Why Gen Z is More Cynical — The Dangers of Teaching Distrust to the Next Generation
00:00:00.000 | It actually turns out that younger generations are more cynical and less trusting than older generations.
00:00:05.920 | Among Gen Z, only 18% of people believe that most folks can be trusted, most of humanity can be trusted,
00:00:13.180 | for a couple of reasons that I'm speculating here.
00:00:15.480 | One, that they're the most online generation that we have, at least that are adults.
00:00:19.900 | And two, that we've taught them to be cynical.
00:00:23.200 | Older adults, parents for instance, think that their kids will thrive if they believe the world is dangerous and competitive.
00:00:30.320 | And so we instill those beliefs in our kids.
00:00:33.240 | We tell them all about terrible people they should avoid and make them feel as though strangers are dangerous
00:00:38.700 | and that they need us watching them all the time to avoid being kidnapped, for instance.
00:00:43.540 | And of course there are real dangers in the world.
00:00:46.040 | But when we emphasize them this much to our kids, to our students, to the younger people in our lives,
00:00:51.680 | we end up shrinking their worlds, which I don't think actually is very good for them at all.