Gen Z Suffers From Extreme Lack Of Communication Skills

Gen Z suffers from an extreme lack of communication, and it negatively affects the way they function in daily life. The lack of communication skills makes it difficult to access things like money and human connection that are mandatory in our society to thrive. I believe basic communication needs to be taught and normalized within Gen Z, which includes people born from 1997-2012, and I am going to give you a few reasons as to why.  

The normalized lack of communication within Gen Z is costing them multiple necessities, but one of the main ones I would like to focus on is employment. Within the article, “Gen Z and millennial professionals are avoiding phone calls — and paying a price at work,” by  Katherin Li, the author states, “A new survey of 2,000 Gen Zers and millennials by the self-improvement app RiseGuide found that 42% don’t answer phone calls, while 58% script or rehearse conversations before making them. The consequences may extend beyond anxiety. Among respondents who avoid spoken conversations, 78% said the habit has cost them earnings or opportunities.” This means that Gen Z’s bad habit of not communicating is costing them jobs, which let me remind you is a necessity to live comfortably. However, I do believe anxiety surrounding phone calls and social interaction in general could be because of past scary or uncomfortable interactions. Many of my friends and others I know have felt forced to speak to people they do not want to speak to. Also in my personal experience, when I was younger I was very bothered anytime I had to do online interviews, mainly because it always felt like I wasn’t talking to anybody. This fear later ended up affecting me when I had a really good opportunity, but I had to do an online interview. I ended up fumbling the interview because of anxiety.

Personally as someone who is Gen-Z social interaction was always forced upon me, especially as a child. I believe this greatly benefited me and the way I interact with others around me. I did an interview with my mother Vanessa Lin Edwards, about why she thinks Gen-Z lacks communication, particularly with how the pandemic relates to the issue. She explained that “I think the pandemic made it worse than what it was gonna be, I think it was bad when kids were handed tablets. Because they were no longer forced to speak to other kids, and parents used them as baby sitters.” Honestly I could not agree more with this response, Mainly because I’ve seen and experienced it first hand. 

During the pandemic there was an increase in the amount of technology being used. Many kids were forced to have online school, digital games, and just overall digital interaction. This all seemed fine, however when it came time for me and my peers to go back to school after the pandemic, many people were socially distant. This was very striking for me because before the pandemic many kids seemed closer with each other. This has definitely continued into the future. However, now those kids are being socially awkward in the workplace. For example, many working teens don’t greet people while they’re working and they don’t make any kind of small talk which often makes people uncomfortable.

Just because lack of communication is negatively affecting Gen Z  doesn’t mean that it’s not becoming accepted and normalized. Pyou explains that while there is a social divide between Gen Z and their older peers, many workplaces are finding ways to accommodate Gen Z and even find Gen Z’s lack of communication beneficial in certain scenarios. For example, within Pyous’ article, they explain that work places are adjusting to Gen Z by offering things like remote workplaces  and different communication styles. Something else that is highlighted within this article is that less communication may be beneficial to time management and lessening social anxiety within workplaces. Gen Z’s lack of communication is also being recognized as a good way of setting boundaries.

Personally I still believe that Gen-z needs to normalize basic communication skills, because it’s something that’s necessary for them to thrive and live a comfortable life. However this issue is very complicated and nuanced.