Philip Bump
"Gen Z" is a placeholder name for an important generation. It's time we landed on a permanent one, and there's an obvious leading candidate: the lockdown generation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/15/mass-shootings-gen-z-lockdowns/
It’s time to formalize ‘Gen Z’ as the ‘lockdown generation’

The placeholder has served its purpose. It's time to make it official.

The Washington Post
Feb 16, 2023 at 3:59amWeb
Show threadPhilip BumpFeb 16, 2023
This generation has been defined by lockdowns. Generation names are descriptors — and what better captures what the cohort has endured?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/15/mass-shootings-gen-z-lockdowns/
It’s time to formalize ‘Gen Z’ as the ‘lockdown generation’

The placeholder has served its purpose. It's time to make it official.

The Washington Post
Show threadPatrick LaForgeFeb 16, 2023
@pbump Valiant effort but… Too depressing. Too political. And mostly: too late. Gen Z has already won out. It’s not like the other names really mean anything significant. Bland is better for wide adoption. Boomer superseded 60s/longhair/Vietnam era labels. Brokaw belatedly and single-handedly slew
WW2/depression labels with the Greatest Generation. And Gen X defeated “Slacker.” It’s the next gen, the toddlers of today, who lack a viable name. Get cracking!
Show threadGiovanni CampagnaFeb 16, 2023
@pbump I mean, people already call them Zoomers and i think that's a better moniker: keeps the Z but also the lockdown reference
Show threadsirgetagripFeb 16, 2023
@pbump the only problem with this is that the next generation after Z is ALSO the lockdown generation. all the kids born after 2012 have had MORE lockdowns as a percentage of their life, from covid to guns.
Show threadCraig DanzFeb 16, 2023
@oppositeofzero @pbump next generation - as he is defining it - is 11 and under today. Haven’t even hit their formative years yet. Zs bore the brunt.
Show threadsirgetagripFeb 16, 2023
@craigdanz @pbump yes, but their entire lives for some have been in lockdown. my nephew has a 5 and 6 year old, when they were in pre-school, if they had it, they were always in masks, many things were closed down for them.
and there is ZERO evidence gun lockdowns will ever stop. my son just had a lockdown for 30 minutes at his school because of a miscommunication (a county surveyor came on school property with bags, admin freaked out so buses were delayed)
Show threadLesley ShashatyFeb 16, 2023
@pbump Good luck trying to define this glorious generation from the outside. Their scepticism for anything suggested by previous generations is one of their defining characteristics.
Show threadSteve TorrenteFeb 16, 2023
@pbump Gen X - placeholders forever! Whoo!
Show threadCraig DanzFeb 16, 2023
@theLastTheorist @pbump nope. You were named after the X games. Why was everything described as “Xtreme” in 90’s?
Show threadJCBCFeb 17, 2023
@pbump I disagree. Gen Z is perfectly fine, just like Gen X, and much better than pegging them to all the bad years they’ve had to endure.