Vedant Kottapalle, Anastasia Coutinho and Kevin Lee

It seems, then, that Gen Z, often seen and believed to be inclusive and liberal, is also divided. And as the world heads into a time where extreme opinions are the only opinions that exists, the differences are showing up starkly. “For me, politics is a big part of who I am,” says 20-year-old Karina Choudhary “We can disagree about the kind of pasta we like but not about genocide.” Choudhary refers to the social media activism by her peers on the Israel-Gaza conflict. She says that the ones posting these stories would never actually bother to discuss the topic in person. “I think they jump on the posting bandwagon to make it seem as though they are progressive, to fit in,” says Choudhary. She grew up in a small town, Bilaspur, located in Chattisgarh. After getting on Twitter, she sensed a dearth of information. Around the same time, while discussing the demolition of the Babri Masjid, her friend’s boyfriend—a staunch BJP supporter—said to Choudhary that she “is the kind of girl who would throw false accusations of rape.” The consequence was a falling out with her best friend--who sided with the guy. Even after coming to Mumbai to study, she doesn’t find that her peers provide her with a safe place to discuss her bi-romantic and asexual identity.

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On the flip side, youngsters like Akshita Jain, 20, feel that a big deal shouldn’t be made about “non-woke” opinions. “I think that the GenZ don’t really know the gist of every topic. They just think it’s cool to have certain opinions,” says Jain. “For example, earlier, it wasn’t mandatory to put such importance on pronouns. It was more of a choice. Today, it’s a compulsion.” She believes one’s opinions are justified, just as long as you don’t impose them upon others. Her biggest grouse is that many members of Gen Z, especially the queer community, respond very negatively to even the slightest of criticism. 

Clinical psychologist Anastasia Coutinho says, “GenZ are the first fully digitally native population. This also makes them less tolerant of others’ views. So, ironically, they are less liberal about a lot of things compared to millennials or other people. They would also be less open to understanding and thinking about what is happening.” Kevin Lee, CEO of Yuvaa, a youth media, insights and impact organisation, wants to give credit to Gen Z and understand where they come from, “GenZ aren’t a different species. They are young and growing and their opinions are as varied as those of previous generations.” The difference, he says, is the increasing pressure to have an opinion on everything. However, Lee believes they bring something different to the table, which is their ability to follow up words with actions. He says, “Look at the changes made in companies—we have mental health leaves, menstrual leaves, etc, which could have been done years ago too. It has happened now only because of them. So, there is hope.”