You see it everywhere.

Stories from r/WorkReform regularly make it to Reddit’s Popular page; TikToks from frustrated young people detail just how miserable their day was or how they are struggling to put food on the table despite working multiple jobs; and YouTube documentaries on the many ways in which late-stage capitalism is wrecking lives across the US and the world just to eke out a few more percentage points of growth each quarter.

There is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction in the populace. In no generation is this more apparent than Gen Z. Having recently entered the workforce, they have already begun shutting themselves off instead of trying to succeed within the system. Even business leaders have voiced concerns about their work ethic.

I am not here to add fuel to the fire. Instead, as a late millennial, I want to share my perspective on why Gen Z has had enough, and it will take nothing but a sea change to bring them back into the fold.

Losing Hope

The 2008 financial crisis, while a US-specific event, had ripples across global economies.

Coming of age in a world with such a bleak financial outlook created a sense of fear for the future. The uncomfortable thought that the institutions you trust could be so callous with your money that, one day, you might suddenly find yourself out of a job or homeless through no fault of your own is a frightening one.

When nothing is guaranteed, working hard feels like fighting a battle that you are destined to lose.

The 2008 financial crisis and its fallout also left an indelible mark on how Gen Z views corporations and their role in society. Even if you choose to dedicate your life to your career, your efforts are going towards making absurd amounts of money for those at the very top, the very people responsible for bringing the financial system to the brink of collapse.

Gen Z is losing hope in the belief that working hard can protect you from life’s missteps when one medical crisis can bankrupt you; losing hope in the system that awards the most gains to those who seemingly do little more than move money around; losing hope because the deck is stacked against them and only those who were born into generational wealth hold all the cards.

Gen Z has also seen the amount of hard work their parents put in to get to where they are; the kind of life they live; their hectic schedules; the missed vacations; the stress; and the sacrifice. They look at their elders and think — do I want my life to be like this when I grow up?

This is especially relevant when there is such a large contrast to what they see life can be on social media. Which brings me to…

The Lure of Alternate Career Options

According to a survey by Morning Consult, around 57% of Gen Z individuals want to become influencers. It is more than just a funny statistic to point and laugh at.

When traditional career options seem stacked against you, it is natural to find inspiration from those who promise a quick and effortless path to fame and financial success.

The rise of hustle culture, peddled by influencers who encourage their audience to take big bets instead of going for stable income, leads to people seeing their main career as a temporary stopgap before they succeed in their real passion and make it out of the rat race. So, younger generations are choosing to take that risk and are less keen on surrendering themselves to the corporate grind.

The result is that Gen Z is relentlessly pursuing career options such as content creation, dropshipping, art, brand-building, and solopreneurship while ignoring their commitments to their main job. There is just no time to upskill yourself or even relax at the end of a busy day when you are grinding on a side hustle that you hope will be your ticket to fame and fortune.

Your main job is only something that pays the bill while the actual way you are going to be happy in life is when your side hustle succeeds. Gen Z tends to lose its focus on work, acting apathetic to work requirements because they feel in the back of their minds that they are already working on escaping their gilded cage.

The current landscape of internet content creation also presents itself as a path to success that was not available to previous generations. In the past, you had to be incredibly talented at the arts or shrewd in business to ensure that you didn’t die in the financial class you were born in. Today, hitting the algorithm with the mix of the right content at the right time is enough to gain a sizeable following online and make great income. So, goals that were unattainable to anyone but a lucky few, a couple of generations ago, are now seemingly wide open to everyone.

Why would anyone settle for a normal life when everything you’ve ever wanted is just a few uploads away?

The side hustle is now the main game in town. Everything else is just a distraction.

Late Maturity

Let me be clear — while a lot of Gen Z’s apathy to work can be attributed to the current financial and social media landscape, they are not completely blameless, maybe.

While social media relentlessly exposes everyone to extravagant lifestyles, the kind of life they wish they were living, it has also made its users more narcissistic.

Online, everything is centered on the individual. The profile is where you curate your most intimate moments to project an image of happiness and success, even if things may be complicated under the hood. You share your likes and dislikes with the algorithm that finetunes its content to keep you occupied. You get a platform to speak your mind that, theoretically, offers a level playing field regardless of your means in the real world.

When everything online is tailored to the user, and one spends several hours on it every day, you tend to view the world with a self-centered lens. So, it is no surprise that multiple studies have found a link between social media and narcissism.

The generations that grew up without social media found their identity in groups — something larger than themselves that they strive to uphold and protect. When that group identity has no replacement, it is no wonder that Gen Z thinks of their problems as being increasingly unique to themselves.

Lashing out at bosses; being difficult to work with; and being inflexible about work — all remind me of the tendency of teenagers to carry a chip on their shoulder. It takes time to outgrow it and the way we live today makes it very difficult for many young people to reach that level of maturity sooner.

Final Thoughts

For almost all of history, work was about survival. It is only in modern times that the concept of work has evolved into something that gives your life meaning.

The humans who could chase their prey for the longest time survived to pass on their genes. After establishing agriculture, the earliest farmers toiled for hours on end to stockpile enough grain to survive the difficult winter months. In the industrial age, robber barons exploited employees in subhuman conditions, giving them a pittance for food and shelter.

Now, while we all still face our challenges with money, the problems we face today are a far cry from the desperation that came with surviving one day at a time.

However, after World War 2 and the fall of the British Empire, there has been a stark difference between every successive generation’s idea of what working means to them. There are differences from country to country, of course, due to the wildly different economic starting points for each, but there still runs a common thread throughout them.

We are just living through Gen Z’s version of this redefinition. There is nothing much any of us can do but just sit back and give it some time.