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homeowner

Gen Z Perceived As Hopeless When It Comes To Homeownership, But The Generation Is Not Giving Up 

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According to a new survey from Realtor.com®, while Gen Z is realistic about the multitude of challenges that stand in the way of them becoming homeowners, they’re not giving up. The survey was compiled utilizing information from 1,000 adults aged 18-27 who currently own, or hope to own, a home. 

Generation Z currently consists of those aged from 13 to 28, with the oldest of the group being a decade younger than the current average age for first-time homebuyers. 

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It found that 82% of the respondents believe it’s harder for their generation to buy a home compared to previous ones, with 16% saying housing affordability is the biggest concern. 

67% of respondents, about two-thirds, view homeownership as an important lifetime goal, while 69% believe that real estate is an opportunity to generate wealth. More than half of the respondents (51%) think homeownership is a major part of the modern American dream.

Even though half of the respondents stated that they feel ready to buy a home, only 36% believe they’re financially ready to do so. 

The survey asked the respondents about the top milestones they believe to be most important in adulthood. Advancing one’s own career ranked as the top milestone, with 49.5% responding accordingly. Right under that was buying a home, followed by getting married or having children. 

Career growth and homeownership being recorded as the top two milestones among this generation makes sense, as many of the respondents felt that in order to purchase a home, they need to feel stable and advanced in their career to feel secure enough to do so. 

82% of respondents said that a higher-paying job would make them more motivated to buy, with 80% stating they would want to buy if they could afford it in general. 

Getting more specific, the survey showed a minor gap in gender priorities with 52% of Gen Z women prioritizing their careers over other adult milestones, compared to 45% of Gen Z men. 

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23.7% of men ranked buying a home as their first goal compared to 19.4% of women. 

While affordability is a major concern, Gen Z is taking action to save for homeownership, with nearly 75% of respondents claiming to already be saving for a down payment. They estimate they’ll need an average of $54,500. 

The survey suggested that Gen Z who are hoping to become homeowners, or already are, are prioritizing steady, dependable strategies for saving. One-third of respondents have in the past, or currently are, working a second job to save up for their down payment. 

Around a quarter of respondents said that they have, or are willing to, move to a more affordable housing market to save up, and fewer have plans to borrow from family, invest, or rely on stock gains. 

When it comes to what Gen Z matters the most for buying a home, 33% prioritize affordability, 18.5% want to find a home that meets their space requirements, and 17.9% put an ideal location at the top of their list. 

44.5% said their ideal home is three bedrooms, and almost 90% said that they would prefer either 2, 3, or 4 bedrooms. 

The respondents also showed 43% of them wanting to wait to buy a forever home with 30% expecting to first get a starter home and then upgrade later on.

zyn

Zyn’s Popular Rewards Program Called Out For Promoting Nicotine Addiction From Public Health Advocates 

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Zyn is a brand known for their flavored nicotine pouches that are becoming very popular among younger people. Users of Zyn are now collecting their containers, which are equipped with QR codes that can be used to collect points. Each can is worth 15 points and consumers can earn up to 60 points per month. 

When these points are redeemed on Zyn’s website, users can unlock items such as Dyson Airwraps, KitchenAid mixers, Tory Burch tote bags, and even iPads, according to reports. 

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Tobacco-free nicotine pouches like Zyn have long been used to help cigarette smokers aged 21 and up quit. The pouches are placed between the gums and lips to release nicotine into the bloodstream. 

However, the rewards system and aesthetically pleasing packaging has made Zyn popular for non-smokers on social media, especially younger consumers. 

The company that owns Zyn, Philip Morris International, stated that they shipped 350 million cans of their pouches last year, which was a 62% increase in the US when compared to the sales in 2022, according to CNN. 

Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, stated:

“I’m delivering a warning to parents, because these nicotine pouches seem to lock their sights on young kids – teenagers, and even lower – and then use social media to hook ’em.”

Shumer has called on both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the health impact of Zyn and its seemingly intentional marketing towards younger individuals. 

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Dr. Robert K Jackler, a professor at Stanford Medicine and principal investigator at Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising, explained that while social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X don’t allow for paid promotion from the nicotine industry, there are ways to work around it. 

“We saw Juul use hashtag amplification tremendously, getting users to put up posts with #MothersDay or #Party, or whatever. Now, it’s ‘Zynfluencers,’ or those who unofficially rep the brand on social media. There’s free organic marketing,” Jackler said, according to the Guardian. 

According to Fortune Magazine, Philip Morris International stated that Zyn’s online marketing, and rewards program specifically, is specifically directed to legal nicotine users aged 21 and above. Their advertising application for Zyn is currently being reviewed by the FDA.

Tobacco and nicotine companies are legally allowed to have reward programs under federal law, as long as the rewards themselves aren’t more nicotine/tobacco products. Zyn has a multitude of products for their rewards such as Apple AirTags, Visa giftcards, Zippo lighters, Swiss army knives, and Yeti tumblers. 

“You see people showing their prizes alongside packs of Zyn or even just showing the stacks of empty Zyn packs that they are going to redeem. This is free advertising for the company,” said Lauren Czaplicki, an associate scientist at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

“It’s the gamification of nicotine use. The viral buzz and high value prizes really drive purchasing and consumption, which is worrying. Then you have the potential for people to get addicted to the product and to playing the rewards program game, and the two mutually reinforce each other,” Czaplicki added.

influencer

Experts Weigh In On Children’s Fixation With Anti-Aging And Skin Care 

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The children and young tweens of generation Z are becoming obsessed with their skin care routines, and anti-aging, despite being so young. Generation Alpha, which includes children as young as 10-years-old, are buying expensive skin care products that contain ingredients that could actually damage their skin in the future due to the fact that they simply don’t need anti-aging and other ingredients on their skin. 

The Guardian recently interviewed multiple experts on this concerning trend of children being obsessed with their self-image, specifically regarding their views on aging. 

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“We have seen an increase in teenage girls using skincare … prematurely using anti-ageing products and increasingly valuing beauty and looking young. Access to social media will be a big influence here. TikTok, in particular, has millions of videos dedicated to this topic and we are starting to see the younger generations of influencers coming through: it’s now the children of the Kardashian family sharing skincare routines online,” said Josie O’Brien, health and beauty consumer insights director at consumer analysts Kantar.

“Kantar data tells us that teens are specifically using social media for skincare and makeup recommendations. So they have access to that information, whether it is appropriate or not.

Another factor is the in-store experience. The ability to try samples, products that stand out on the shelf, and nice smells are big deciding factors for young people when choosing skincare. Brands such as Drunk Elephant and Sol de Janeiro are viral among this demographic at the minute, and if you look at the products you can see why they would appeal to younger people,” O’Brien explained. 

“Certain aspects of this are positive and other elements less so. The rise in people wearing sunscreen younger is positive and that awareness will hopefully bode well in adulthood,” said Dr Ross Perry, medical director of Cosmedics skin clinics.

“Why are young people more interested in anti-aging products? A big factor is social media. Everything is pointing towards looking as good as we can. There is that pressure now in marketing, and social media massively influences how we perceive ourselves. If people see perfect skin and perfect routines they are more likely to follow them,” said Dr. Perry.

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“Feminine identity is very much positioned in terms of appearance and looking a certain way and the beauty standards culture and societies put upon us. We know girls and women, as well as gender-diverse people, are particularly affected by this. Historically, there is pressure on women to look a certain way as they are objectified in culture. There is a lot of pressure to manipulate and modify their bodies,” said Phillippa Diedrichs, professor of psychology at the University of the West of England.

“As a result, we see a high rate of self-objectification among women and increasingly young girls. They have internalized this societal pressure and see their bodies as objects to be modified. They spend a lot of time focused on their appearance. That gets distilled down to girls being silly and vain or trivial, but there is a cultural pressure to do it, and they see people who conform to these standards. They are often held up as the most rewarded in society.

Cosmetic procedures are also more accessible financially and in terms of who offers them. For example, Botox is now advertised at the dentist,” Diedrichs stated. 

“Unlike smoking or drinking, skincare is seen as an innocent way of playing with being older. It is not as obvious as makeup. I think brands encourage it, and like the fact it has become a luxury accessory and there are a lot of myths being peddled. People are told they must do certain things to keep their skin healthy and that exposure is good for brands sometimes,” explained Dr Emma Wedgeworth of the British Cosmetic Dermatology Group.

“It’s reflective of our obsession with aging as a society. We are supposed to as a society evolve and become more enlightened but we are failing in terms of how we value older people and maturity.”

Etsy Buys Clothing App Depop In $1 Billion Deal 

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Popular online retail giant Etsy announced this week that they would be purchasing Depop, a British secondhand fashion resale app that works like eBay, but specifically for clothing; the app is mainly used by younger generations as a means of purchasing vintage clothing and custom made pieces. 

Josh Silverman, the chief executive of Etsy, which is based in Brooklyn, New York, said that he was already expecting the resale craze to peak as we enter this post-pandemic world. 

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“I expect this whole resale market to continue long after the pandemic, and I believe that Depop’s passionate community of fashion-conscious young people will be leading the way. The generation Z demographic is enormous, and is known as the trendsetter demographic.”

More than 90% of Depop’s 30 million users are under the age of 26, which makes them a part of generation Z, the smartphone conscious generation that utilizes technology to communicate, but also improve the world. 

Etsy revealed that Depop is the 10th most visited shopping site among generation Z consumers in the United States. Etsy itself was founded back in 2005 and has been attempting to expand its influence among younger generations. The average Etsy user is 39, as the app mainly focuses on crafts and handmade items as well as secondhand clothing. Etsy is known for helping small business owners create a larger customer base for themselves, as the site is so universally used around the world.  

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Simon Beckerman is the founder of Depop, and claims he originally made the app for fun back in 2011 while working at a fashion magazine. The app now has registered users in 150 countries and currently has 2 million active sellers; which sold about $650 million worth of secondhand clothing last year alone; Depop took a $70 million cut. 

“The idea for the app came from an early realization that there was going to be a new generation of people who were most acquainted with using mobile phones and there was no app designed for selling clothes.”

Beckerman, who was born in Milan, told Artefact magazine in 2015 that “the concept for the app was initially a shop for the magazine I worked for in Italy and we would sell everything featured in the magazine. When we started Depop, apps were [in their] very early stages and apart from the three or four main ones that everybody was starting to use heavily – such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter – it wasn’t very clear how we were going to use them fully. We didn’t realise how integrated with our lives they would be.”

Etsy claimed that they would be allowing Depop to continue to operate as is; a standalone business run in London. In general, the secondhand clothing market is valued at about $40 billion, so this acquisition was likely one of the biggest business decisions Etsy could’ve done coming out of this pandemic.

TikTok

TikTok’s Censorship Issues

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TikTok has fast become one of the quickest growing social networks. However, the Chinese platform has recently come under fire following leaked documents revealing censored videos. Sources claim that videos showing people with disabilities, homosexuals or overweight people were hidden from view in a move to “protect vulnerable users.” Thanks to a strange policy, moderators were encouraged to limit the reach of some users, placing them on a ‘special users’ list, with the concern that they would be more vulnerable to bullying and internet trolls.

Website netzpolitik.org obtained documents that highlighted TikTok’s guidelines and spoke with a reliable source. In the documents, ByteDance, the Beijing-based technology company who owns TikTok, details how to deal with bullying with dubious methods of controlling it. In their moderation rules is a section called “Imagery depicting a subject highly vulnerable to cyber bullying” and discusses users who are “susceptible to harassment or cyberbullying based on their physical or mental condition.”

TikTok moderators are encouraged to mark accounts of people who have disabilities as ‘Risk 4’, meaning the video will only be available in the country the user uploaded it, resulting in some accounts only having a reach of around 5.5 million people — depending on their country’s user numbers — rather than their global audience, which is nearer to one billion people.

There were further restrictions for accounts where the owners were deemed extremely vulnerable. If the videos exceeded 6,000 to 10,000 views they were automatically tagged as “Auto R,” meaning if they exceeded these numbers they would automatically be placed in the ‘not recommended’ category.

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This means the algorithms will not allow the video to appear in the For You Feed that is shown when you first open the app.

Although many users may not acknowledge their disability, TikTok’s guidelines state that moderators need to look for “autism,” “Down syndrome,” and “facial disfigurements.” If a moderator deems that someone in the video has these characteristics the video is restricted. Each moderator has around 30 seconds to make these decisions.

Many are asking how someone can acknowledge somebody has any of the disorders within such a short time and the moderators appear to be as confused as everyone else. It seems that even with worldwide debates looking at the visibility of disabled people in the media, while many are asking for a barrier-free internet and open visibility, TikTok is going out of its way to block such users.

AbilityWatch’s Constantin Grosch thinks the policy is “overriding and exclusionary,” saying:

“The regulation listed here transforms this behavior into new digital platforms in which the visibility of disabled people is deliberately reduced out of misunderstood and unnecessary care.”

A growing online bullying issue is ghosting — a practice of deliberately and suddenly stopping all communication with another to end a relationship with them — which makes the TikTok policy even more shocking. Rather than tackling online bullying, including ghosting and internet trolls, it appears TikTok would rather restrict the victims.

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One source familiar with the moderating rules reported that staff repeatedly pointed out the problems of this policy and asked for a more sensitive and meaningful one. In November, The Washington Post had already reported on clashes between America’s employees and the rule makers in China, with many U.S. employees unhappy they had to restrict further videos including heated debates, heavy kissing, and political discussions.

While TikTok states that the U.S. operation is not required to carry out censorship, employees have stated that the final decisions on videos being restricted are made in Beijing. The potential influence Beijing could have in America has seen the Committee on Foreign Investment investigate the deals that ByteDance has had, especially in relation to Musical.ly, with many legal experts asking U.S. officials to investigate “a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore.”

Vanessa Pappas, TikTok’s General Manager in America commented:

“TikTok has grown quickly, much like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat grew during their early years. And like those platforms, growth has posed challenges in terms of making sure our policies and practices keep up.”

One of the main concerns with TikTok is its lack of transparency on policies with no details being released about moderating decisions until recently. However, recent pressures have encouraged them to distance themselves from accusations that the app’s content is moderated by the Chinese government — something the Hong Kong protestors have claimed after some of their videos were censored.

ByteDance purchased Musical.ly in 2017 and promptly incorporated it into their own TikTok company, resulting in many young Americans uploading stunts, dances and stories in the millions, enabling TikTok to increase in value to around $75 billion, more than Snapchat and Uber combined. ByteDance is owned by one of China’s richest businessmen, Zhang Yimin.

There are now a reported one billion users worldwide meaning TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in history. But will their censorship issues be their downfall?

Baby Chicks

Indonesia Is Giving Kids Baby Chicks To Combat Internet Addiction

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As this decade comes to a close and we begin a new one, it’s safe to say a lot has changed within the past 10 years. What’s been the most significant and obvious transformation is how much technological advances have been made. We now have phones that we unlock using our faces or fingerprints, headsets that let us enter the world’s that video games create, cars that drive for us, and an endless stream of social media posts and notifications. While this new technology has advanced us as a society, it also has its major drawbacks, one of the biggest being how dependent we all are on it, especially the younger generation. 

Kids are becoming more addicted to social media and the internet every year, and a huge part of that has to do with how accessible personal internet devices have now become. More parents are allowing their children to own either a tablet, phone, laptop, etc. whatever is easiest and can work as the best distraction for them. While this practice may be quite common here in America, other parts of the world are putting great efforts into preventing their children from becoming overly dependent on these devices. 

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Specifically, a city in Indonesia is combating internet addiction in kids with trees, and chicks. Bandung, Indonesia has launched a new program in which students are given both a baby chicken and chili seeds in an attempt to get their eyes off the screen, and onto the process of growth in the natural world. Kids ranging from elementary school to junior high school are being given the responsibility of caring for their new “exotic” pets and plants to grow. According to CNN, The Bandung government backed the pilot program and has provided 2,000 chicks and 1,500 chili seeds to 12 schools in the Bandung districts (10 elementary schools and two junior high schools). 

As stated above this program is still in its “pilot” phase, meaning the results in regards to internet use is unconfirmed, however, educators have high hopes that growing trees and caring for young chicks will help motivate the kids to focus on what’s real. CNN reports that the Mayor of Bandung, Mayor Oded Danial, kicked off the program by holding a “symbolic hand-over ceremony” in which the chicks were handed off to the kids as their new caregivers. 

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This program is happening in Indonesia specifically due to increased smartphone addiction rate which is growing concerns amongst many parents in the country.  According to the Global Digital Report for 2019, South Asia has one of the highest online presence globally, and the average Indonesian internet user spends an average of nine hours a day online! For reference, that’s two hours more than the GLOBAL average. 

Several parents in Bandung appeared supportive of the program dubbed ‘chickenization.’”It’s good to increase the discipline of children. Caring for trees is better than playing with cell phones,” local parent Elis Puri said to CNN.

The children themselves are just as excited, local accounts for the program showed off several plans that all the kids had for the baby chicks. Some said they would like to begin breeding chickens in general to create a constant source of eggs and protein for his family, others had a little more morbid of a plan and want to raise the chick until they’re big enough to eat. At least they have a solid plan for raising the babies.  

Local government officials and school officials plan on monitoring the program for the next year. They plan on recording data on both how successful every child is at maintenance care for their pets and plants, as well as their average internet use in comparison to before the program was implemented into their lives.

Climate Change Protest

Young People Around The World Skip School in Climate Change Protests

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Usually when we think of students skipping school we imagine they are up to no good, as teenagers are prone to getting themselves into all sorts of trouble. However, a massive global protest today shows that young people are organized, concerned, and focused on perhaps the greatest responsibility of all, which is our species’ obligation to ensure a habitable global environment for generations to come. For these students, many of whom are followers of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, climate change is an issue requiring immediate action, as they recognize their generation is likely to experience the most devastating impacts of the phenomenon of anyone living today.

The protests began early in the morning on Friday, September 20th, when instead of heading to school students in several countries took to the streets, marching and carrying signs. In Australia, 100,000 students protested in Melbourne, in an event which organizers described as the largest climate action in the history of the country and which shut down public transportation organizers. In Sydney, demonstrators gathered in a popular public park called the Domain, and carried signs with phrases like “You shall not pollute the land in which you live,” “You’ll die of old age / I’ll die of climate change,” and “We can’t drink oil / We can’t breathe money.” Australia’s Prime Minister described these protests as just a distraction, adding that he felt students would learn more in school than they would protesting.

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In the Philippines, protesters blocked the entrance to a Shell Oil refinery, and in China, the world’s largest contributor to climate change, no protests occurred as they were not authorized by the government. Demonstrators protested in Kenya, Poland, and Berlin, where one protestor carried a sign reading “Make the World Greta Again,” a clear reference to Donald Trump’s infamous campaign slogan and the aforementioned world-famous climate activist. Several cities in Britain saw protests, with the largest being in London, where students justified their absence from school by arguing that soon there may be no school to go to due to the magnitude of the threat. 

Given the degree of anger and concern surrounding the topic, demonstrators are unlikely to be placated no matter what world leaders say

In New Delhi, a city well-known for having tremendous problems with air pollution, children gathered around a government building and chanted “I want to breathe clean.” And in Mumbai, the rain did not deter child protestors, who wore oversized coats while demonstrating.

Despite lacking the authority held by other generations, children have been proactive in advocating for serious action to be taken on climate change, and are often at the center of debates about how to handle the crisis, whether explicitly or implicitly. Having grown up using the internet as a primary platform of socialization, young people have a unique ability to quickly and effectively organize, with geographical barriers presenting only a minor hurdle in their efforts. And while children’s concerns are often dismissed or imagined as exaggerated or unrealistic, young peoples’ understanding of climate change and its impacts follows from the strong global scientific consensus that climate change is real, caused entirely by human activity, that we are already experiencing the effects of it, and that the impacts of climate change range from devastating to apocalyptic depending on what action we take in response to it.

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The protests are being held two days in advance of a meeting of world leaders at the U.N. called the Climate Action Summit during which world leaders are scheduled to present their plans for reducing carbon emissions and taking other actions on climate change. Given the degree of anger and concern surrounding the topic, demonstrators are unlikely to be placated no matter what these leaders say, though the historic protests being held today are sure to come up in conversation. 

While this is certainly not the first time young people have organized in protest for a political cause, the protests being held today around the world are unique in their scope and ambition. Climate change is a problem that affects all young people, irrespective of their country of origin or economic class, though it affects lower-class people, who did the least to contribute to the problem, more severely than upper-class people. As such, the primacy of climate change as a political concern unites an entire generation of young people, as evidenced by today’s historic number of protestors. Though the effects of today’s protests are as of yet unclear, as Generation Z grows up and climate change continues to destroy communities around the world, the political pressure to take drastic action is sure to ramp up.

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