The biggest fear? Not to fulfill myself and not to experience what love is.

Values? Freedom and democracy, and be kind to myself and others.

What global issues do I care the most about? Poverty and inequality, freedom of speech, climate change, and above all, my own mental health.

I long to fulfill myself and find my love – that’s what I want to achieve in my life, and I’m scared that I might fail.

Although I share some of the values and fears, these are not my words. Or rather, these are the answers to my questions from 100 young people, aged 17 to 26, who live in three politically, socially, and culturally different parts of the world.

Gen Z: do you really know what they care about

For the last two years, I’ve been working with Gen Z journalists and their audiences worldwide. The more time I spend with them, the more I sense their frustration of being misrepresented in the media. Even the Gen Z content creators who aim to engage the same generation’s audience, feel perplexed at times, wondering why a certain type of content works well one day, and doesn’t capture attention on a different day.

What do we really understand about a so-called Generation Z, aka zoomers, which is formally categorised as everyone who was born between 1997 and 2012? What are their values, priorities, fears, and motivators? What do they care about? And what are their expectations for the content they devour daily on different platforms?

Why Holland, Russia and Uganda?

In the last couple of weeks, I did my own research, surveying around 100 zoomers from The Netherlands, Russia, and Uganda. They answered over 20 questions with multiple choice answers, focusing on values, priorities, fears, and their habits and behaviour in digital content consumption. They could also add their own responses, which they did, hence you’ll see some repetitions in certain parts of the questionnaire.

I chose these three countries to understand better how social, political and cultural differences influence zoomers’ values, fears, priorities etc.

Even considering the non-representative nature of the research, it confirms what I observe daily in my work with Gen Z content creators and their audiences. The place where you grow up does influence some of your core values, but it has less impact when it comes to digital habits and behaviour. However, one’s social and educational backgrounds have a greater impact on digital habits—and one’s sense of identity. 

That’s why it’s so important to differentiate who you are talking about when you refer to Gen Z (or any other generation for that matter): are these relatively well-educated, middle-class kids in the USA or Uganda? Or are these youths with basic school education, whose families live on $3 a day?

In Uganda, I’ve interviewed 49 people, but only 19 of them had smartphones and could fill in my questionnaire. (Again, one of the wrong assumptions we make is that almost everyone has access to a smartphone. In certain countries, this is still far from reality).

In a small town 500 km from Kampala, where I lived for over two months, working with Gen Z on their storytelling skills, most of the kids didn’t finish school, often because their parents couldn’t afford it.

Fear of not fulfilling yourself

 Now, let’s examine the greatest fears of 17-26-year-olds from the Netherlands. All participants are students at one of the top universities in the country, with 35% of respondents identifying as female and 65% as male.

Let’s compare these with the responses from students in Vladivostok and St. Petersburg (a departure from the usual Moscow-centric approach). In this group, 72% of the respondents identify as female, while 28% are male.

The number one fear of not fulfilling oneself is the same for Russian and Dutch students (as well as other Europeans studying in Amsterdam but hailing from various EU countries).

This was also my primary fear when I was that age (and still is, by the way). When I ask friends aged between 25 and 45, many of them choose the same answer. Interestingly, the older you become, the less prominent this fear becomes, regardless of whether you’ve realised your potential and fulfilled your life or not.

I have my own ideas about why this is the case, but I’m sure you have yours too, so I’ll leave it for another story.

What else are the twentysomethings afraid of? 

Fear number two for Russian students is war. Although I phrased it in the plural in my questionnaire, we can make an educated guess as to why Russian students ranked this fear so high. In contrast,

Amsterdam-based zoomers place it in 4th position, following the fears of never experiencing love and the fear of climate change.

The fear of not earning good money is the third most prevalent fear for Russian zoomers, with 50% of respondents selecting this option. In comparison, only 35% of Dutch students share the same concern.

Interestingly, among my respondents from Uganda, the fear of not earning enough money takes the top spot, chosen by 52% of participants, with 52% of respondents identifying as male and 47% as female.

No surprise at all. Uganda has the world’s youngest population with over 78 % of its population below the age of 30. With just under eight million youth aged 15-30, the country also has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Climate change, poverty, freedom of speech and mental health

Which global issues do they care the most about? The most common and quick response I receive from various newsrooms targeting Gen Z audiences is climate change and mental health. This holds true, particularly for Europe and the U.S. based zoomers. Dutch respondents, in particular, prioritise climate change, poverty and inequality, freedom of speech, and mental health.

What about Russians? Interestingly, they care about more or less the same issues as their Amsterdam-based peers but in a different order. Russians prioritise their mental health first, followed by freedom of speech, and then poverty/inequality and climate change.

In Uganda, you observe a similar pattern — they care about the same issues, but poverty and inequality rank as their number one concern.

Gen Z’s expectations from content: it has to be fun, yes, but what else?

Let’s delve into my respondents’ expectations from content and the platforms they prefer to use.

Firstly, a majority of respondents in the Netherlands and Uganda (95% of Dutch and 55% of Ugandans) pay for online content, primarily for music, films (including platforms like Netflix), and video games. In Russia, where online pirating is still prevalent, they have a different approach, with only 12% paying for online content.

Which type of content do they enjoy to consume the most? Very often I hear from news and current affairs journalists how difficult it is to sell hard news to twentysomethings, since they mostly watch entertaining (often the word is used as a synonym of empty/shallow) content.

However, based on my experience working with Gen Z audiences, I’ve found that they seek educational, solution-focused, inspirational, and thought-provoking elements even in fun content. This is confirmed by all of the respondents from three different countries.

Russians place even higher value on inspirational and educational elements, notably showing almost zero interest in celebrity-driven content. I suspect that the results might be slightly different if my respondents were from the same countries, but from different – less educated, less privileged – backgrounds.

For Ugandans, both educational and inspirational elements are equally important.

YouTube, Spotify, TikTok and Instagram

So, the next time you’re about to complain that those zoomers only care about fun or entertaining content, think twice before dismissing a “serious” topic as not clickable by that audience. You just need to tell your “serious” story in an engaging, solution-focused way.

And what are their favourite platforms? Typically, in many Europe/USA-centric research studies, YouTube is placed in the first position, followed by either TikTok or Instagram. However, there’s one platform that zoomers genuinely love and where they spend a considerable amount of time (and money), often overlooked in these discussions.

Amsterdam-based zoomers:

Russian students from Vladivostok and St Petersburg:

Ugandan’s preferences:

How zoomers handle mis/disinformation 

There’s a common misconception that Gen Z, being digital natives, is not susceptible to misinformation. However, this is not true; they are vulnerable. The good thing is that a significant majority of my respondents, including 55% of Dutch and Ugandan zoomers, and 58% of Russian, are aware of their susceptibility to fake news.

How do they handle it? The most common response is by verifying information. They achieve this by checking multiple sources and corroborating information with other reliable sources.

Anxiety around AI: zoomers are no different to boomers

What about AI? How do they feel about its rapid development? Interestingly, Amsterdam-based twentysomethings express more fear and anxiety about its rapid development than excitement. 

Meanwhile, Ugandans are equally divided between feeling scared and excited about the rapid development of AI. 

Russians, on the contrary, are more excited than scared about AI’s rapid development, although 20% of the respondents admit feeling anxious about it.

In that respect zoomers are no different to boomers. I’ve attended many AI-related discussions in different newsrooms and business offices where experienced journalists and managers try to conceal their confusion and lack of understanding regarding what AI will bring and how it will change their industry, and ultimately, all our lives.

It’s ok to admit we are all a bit confused, excited and scared at the same time. Remember, your Gen Z audience is in the same boat.

Don’t try to pretend you know something they don’t. They will appreciate your honesty and efforts to figure it out together.

Trust, identity and sense of agency

Trust in public institutions and people from their close social circle is another topic I always explore in my direct and indirect communication with twentysomethings. As well, as their agency to change things in their own (smaller) world vs changing things in the bigger world.

If you’d like to know more about that aspect of my ongoing research and observations based on my consultancy work with Gen Z content creators, feel free to reach out here or through my website https://lovinfilms.com/

How do zoomers approach identity

One more thought I’d like to leave you with: what identifies you the most? Your gender, nationality, ethnicity, profession, passion, or millions of other things? Take a moment to think.

Now, remember what identified you the most when you were in your twenties? Was it the same thing, or your perception of your identity has gradually (or radically) changed throughout the years?

Let me share with you the answers of my respondents from the Netherlands –

Russia –

and Uganda –

Dutch and Russian zoomers identify themselves most strongly through their passion, while Ugandans lean towards nationality and gender.

Whichever approach to identity resonates more with you, don’t forget that your audience, influenced by where and how (social and educational background) they live, and often irrespective of their age, may think and feel differently.

Make an effort to understand your audience’s sense of identity, their values, fears, priorities, and aspirations. This knowledge will set you apart from other content creators in your market and help you add value to your audience.