George Yang, Author at Goody Feed

There’s a societal problem right here in Singapore, and it’s getting from bad to worse. No, we’re not talking about influencers showing duck faces and pretending that they love a product when they’re paid to praise it. Nor are we talking about self-entitled strawberries who firmly believe that the entire Earth spins for them. We’re talking about Gen Z youths who grew up with the Internet. They’re a batch of good people: I’ve seen and spoken to many of them, and other than using a slang that I don’t understand, they’re just people. But within this batch, there’s a group of Instagram-loving, Telegram-obsessed and phone-addicted youths who live for online attention, and they’re doing things that we old people would never understand. For example, smoking in a bus and thinking that it’s cool. Throwing people, bikes and whatever they can find and posting it on Instagram Stories. And anything that’s not accepted by society (or by anyone). Well, at least those millennials who sought attention with duck faces and half balls aren’t causing any harm or danger to anyone, but these Gen Z youth are. Youth Jumped Over Railing and Smack His Butt on a Road In the past, whenever we played “Truth or Dare”, the Dare would be a simple “go ask that girl for her number”. It’s harmless and we don’t film the moments when the girl slapped us: it’s all fun, and we’re not doing it for attention. And we all grew up well. Stronger, in fact, since our skin became thicker every time we did a “Dare”. But it seems like “Dare” nowadays isn’t just about getting a number. Meet Buttman. This video, which obviously has to stem from Instagram Stories because Gen Z thinks Facebook is for uncles to share fake news, shows a youth (you see, I can’t see his face but immediately deduce that he's a youth; I so bias or they’ve a bad name?) jumping over a railing on a road. Image: Facebook (STOMP) For some reason, his shirt exposed his non-existent six-pack and after jumping over the railing like he’s clearing the Low Wall, he coolly walked to the middle of the road. Image: Facebook (STOMP) If that’s not dangerous enough, he decided to turn his back on the road, and lowered his shorts (I kid you not). Image: Facebook (STOMP) Then he smacked his butt like he’s filming some Japan film and nonchalantly walked back. Image: Facebook (STOMP) If you’ve not eaten anything and would like to watch the video, here you go: I know it’s shocking, and I apologize in advance if you’ve just vomited your nasi lemak out. Now, let’s move on to something a tad more serious: why? The Logic of Gen Z To be clear, let’s define who belongs to Gen Z: usually, demographers and researchers define Gen Z as people who are born from the mid-90s onwards, but some define Gen Z as anyone who’s born after 1997 or after 2000. To be more specific, these youths grow up with the Internet. As long as he is exposed to the Internet the moment he learns how the world works, he can be defined as a Gen Z kia. And here are the repercussions for being an Internet kia: with their bond to the Internet, they see the world differently. There’s a wall of text in Wikipedia explaining their behaviour (don’t worry, all points come with reliable sources), but here’s a simple explanation for their “irrational” behaviour. You see, you and I grow up in a normal world, and the Internet is an extension of our world. To certain Gen Z youths, the Internet is their normal world, and the real world is an extension of their world. They use the Internet to gain skills and apply it to the real world instead of vice versa. So, if the Internet is full of weird antics, and even if the real world feels that it’s abnormal, they could think that the real world is abnormal instead, not the other way around. It’s a pretty scary thought, yes, but of course not everyone does that. It’s just that select group of people who does this. There’s a lot of other research on this (e.g. they like speed, so fast and short videos are usually consumed by them) which you can read here. But here’s one takeaway: it’s all about the upbringing. Do it right and Gen Z kias can just be like us. Do it wrong and Gen Z kias are going to throw more things down HDB flats. So for parents out there: don’t rely on "Baby Sharks" to lull your kids to sleep. You’re essentially showing them that the real world is the Internet. Sing to them instead.

George Yang

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