The generation born after the year 2000 has been given several names including Gen Z, iGen, Posts, Homeland Generation, ReGen, and the Plurals.
MTV, who has been studying
this generation for the last few years, felt none of those names represented
what its researchers were seeing in surveys and data they’d been
collecting.
So in March 2015, the network asked more than 1,000 kids who
were born after December 2000 what they should be called, generating
544 names including the Navigators, the Regenerators, the Builders, the
Bridge Generation, and the winner, the Founders.
Jane Gould, senior VP of MTV Insights says, "the generational title "The Founders" represents their intuitive sense of the changing times they've been
born into, and the huge opportunity that lies ahead to make new
history."
It also reflects their desire to rebuild a new society with new rules instead of just breaking down the rules of previous generations. They want to start a new society with more acceptance of race, religion and sexuality. No wonder one of their favorite movies is "Frozen" where princesses rescue themselves and the message is to be yourself.
It also makes sense that they live in the world of the game Minecraft, where regular laws of physics don't apply and all the building is done by hand. The implication is that they are going to make a different society, cube by pixilated cube. Their pop-culture heroes are YouTube stars and
Vine comedians, ordinary people finding fame through
the world wide web.
Here are some more of their generational characteristics...
- more pragmatic
- more indepedent
- would rather stand out than fit in
- most diverse generation in history
- turn to social media for their news instead of the traditional news business
- many saw their parents lose their jobs and grew up with tight budgets due to the recession
- risk-averse - they grew up without a safety net
- team-oriented
- well-behaved
- have never known a world without threat of terrorism
