Is Social Media Destroying Gen Z’s Workplace Potential?
By Movieguide® Contributor
As Gen Zers start joining the workforce, many bosses are concerned about the impact a lifelong relationship with smartphones has on young employees’ creativity.
“There’s very widespread dissatisfaction and concern about young employees,” Jonathan Haidt, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business and author of “The Anxious Generation,” told Business Insider.
Haidt explained that hours of screen time have damaged Gen Zers’ ability to properly perform in the workplace, as smartphones have decreased their ability to focus or think creatively.
Like many others, Haidt pointed to TikTok as one of the major reasons for this decrease in young people’s attention spans.
“TikTok is severely damaging children in the Western world, whereas the version in China is very different and is much more pro-social and is not damaging their generation,” he said while attending the World Economic Forum.
The Mirror reported that when TikTok surveyed users, “over 50% of them confessed that when videos are longer than a minute, it stresses them out,” adding, “About a quarter of the app’s users are between the ages of 10 and 19.”
The outlet also cited a study conducted by psychologist Dr. Gloria Mark that found “the average attention span among Americans is currently only 47 seconds.”
“Those people [Gen Zers] are largely taking themselves out of the game,” Haidt said. “They’re much less likely to ever amount to anything. They’re less likely to develop social skills, less likely to marry.”
READ MORE: HOW TIKTOK HARMS KIDS ON AN ‘INDUSTRIAL SCALE’
Haidt added, “The decimation of human attention around the world might even be a bigger cost to humanity than the mental health and mental illness epidemic.”
He did provide some tips for employers who are looking to encourage their Gen Z workers, saying, “Talk to your new employees and listen to their concerns, and then make it clear that you want them to succeed and you’re going to help them succeed.”
Haidt also stressed the importance of explaining “anti-fragility” to young workers — “we grow from adversity and effort.”
This means giving employees direct feedback on a task, helping them grow and addressing any shortcomings.
EY’s global chair and CEO Janet Truncale agreed — “I see the same level of work output and ideas and innovation that are coming from that generation as mine. We’ve got to meet our employees where they are.”
“There’s just as much that we can be taking from the younger generations,” she concluded. “We shouldn’t be living a life of comparison.”
READ MORE: IS GEN Z ADDICTED TO SCREENS? THEY SEEM TO THINK SO
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