Breathe
By Lillian Briseño
Incidentally, Opinión51 opened a new space for MorraZ, an editorial project that many young women have embraced with great willingness and talent as shown by their columns published on this platform.
As the name suggests, they are girls who belong to the Zeta generation, who today are between 12 and 25 years old, and who were born in the 21st century. They are currently in middle school, high school or college, and some of them are already working in the labor market.
Let us remember that, according to this demographic distribution, generation Zeta was presided over by generation Y or millenials, who are those born between 1980 and 2000. Before them there was the X generation, which runs from the 1960s to the 1980s, preceded by the famous baby boomers, marked by those born between the end of World War II and the 1960s, when there was indeed a boom in the world's demographic explosion. Many other divisions could be added before, after or in between, but roughly speaking these would be the most inclusive.
In the case of Mexico, according to INEGI, the 126 million Mexicans are more or less distributed as follows: Boomers represent 18% of the population and Generation X, another 18%. Millenials or generation Y represent 25%; generation Z, also 25%; and generation Alpha -born since 2010- 14%.
This distribution also corresponds to the fact that, as we know, in the last hundred years life expectancy in Mexico has increased at the same time that the birth rate has decreased, changing that almost perfect population pyramid that characterized us, for a figure that has widened in the lower middle part, above all, and increased among those over 55 years of age.
The point is that today, as possibly never before in the history of Mexico, we find ourselves in a context where several generations coexist with radical differences that not only characterize them, but also determine them. From the technological point of view, and to mention the most obvious, the Zeta and Alpha generations are digital natives, which means they are light years ahead of their predecessors, who were born when there was no Internet, for example.
The problem is not that so many different generations are living together for the first time, but that the interests and the way of seeing, understanding and representing what is happening in the world is totally different for each one of them. And this leads to a serious intergenerational communication problem. Those who preceded those born in the third millennium often do not understand the codes, expressions, signs and interests of the young and vice versa. As a result, there is not enough intergenerational dialogue.
I belong to the boomers of Opinion51 and, like those who belong to generations x, y, z and alpha, that perspective determines me. I recognize, however, that it is great fun to witness the change we are living through, although this does not detract one iota from the fact that it is a great challenge.
Subscribe to read the full column...
