Hello everyone and welcome to our newsletter on all things Gen Z.

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As you know, Get to Know is not one to name drop, but if Wyclef Jean can reveal that he met Michael Jackson, then we can reveal that we met Wyclef Jean. And will.i.am. All at the same breakfast.

That is Davos for you - and on the Alpine slopes of the World Economic Forum this week the talk was dominated by generative artificial intelligence. It can touch every part of your work, from the mundane to the wild, but it is what it can do for the creative industries that got us thinking.

The next generation of music and video content will be enhanced in a million different ways, with cheap tools available to everyone. The evidence shows that Gen Z in particular are playing in this space every day.

Since the arrival of the smartphone the lines between “work” and “life” have blurred, and the companies that will retain the next generation of employees most readily will be those that are able to surf that zone, injecting creativity and AI hacks into work routines. Young people are doing it in their non-work life already.

According to the chats Get to Know had with Wyclef and will.i.am (we know, we know) they are both engaged and positive (will.i.am said that only those with the privilege of wealth lead with the negatives first, people with few resources wanted to get on with it).

YouTube used a number of events at Davos to showcase its AI principles as AI supported music and video starts to develop as a sector.

As a business focused on journalism, issues of misinformation, deep fakes and copyright and IP protection do need our attention, but seeing Wyclef generate music using algorithms that can learn (“these coders, they gotta be musicians”) was remarkable.

His point was that his young niece would be able to do things aged 10 from ideas no more formed than a hum. Such avenues were not open to Wyclef when he was young, a man so poor when he grew up in Haiti that he “ate dirt, literally”. Imagine - and this is when the name drop came in - if you could have created music from Michael Jackson’s informal tunes, singing and hands, tapping out rhythms on his thighs. Gen AI is now operating in these spaces, and democratising access to production resources.

Speaking of Davos…

Salesforce and YouGov polled more than 6,000 people in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Switzerland to find out what they think of the WEF. It turns out that 60% of Gen Zers are optimistic about the potential impact of the event, more than any other generation. As ever, the data proves that Gen Z are not as cynical and pessimistic as some reports suggest. And you can listen to some of that energy right here.

Betterment Burnout

Over the past couple of weeks you may have seen people sharing their list of “ins” and “outs” for 2024 on social media. We thought these broad trends on Gen Z and millennials from Bumble were worth looking at, particularly the “Betterment Burnout”, which is exactly what you’d expect: fatigue from constantly trying to improve. That doesn't mean young people don’t want to achieve anything, but the environment in which they work (and play) matters, as does the purpose behind goals.

The almond mom backlash

Have you heard of the term “almond mom”? If not, this piece in Air Mail is for you, which is all about mothers who exhibit unhealthy eating habits and pass them on to their children. The term originates from a clip of Yolanda Hadid (former model and mother to current supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid) advising her daughters to have a few almonds if they are hungry (rather than, say, a proper meal). The hashtag #almondmom now has more than 850M views on TikTok, so the experience clearly resonates with today’s Gen Z and millennials. Want a deeper dive? Check out the almond moms episode of No Worries If Not, a podcast by feminist cartoonist Lily O’Farrell, AKA @vulgadrawings on Instagram. 

Speaking of reassessing problematic content…

Meta is finally taking action to moderate harmful content on their platforms. This means that under-18s on Facebook and Instagram will no longer be able to see content about self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders, even if their friends share it. Will TikTok follow suit? 

And finally…

79%

…of college and graduate students don't use dating apps even once a month. We knew dating apps were on the decline with young people, and the stats prove it. 

How can we help?

In my many travels and conversations, I’m increasingly talking to CEOs, executives and civil society leaders wanting to better understand the next generation of consumers and the next generation of employees. Gen Z is putting pressure on us all to transform in fascinating ways, and many of us are asking questions about how to cater for younger workers and future proof our organisations.

If this sounds like you, we’d be keen to have a chat and see if TNM can help. From our own content production to work we have done, for example, with The Oliver Wyman Forum, we have a raft of insights and data which can support you. We work closely with a number of global organisations – helping with high-impact story-telling, digital media, internal communications, through to employee benefits, HR and working structures.

Email me direct and all of us at TNM look forward to speaking further.

Kamal Ahmed
Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder
The News Movement

Our Top 5 News List

The top stories young people cared about this week, from our audience team and newsroom debates.