challenging.

However, for the generation we thought would do best with it, given their demand for flexible working hours, their technological competence and their love for independence, working in isolation has proved even more difficult.