Hopescrolling: Is Gen Z actually optimistic?

Cynical. Overstressed. Irony poisoned. The generational outlook for Gen Z is feeling bleak these days, and the marketers and strategists of the world are buried under piles of data about it all. But what if there’s a different way to think about hope? 

Perspectives on Positivity

“It could be worse.” 

“Look on the bright side.” 

“There’s always something to smile about.” 

If you’re under the age of 50, those words probably made you cringe. That’s because we know it’s easy to vouch for optimism and “just doing it,” but it’s much harder to follow through these days.

Baby boomers—who are more likely to enjoy and share these statements—experienced a time when “the United States enjoyed considerable wealth and economic security” (though of course, these opportunities were less feasible for those who were not straight, cisgender white men).

Even as we make progress, we’re watching Millennials and Gen X struggle to reach these milestones. The same optimism that Boomers had simply does not apply here. In fact, it ends up sounding absurd and toxic.

I grew up in a totally different world. If marketers continue to measure my generation by Millennial standards, it will only confuse everyone. So instead, let’s redefine our understanding and let Gen Z people (like yours truly) lead Gen Z analysis for once. 

A New Hope

Dabloons

Dabloons—a misspelling of doubloon, the gold coin often associated with pirates and loot—originated in 2021 on the Instagram page @catz.jpeg. This image kickstarted a loose role-playing game that took place all across TikTok, using the algorithm to its advantage. It went like this:

1. You would randomly encounter a video that usually greeted you as a “traveler” and grants you a certain amount of dabloons. By seeing a dabloon, you earn a dabloon.
2. Then, you’d run into shop owners (using the cat image) who offer inventory for sale. You could also encounter thieves who steal dabloons, mafia bosses and pirates.
3. There was no way to track how many dabloons one has, besides making your own spreadsheet or notes. It was based purely on the honor system.

As happens often, dabloons suffered from an inflation problem and things got far too real. But for a brief moment, Gen Z (and some of Gen Alpha) invented a new way to bring childhood play into digital spaces after being forced there by the pandemic. It wasn’t branded. It wasn’t being pushed on them by advertisements or adults. It was pure, unfiltered imagination—a small moment of classic sandbox creativity. That’s what hope can look like: finding familiar ways to play in unfamiliar territories.

The Indomitable Human Spirit

When TikTok introduced “slides,” allowing users to post pictures, people immediately used it to propel a new meme. This meme uses the specific words “the indomitable human spirit” versus “the cruel indifference of the universe” in videos, with the human spirit being clearly triumphant. 

These slideshows came at a time when teenagers flocked to social media to express their nihilism during a pandemic, economic crash and natural disasters. That depressing meme content gets picked up very often by algorithms, so it was fascinating to watch the same exact format be used to propel this more hopeful content instead. For a time, it was a deeply genuine needle in the haystack of content.

Its language is oddly philosophical, but it was still adopted by thousands of young adults and teens. It’s a nice reminder that social media platforms don’t need to be so dismal, and positive content can also be entertaining and informative. Teenagers found a way to spread hope in the same way we spread despair. Personally, that’s the most promising thing I’ve heard in the last decade.

Affirmations

As a natural outcome of the Millennial obsession with identity, as seen in Buzzfeed articles and “only ’90s kids remember” statements, Gen Z took “affirmations” to their absurd extreme. These Instagram accounts gained traction in 2021, and walk the line between irony and earnest optimism (plus an overload of emojis, colors and sparkles). 

These don’t use therapy speak or vague statements like “anything can happen,” which started out great but now feel like an omen. These affirmations say: “we know some insane things are happening to us, but we also know we’ll be alright, despite it all.”

In some ways, accounts like @afffirmations are simply making fun of vague affirmation statements. That’s understandable—in the wake of a global pandemic and recession, anything positive can feel insincere. It would be easy to leave it at that. But these accounts showcase the unique self-awareness that defines the Gen Z concept of hope.

The Lisa Frank-esque art style and hyper-specific design language all point to childhood, when we were free to be happy with no pressure to be edgy and cynical. Not only that, but it follows Gen Z‘s belief in raw authenticity:  “Nobody is trying to ‘out pretty’ each other… Nobody is trying to be this perfect person, because we are all just being ourselves.” 

These affirmations went wild on college campuses, reaching older Zoomers who were hit with COVID right in the middle of this huge life transition. As Annie Rauwerda put it, “Younger generations drench language in phrases related to self-care, and half-serious affirmations are a play on the mental health movement.” These pages are similar to college Facebook meme groups (started by Millennials) but with that special brand of self-awareness. It’s no wonder these memes hit home. 

How to be Hopeful

What can we learn from Gen Z when it comes to positivity, and how does that apply to our fellow purpose-driven organizations?

1. You can’t ignore the rest of the world. Platitudes like “You’ve got this” can feel completely out of touch. To say something authentically hopeful, you need context. It’s okay to get specific or reference current events if you can offer a glimmer of hope with it.
2. You don’t need to be serious 24/7. The world is already serious enough for Gen Z. Silliness adds levity when sharing tips for things like mental health. It’s a hard balance to find, but when done right, it can make your organization sound more down-to-earth and human. (See: hot girl walks and scary hour). 
3. Let them have their own fun. Hopping on trends gets engagement, but it can also ruin the joke. Sometimes it’s better to wink and nod, instead of join a user trend as a brand. For example: McDonald’s let people run wild with the Grimace shake trend, with only subtle hints to acknowledge it.
4. There are doom spirals and hope spirals. There’s an enormous issue with algorithmic social media leading teenagers toward dangerous, dismal rabbit holes. But these trends show that we can actually lead people out of these holes using the same exact approach.

Gen Z has an incredible amount of hope. The difference from previous generations is that we have to hope. There is no other option. What else can we do with a future like this except believe, against all odds, that we will make it?

If your organization can find ways to encourage that hope, it may be more powerful than anything else you say to this generation.