Is there anythings as irritating people who say, "everything will work out for the best" or "if you work hard enough, you're sure to succeed."? Both statements are false. For teens, it can be so hard to realize things aren't going to work out as planned; but that's life, things rarely go as smoothly as we'd like no matter how hard you try.

The more than 81 million who make up Generation Z are by far, the most tech-savvy generation - at least until we define their successors.

Cultural moments can define generations as young people champion causes that come to a head during their formative years. For Boomers, one such movement was the push toward civil rights and racial equality; for Millennials, it was LBGT rights, and for Gen Zs (who are currently aged 20 and younger), it may well be gender equality.

Just as marketers have mastered Millennials, along comes Gen Z. This cohort ranges up to age 20, a life stage when marketers dream of connecting before brand habits harden.

If you're launching a new product aimed at young consumers, "evolutionary" isn't good enough. Your new product has to be so groundbreaking, so shocking and so unexpected that it breaks the Internet. With today's teens and young adults more distracted than ever and likely to tune out paid ads, your product has to be something that they hear about repeatedly across earned media - something that their friends buzz about, and influencers make jokes and spread memes about.

We in the marketing world commonly refer to teens as "digital natives," the generation that has never known life without the internet. And I'm not talking access like we had in the early dot-com days, which, like running water, required you seek it out and perform some sort of action to turn it on. For Gen Z, it's more akin to the very air they breathe, available everywhere and essential to their functioning.