Whenever I see the description for Gen Z it’s always like, “you born with a cell phone in your hand and couldn’t imagine living without it or social media.”
First of all, I was born in the early 2000s; I wasn’t born during the time when iPod touches or iPhones had been invented yet, I know what is was like to have entertainment that’s not a screen. When I was younger the tv in my living room was a box tv and dvds, tv showings, and vhs were also the only way to watch a movie; and yes I have seen a vhs movies. I’ve watched cartoons from the 90s like Dexter’s laboratory, Johnny Bravo, and The OG Power Puff Girls and Pokémon. I remember using an overhead protector in 1st grade, only using internet explorer, taking all photos using an actual camera, and playing music on a CD player. There was no YouTube, instagram, Snapchat, twitter or online Netflix streaming.
The other part of my childhood did included did include more mobile technology. I remember using the first generation of iPod, the one without any camera and much later the getting the first generation iPad. I didnt even get my own iPhone until 2013, more than a decade after I was born.
The disputed years for generation z are between 1995 and 2012. This may be true but kids during during the first and second half of these years had very different childhood experiences. Although kids in the mid 90s and early 2000s did have internet and mobile devices they weren’t as accessible as they were in the years after 2007. Kids after 2007 were the same year as iphones and probably have a more similar experience the next generation, generation alpha. I grew up during the transition to smart phones not when they were widespread. So to every adult who has ever said this to me or an early gen z kid, no I didn’t spend my life with a screen in front of my face or have a social media account made for me at birth.