Why Gen Z could be changed for the better after the COVID-19 pandemic

Generation Z has grown up in an age of comfort and prosperity. As children, we were awarded participation trophies for losing the soccer game. Today, we demand trigger warnings and safe spaces on our campuses, emotionally bubble wrapping ourselves lest we be triggered. 

Positioned to be history’s most educated generation and set to inherit a strong economy in 2019, our futures looked safe and predictable. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened — and the rug was pulled out from under us.  Today, Gen Z — those of us born between roughly 1997 and 2012 — is the most unemployed generation. In fact, 52 percent of 18-to-29-year-old young adults moved back in with their parents during the pandemic, breaking a record set during the Great Depression.