According to a 2021 study, only 23% of Generation Z describe themselves as passionate sports fans, as opposed to 42% of millennials, 33% of Generation X and 31% of baby boomers.
Further, a sizable 27% of Gen Z describe themselves as “anti-sports,” compared with single-digit percentages from other generations saying the same. according to Dace Portas at USA Today.
Sure, you can find plenty of sports-obsessed Gen Zers all around, some people are as eager to passionately follow the same teams their parents grew up watching as they were. However, an increasing percentage view sports fandom as a pointless pastime.
“Part of the lack of Generation Z fandom is due to younger individuals having less intense feelings of group belonging in general,” said Emory professor Michael Lewis in his report on the topic.
Sports is just another cultural institution that Gen Z shows little interest in preserving. Alongside churchgoing, traditional office structures and other sorts of community association, Gen Z is far less involved civically than previous generations.
More than a quarter of those under 40 don’t even know a single one of their neighbors' names. But why are we so isolated? After all, it should be easier than ever for us to connect through our very digital lives.
Gen Z spends an average of 7.2 hours in front of screens – higher than the 6.3 average for Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980.
Unlike older generations, Gen Z’s social capital is primarily generated online rather than in person. Their networking is done via social media, and most of their communication with others is, too. Unique to their generation, platforms like TikTok have even replaced the personal relationships of platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with mindless scrolling through algorithm recommendations.
Despite being interconnected and the ability to be constantly plugged into one another's lives, Gen Z continues to be the loneliest generation. As the New York Post’s Rikki Schlott puts it, they have been conned into thinking we are connected when in reality we are the most distant generation there is.
These trends had begun long before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns crippled GenZ social lives, but these shutdowns accelerated and accentuated what was already happening.
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