Without being redundant, I think everyone is noticing the movement that has emerged in the world since COVID. Generation Z, so reviled by many, has shown that the previous life format was unsustainable, and this has started to create strong contrast.
The 21st century restoration
Baby Boomer and Gen X generations have reacted gradually but with rapid pressure, just as Europe did in 1815. A kind of “restoration”. In 1815, after the Napoleonic revolutions, European monarchies attempted to erase all change and restore the old order. Today I see the same pattern: perhaps fear of losing power, position, or privileges. Instead of evolving and helping the world, they’ve worked in the opposite direction.
Millennials at a crossroads
The Millennial generation, I’m part of it being at the “beginning” meaning born in 1982, finds itself at a crossroads. It grew up with those earlier generations, their values and thoughts, but has lived through crises, problems, and the birth of Gen Z. Part of them is understanding and acting.
I don’t want to make strange proclamations or anything else, but with pragmatism I can say that Gen Z has opened Pandora’s box and allowed me and others of my generation to understand how to act. Without those violent or frontal attacks that drain energy and don’t lead to results. But by sedimenting, fighting from afar, building with patience and strategy.
Work-life balance beyond work
While we wait for Generation Alpha to grow up, good joint work can refocus attention on many global problems and better bring out that concept of work-life balance that doesn’t only concern work but also community involvement. Two different aspects but both affected by that old command line, with the principle of doing regardless and sacrificing regardless. All without understanding the world’s evolution and how individuals can also benefit from this.
Video games as a training ground for complexity
We criticize a kid, young adult, or adult for their huge Steam library and don’t realize, for example, that their passion for building cities and colonies has led them to play, try, and experiment with opposite and complex situations and scenarios. How complexity, nuances, and facets have evolved their thinking and offered them a non-trivial point of view. A point of view capable of giving concrete help much more than others who profess to be field experts on the subject but aren’t. In fact, often some of these gamers, thanks to gaming, are ready to listen, analyze, and advise without any presumption.
I think about how on Minecraft the Ultimate Library project allowed access to a library of forbidden texts for many people who couldn’t read them but could play. I think about games like Beholder, Frostpunk, or Papers, Please, how they managed to offer a message, a thought, through excellent game mechanics.
The emblematic case: Nepal, One Piece and Discord
And we come to a recent emblematic case: One Piece and its Jolly Roger. In Nepal, inspired by One Piece’s pirate flag, a symbol of freedom and rebellion against injustice in the anime, young people created a political movement that led to the election of a reformist figure. The fascinating aspect? They didn’t put a Gen Z in charge but a Baby Boomer former Supreme Court justice, admired by all and… voted for on Discord.
A clear example of how a message can be conveyed, how it can lead to an evolutionary experiment. Uncovering the previous rot to create a better future.
Sedimentation and optimism
In the sea of turmoil of a world in upheaval with many fearful reactionaries, I observe how something is moving. I observe how social media, though often not positive objects, can in other cases convey the best. I observe the power of gaming in all its facets, especially when we can abstract. And I observe how slow and patient sedimentation can give birth to something that immediately moves, acts, and reaches its goal.
Too optimistic? It might be, but I always answer: “Optimistic until proven otherwise.”