성인기 탐색하기: 삶에 대한 Z세대의 관점

### 24세 Z세대의 성인기 탐색하기
* 🎓 24살이 된 지금, 대학 학위와 정규직, 건강 보험을 갖춘 성인이 된 제 여정을 되돌아보면 **압도적으로 힘들다**는 것을 알 수 있습니다.
* 💼 성인기의 복잡함은 세금이나 주택 구입과 같은 부담스러운 책임보다는 **병원에서 어떤 보험 카드를 제시할지 기억하는 것**과 같은 일상적인 업무에서 비롯되는 경우가 많습니다.
* 🧓 저는 젊음과 성숙함 사이에 끼어 있는 기분을 느끼며, 종종 **제 앞으로 온 메일을 받고 깜짝 놀라기도** 하고, 회사에서 제가 **팀 내 막내**라는 사실을 깨닫고 **나이 많은 동료들과 단절감**을 느낄 수 있습니다.
* 🎮 동료들은 가족의 중요한 순간을 공유하는 반면, 저는 **게임에 더 많은 시간을 할애**하며 주말에 게임을 하는 것을 경시하고 제 라이프스타일에 대한 진실을 숨기곤 합니다.
* 👶 공원에서 만난 13살짜리 아이처럼 어린 친구들이 제 어린 시절의 쇼를 알아보지 못해서 **제 나이보다 더 나이 든 것처럼 느껴질 때** 세대 차이가 확연히 드러납니다.
* 💰 대학 학위가 경제적 성공으로 이어질 것이라는 말을 들었지만, 젊은 친구들이 명성과 부를 쌓아가는 동안 저는 **빚과 환멸**을 느꼈습니다.
* 🌐 Z세대 성인으로서 저는 데이트와 인간관계가 복잡해지고, 상품화된 상호작용 속에서 **진정한 관계를 찾기가 더 어려워진 디지털 세상**을 헤쳐나가야 하는 독특한 도전에 직면해 있습니다.
* 🌟 궁극적으로 성인이 된다는 것은 벅차고 불투명하게 느껴지지만, 저는 우리 세대가 **더 나은 미래에 대한 희망**을 가지고 시대의 과제를 해결할 수 있는 독보적인 위치에 있다고 믿습니다.

Z세대 성인들은 젊음과 책임감 사이에서 갈등하며 복잡한 세상을 살아가면서도 자신들만의 도전에 대해 낙관적으로 생각합니다.

I recently turned 24, which means that I've been an adult for a few years now. I've got a college degree, a full-time job, my own health insurance, and even a 401k. The biggest thing I learned about being an adult is it's freaking hard, man. And it's not even the things that sound like complicated adult things either, like filing taxes or picking the right health insurance plan or even buying a house. I don't have enough money for that yet. It's more like remembering which card I'm supposed to give them when I go to the doctor to prove that I have health insurance. Being a jzy adult is an interesting experience because even though I'm an adult, I don't always feel like one. I'm so used to older generations referring to us as the new generation that when mail comes with my name on it, I still get surprised. It's like I'm somewhere in between being a dumb kid and Unk status, like when I'm at work where I have co-workers who have kids who are my age, and they're all like

oh, you remind me of my grandson, and I'm like, ha, thanks, wait, grandson. But then I come home and hop on Valorant, and there's 18-year-olds calling me Unk and telling me to go file my taxes. Like, I'm only 24. Half the time, I don't even know what I'm going to eat tonight, and I spent all my money on weapon skins. You know, I haven't eaten a vegetable in 3 weeks. Plus, it's July. I fought my taxes back in April. Now that I'm an adult and have a full-time adult job, one thing nobody really prepared me for is being in a mixed environment. You see, when you're in school, everybody's around the same age. So, when you're a freshman in college, seniors seem really mature, but they're really only a couple of years older than you. In real life, there's actual old people, and they've probably been working at your job since before you were born. My supervisor was telling me that this is his 25th year with the company, and

that's crazy because that means he started in my position before my parents even thought about having a kid. So, it took everything in my power when he told me that to not be like, Damn, I'm the youngest person on my team by several decades. And all of my co-workers are really nice, but the age gap kind of makes it hard to relate to them at times. Half the time, I don't even know what to talk to them about. So, uh, what was 9/11 like? It also doesn't help that we have very different lifestyles due to being in completely different stages in our lives. Like, when we meet on Monday mornings and everyone's like, What did you guys do this weekend? and people are like, Oh, my daughter had a soccer game this weekend. My son got his driver's license, so we went to look at cars. Me and my wife celebrated our 30-year anniversary and went to the beach. Oh my God, congratulations, that's amazing. I don't even like my wife. Then they turn to me and they're like,

What about you? What did you do this weekend? And I'm like, the same thing I do every weekend. I slept in until noon, and then I played Valorant for 6 hours. But I usually end up saying something like, Oh, you know, I just took it easy, spent time with the fam. Yeah, but I've been kind of spamming that one a lot lately, so either they think I'm lying or that I just really like hanging out with my family. On the other side of that, sometimes I have to confront the fact that I'm getting older and that people younger than me might not find me relatable either. I was walking my dog at the park one time, and this kid who was probably about 13 came up to me and started talking to me. And at some point, I mentioned I Carly, you know, the TV show that we all know and love. And this kid looked at me and was like, What's that? And for the first time in my life, I felt old. The kids don't know about I Carly, and I don't really

know how to feel about that. There's also the realization that there are people who are younger than you who are more successful, like professional athletes and entertainers making millions. You find out they were born in like 2003. And for me, it's not really about the money; it's more about the fact that I was told that if I went to college and got a degree, I'd be set up for financial success. But instead, all I got was debt, which is the opposite. It feels like as a society, we're finally arriving at the conclusion that college costs way too much money, but you still can't get a job without it. So even though an 18-year-old can't borrow $2,000 to buy a car, it's completely fine to take out 30k to major in art. I don't really envy people who are young and successful, though. I think that's a good thing. Besides, I don't even know what I would do with all of that money anyway. Most of mine goes to DoorDash. Another thing about being a Gen Z.

adult is that we get blamed for a lot of things, like even for stuff that's not even our fault. You hear it all the time when people are like, This new generation is what's ruining America, but like how? I've spent the majority of my life in school so far. You guys were the adults. It's like if I walked into your house and got a bit of dirt on the carpet, and you're like, Ah, you got dirt on my carpet. You're ruining my beautiful home. And it's like, Bro, look at this place. Yeah, I might have messed up a little, but it looked like this long before I got here. Like a man in 2004. I shouldn't have been wasting my time playing Sonic on my Game Boy. I should have been voting. Look, I've been old enough to vote for president one time, and I didn't exactly have the best options. And honestly, they're only getting worse. I'm not saying it's all the older generation's fault the world is the way it is. I'm

just saying it definitely wasn't me. I will admit though that Jin Z is responsible for changing a lot of things. The other day I was reading an article that said that because of gen Z the southern accent is dying which I thought was interesting because I'm from Georgia and I reckon I should be talking like this down over Yonder but really I'm from Atlanta and I grew up on the Internet so I just sound like this type [ __ ] but I honestly can't blame older generations for their lack of faith in us because when it comes to gen Z some of us are kind of dumb. Now that roughly half of the generation is of voting age we're starting to pay attention to Politics. The problem is a lot of people get their information from the wrong places. We all know that one person that gets all of their news from Twitter and Tik to conspiracy videos bro the weather has been crazy the past few days. It's been raining like every day. Yeah it's Bill Gates what. Oh you don't know Bill

Gates has a weather machine that he's using to control the climate so that all of the natural food dies, and we're forced to buy GMO food, and then they'll use it to control our minds and turn us into zombie slaves. Huh, you got a source on that? Yeah, bro, it's been all over my for you page. I can't believe you haven't seen it. Yeah, must have missed it. By the way, are you registered to vote by chance? Me? No way, bro. Those elections are rigged anyway. I saw it on Twitter. Okay, good. I mean, I was just curious, but as bad as we are, no one is more gullible online than the older generations. Sometimes I'll be at work, and they'll be looking at an AI-generated video of a dogfish, like, Oh my God, games, look what they're doing in Japan. Wow, that is insane. I wonder how they got the dog to do that with the fish. Guys, that's fake. It's AI-generated. I mean, are you sure? Like, it looks pretty real. I feel like it could be real. It's

not you know my brother actually said he saw something like this when he was in Korea, cap. Yeah, crazy stuff they got going on out there. Can you send me this? I need to email it to him. Speaking of things that are fake, let's talk about dating. A lot of young adults these days think romance is dead and uh, not quite. Like a lot of things, dating has been commodified by the internet, and instead of the old school meeting someone in your community, asking them out, and getting to know them over time, we have dating apps that skip all of those steps and sit you down with a complete stranger where you both pretend that this isn't awkward and hope that one of you isn't a murderer. I get the idea of dating apps, and I even know some people who are currently in happy, committed relationships with people they met on dating apps. I just don't think it's for me. I'm someone who requires the friends-to-lovers pipeline. However, I'm also a hypocrite because I say I'd like to meet someone in a more traditional

way but I also don't leave my house. Reading has also become really popular among Gen Z too, and I used to look down upon eating and thought it was really cringe, and I still do, but if you found the love of your life in a Discord server, that's wonderful, I guess. Dating as a young adult is really interesting because, despite having so many different ways to connect with one another, finding a genuine romantic connection with someone seems pretty hard. A lot of times, you feel more like an option than a partner to someone, and that's a pretty rough feeling. I think deep down we all want someone who chooses us, but at the same time, we're so afraid to be the one doing the choosing. To me, dating is like a banana split. Hear me out. Look at this. Who has actually ever eaten a banana split? Like, genuinely. Have you ever walked up to the counter and been like, Yeah, let me get the banana split. You're a liar. But you know that a banana split exists and that it's probably really

good, and you've heard from other people who've had one that it's awesome, and you should try it, but you can never find the right moment to have one. Three scoops of ice cream, bananas, and whipped cream is a lot to deal with, and honestly, I can't imagine a scenario where I can justify eating that much ice cream by myself. But maybe one day, when the time is right, you'll get to try a banana split, and I hope it's everything you ever dreamed of. Okay, bro, actually, what am I talking about right now? That might actually be the most burger-dating analogy I've ever said, like, out of my mouth, bro. Like, am I faded? One thing I will say, though, about being a ginny adult is that I genuinely think that no one else before us has had this kind of experience with adulthood. And I know that sounds like the typical ginzer thinking they're special, but if you really think about it, the world really is different. Growing up in the digital age alongside computers and video games and social media is a pretty unique

experience. You haven't been a Ging the adult if your parents haven't told you to go walk into a business and ask for a job just for them to tell you to apply online like everyone else or having to tweak your resume a million times to avoid getting filtered out by AI recruiting algorithms or opening Twitter and seeing someone getting cancelled for something they did when they were 12 or trying to stay up to date on global issues so that you don't seem like a bad person but you also want to take a break from your phone because you feel like a slave to it. I don't think the world was easier 20 years ago but I do think that things were a lot less complicated before the internet. Finding your way as an adult is like walking around your room in the dark. Everything is familiar but you don't really know where you're going. Your parents showed you how it's done but for you it just seems so different than before and on top of it all we're getting older all of us but no

one really talks about it. I think that sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the fact that every day feels the same, but when you look back, everything is different. When I was 18, I thought I had the world figured out, but now at 24, I feel dumber than ever. My mom keeps telling me to go to the doctor, but I'm honestly kind of scared because I'm not 17, and my body isn't made of rubber anymore. They say your brain becomes fully developed when you turn 25, but the world doesn't feel any clearer. When you wake up, go to work, come home, eat, and sleep every single day, you start to wonder what your purpose even is in life. I remember coming home after about 3 months of working my first full-time job out of college and just wondering, Am I really supposed to just do this for the next 40 years of my life? I spent my time in college pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, challenging myself, and growing as a person, and now my diploma

collects dust on the top shelf of my closet while I sign into a computer every day and talk to no one for 8 hours. But you know what? It'll probably be okay. I think that for Gen Z, we live in an unprecedented time with unexpected challenges and circumstances that quite literally nobody could have seen coming. But there are so many positives about living in the era we're in that I believe that in our hands, the world will become a better place. We might have been born too late to explore the world and born too early to explore the stars, but we were all born at the right time to watch Monkey D. Luffy become the pirate king. Could you imagine being 24 100 years ago? No Spotify, no Twitter, no YouTube while I eat. I wouldn't have lasted a day. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time just so I could go up to a Victorian child and put him on to some Playboy Cardi. People from 100 years ago will never know the pain of match

mping in your rank game just to lose because your teammates suck. The modern era comes with modern challenges, but I think that if anyone is equipped to handle the big questions in this life, like climate change or world hunger or when is she going to text me back, it's us. Jin Z. Thanks for watching the video. Also, follow me on Twitter. Peace. [Music]

Coping With Being A Gen-Z Adult

suburbanwill

24살이 되어 성인이 되면 올바른 건강보험증을 제시해야 하는 등 예상치 못한 어려움이 따릅니다.

학교에서 다양한 연령대의 직장 환경으로 전환하는 과정에서 수십 년 이상 나이가 많고 인생 경험이 크게 다른 동료들과 마주하게 되면 당황하게 됩니다.

나이 차이로 인해 동료들과 관계를 맺기가 어렵고, 어색한 대화와 청소년과 성인 사이에 갇혀 있는 듯한 느낌이 들기도 합니다.

Z세대 성인이 되기까지 겪는 어려움

화자의 주말 일상은 늦잠을 자고 비디오 게임을 하면서 젊은 세대와 공감하려고 노력하는 것으로 이루어져 있습니다.

젊은이들이 어린 시절의 쇼를 알아보지 못하고 자신들 이후에 태어난 사람들의 성공에 직면할 때 나이 든다는 느낌을 받습니다.

화자는 높은 대학 등록금과 성공에 대한 압박감에 시달리는 동시에 사회적 문제에 대해 부당하게 비난받는다고 느낍니다.

Z세대는 문화적 규범을 바꾸고 있으며, 이들의 영향으로 남부 억양이 사라지고 있습니다.

이 세대는 투표 연령에 도달하면서 정치에 대한 인식이 높아지고 있지만, 신뢰할 만한 정보를 찾는 데 어려움을 겪고 있습니다.

데이트 앱이 전통적인 만남의 방식을 대체하는 등 데이트도 인터넷으로 인해 변화하고 있습니다.

젊은 시절 데이트의 특별한 경험

젊은 성인의 데이트는 많은 사람들이 파트너가 아닌 선택 사항처럼 느껴질 만큼 어려운 일입니다.

연사는 바나나를 쪼개는 비유를 통해 진정한 로맨틱한 관계를 위한 적절한 순간을 찾는 것이 얼마나 어려운지 설명합니다.

디지털 시대에 성장한 이 세대는 성인이 되는 과정에서 독특한 경험을 하게 되면서 이전 세대와는 다른 어려움과 관점을 갖게 되었습니다.

디지털 시대 성인이 겪는 어려움

인공지능 알고리즘과 온라인 지원으로 인해 구직과 이력서 수정이 어려워지는 등 성인이 되어가는 과정은 쉽지 않습니다.

글로벌 이슈와 소셜 미디어의 영향에 대한 정보를 놓치지 않아야 한다는 압박감도 부담스러울 수 있습니다.

성장기의 익숙함에도 불구하고 성인으로의 전환은 복잡하고 불확실하게 느껴져 많은 사람들이 자신의 목적과 미래에 대해 의문을 품게 됩니다.

Z세대의 독특한 도전과 긍정적 측면

Z세대는 급변하는 세상에서 전례 없는 도전에 직면해 있지만, 이 시대를 살아가는 데 있어 긍정적인 측면도 많습니다.

이 세대는 100년 전에는 사용할 수 없었던 Spotify, Twitter, YouTube와 같은 현대적인 편의 서비스를 이용할 수 있습니다.

현대의 어려움에도 불구하고 Z세대는 기후 변화와 세계 기아 같은 주요 글로벌 이슈를 해결할 수 있는 역량을 갖춘 것으로 평가받고 있습니다.