IS GENERATION Z FAILING TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY?

Written by Michael Thervil

[Generation Z communication] - Is communication amongst Generation Z evolving or is Generation Z failing to meet the requirements of basic communication? That’s a debate many communication professionals are having at the moment.

It is a noted fact that Generations X’ers and Millennials are the last two generations that had the opportunity to emphasize the use of handwriting and cursive to communicate. But they are also the last two generations that experienced the transitioning of tools to communicate. Communication tools such as the typewriter and basic computing were two of the everyday tools these two generations had the experience of using. But if you take just a brief look at Generation Z and the emerging “Generation Alpha”, these two generations seem to have not only nearly foregone the use of handwriting and most certainly cursive handwriting, but they appear to be the first generations to solely be dependent on the use of a keyboard to communicate.

From smartphones, to tablets, to everyday simple computing, Generation Z and Generation Alpha seemed to have either forgotten how to effectively communicate in a written format or simply prefer not to. While many are calling this a trend, Sociologist are split between these highly likely outcomes, there is an emerging group of Sociologist that are taking the position that both Generation Z and Generation Alpha are doing nether of the two and what older generations of people before them are witnessing is the not the failure of Generation Z and Alpha to communication or adhere to standardized written formats of communication, but they are indeed evolving before the eyes of the world in terms of communication and how communication is delivered and received between humans.

Whereas with physical writing, where the pen meets the paper; there’s a certain kind of developed and systematic  building of networking  in the brain that is connected via synapse that allows older generations of people to communicate. Thus, older generations of people have the ability to communicate on a seemingly much deeper level  cognitively than the people who make up Generation Z and Generation Alpha. This is because of the perceptual priming and pruning that has occurred in the brains of the newer generations of people via the application of text messages, social media, and the like.

With that, for the emerging group of sociologists that see communication evolving with generations Z and Alpha, it’s a no-brainer that these two generations will communicate with a sense of efficacy which is perceived as lack of depth and insight by the generation before them. Where older generation utilize longer forms of sentences and paragraphs, with a heavy emphasis on grammatical structure, syntax, and grammar; Generations Z and Alpha utilize phrases, abbreviations, “text speak”,  “micro summaries” or “micro synopsis” when communicating not only with each other but to older generations. While some believe that these quick exchanges of communication can have profound effects on humans such as the inability to memorize, bad handwriting, and the development of advanced levels of comprehension, others believe that these occurring phenomena are nothing more than the by-product of advanced technology.

According to Sociologists that subscribe to this logic of communicative evolution, the evolution that is taking place is not the fault of Generations Z and Alpha. In fact, it's nobody's fault. The reason for this is because as technological advancements are made and discovered, it's inevitable that humans would adapt to these creations and discoveries. According to a study conducted by the University of Stavanger, roughly 40% of Generation Z has lost the ability to communicate via handwriting. This has prompted some to believe that handwriting could become a lost skill at some point.