• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 18, 2020

So much is being written about Gen Z that it is starting to rival the Millennials for the sheer hoopla surrounding it.

For instance, Privado has released a study exploring Gen Z’s privacy views (the millennials' too, for that matter).

It found that 84% would switch to a private search engine, but 46% use no form of privacy protection when surfing the web. 

What nobody bothered to ask is whether these young people think retail brands, attribution services, search engines and third-party data can gather personally identifiable information (PII) on them, and whether they are doing so. 

They also didn’t ask about Gen Z's views on the big inbox providers and their ability to scan messages. As we have reported, Verizon Media now has a tool that allows email senders to engage consumers when they are not engaged in the inbox. What about that, kids?

The latter is relevant because SendGrid had found in a study some time ago that half of Gen Zers had increased their use of email, and that 85% had used it in a given month. And email use can only have grown, given the fact that people are working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

New email services providers like Hey seem designed for members of the Men Z and millennial age groups. For $99, Hey will help users keep unwanted emails out of their inbox by default, so they don't have to individually block them. Brands that annoy them can find themselves permanently ousted.

Is Hey a threat to Gmail or Yahoo? It may take awhile. 

Meanwhile, give these youngsters a break. VaynerMedia has come out with a survey showing that Gen Z has been rattled by COVID-19, economic uncertainty, the need to parent their parents and other complications in their lives.    

"Gen-Z has grown up in a time of instability and uncertainty; many were born into a recession, they have grown up acutely aware of the threat of mass shootings and constant lock-down drills and they have witnessed significant political and societal turmoil,” states Wanda Pogue, chief strategy officer at VaynerMedia.

Pogue adds: "The global pandemic has turned their world upside down, with many missing out on coming-of-age moments -- proms, graduations, internships, or first jobs. By understanding how both this and the Black Lives Matter movement have shifted their views and focuses, we can understand how brands and marketers are better able to relate to them." 

They may end up being called the Greatest Generation.