Chosen Families

With adulting responsibilities at bay, Gen Z are confronted with the questions of who they are and what they want from life. Not everyone can write a novel. Therefore, they seek meaning and want to be a part of something with significance—they want a narrative, an identity, a storyline. Increasingly, they wish to form multiple communal bonds that are interest based, have shared beliefs or are hobby forums.

Whether it is finding a safe space to be transgender or volunteering time and effort for Covid relief. With hashtag activism and social networks, Gen Z are actively seeking spaces of belonging that are aligned with their identity formation. They are engaged, committed and loyal to these spaces as their very own—chosen ‘Families’.

Role Model Not Miley Cyrus, But Mom

Gen Z aren’t getting one-sided lectures at the dinner table or being pressured to follow stable career paths in medicine or engineering. Their parents value their children’s perspectives and life goals, even if they don’t make complete sense to them at first. They are raised by Gen X, a people that believe in free-range parenting and are more adaptable and understanding to changing ways (they are known to let minor issues go) unlike Baby Boomers (parents of Millennials) often accused of ‘helicopter parenting’— a style of parenting overly focused on the child.

When asked who they look to as their top role model in life, 54% of young urban Indians choose their parents – almost evenly split between Mom and Dad. Just 10% chose the next most popular role model, a celebrity or public figure.

Whilst young people in previous generations turned to friends for support, the survey by MTV Global Insights suggested that family outranked friends — 91% feel their parents have become more understanding than a few years ago. This shift in familial bonds with parents means open channels of communication—Gen Z are more likely to be grounded in reality and have a nuanced and precocious understanding of issues. This may not seem immediately important but will contribute in many ways in their online identity formation and rule much of their purchase decisions as they become proudly thrifty, heritage-savvy and stretch their dollar as far as possible.

Tinderization of Love and Marriage

While traditions like arranged marriages are rampant, ways of finding love and experiencing love are evolving. Today there are a bevy of app choices that allow a trial-and-error method or support in finding love, though the internet remains a gendered space with rural married women having least access to it. For lower income groups, some long standing dogmas around interfaith and inter-caste marriages are still prevalent, perhaps due to traditional patriarchal family structures. However, there is a rising demand from moonshine lovers to go against the grain giving rise to vigilante organisations like website Love Commandos who provide muscle support for those wanting to carry out inter-caste marriages against their family wishes.

Like Millennials, Gen Z is further postponing traditional milestones such as getting married and having children. According to the You-Gov CPR Mint Millennial survey, 57 % of Gen Z do not wish to marry or have children.

As such, there is a jump up in dating app usage in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, with nicher apps like Blued (for gay dating), Truly Madly (for ‘serious’ dating) popping up whilst popular apps like Tinder and Bumble are becoming commonplace and are using specific campaigns targeted to Gen Z with a more inclusive tone for their changing behaviours and values (see #Inourownway). Pioneers of online matrimonial platforms such as Shaadi.com in the country have also jumped on the bandwagon by reinventing themselves for modern love. Some typical tropes however, have merely moved online from offline— a new Tinder survey showed that 85% of women said education is the most important asset when looking for a man, and for men, it was the photo of the woman that mattered most.

Sex Matters

Section 377 turned a spotlight on LGBTQA+ communities. During pride month, brands in India (and globally) use targeted ads to exhibit inclusivity as growing business opportunity in encashment of ‘pink dollars’. To most Gen Z, this annual gimmick is not enough. ‘Civic brands’ (brands who believe in doing more as civic responsibility) especially those who call themselves ‘allies’ are now being demanded to be inclusive all year around, not just for a month.

In the mainstream arena, there is little acceptance of varied sexual orientations and identities. In terms of the growing consciousness around appropriate LGBTQI+ vocabulary, there is a superficial understanding—it expresses very differently in the West than in India. In most cases, regional dialects don’t even have the nomenclature to articulate evolving gender spectrums yet. Use of pronouns beyond ‘he’ and ‘she’ hasn’t manifested except in rare urban niches. Instagram’s new feature to add pronouns with one’s name suggests a global awareness and dialogue that is soon to catch up with at least a segment of Indian Gen Z.

With access to mobile phones and stigma around talking about a taboo subject such as sex, boys happen to know more about sex ed facts than girls but do not have a comprehensive knowledge on the same. Most of their knowledge comes from informal sources such as porn.

Gen Z who is curious about sex will turn to the internet and scramble for whatever resources available. Brands and publications that don’t shy away from these conversations will resonate with this tribe looking for answers. MTV Nishedh, launched a TV drama in 2020 which aimed to educate young Indian audiences about topics such as tuberculosis prevention, the benefits of different contraceptive methods, and the safety of medical abortion. Their consumer survey revealed that contraceptive usage doubled among those who were exposed to the MTV Nishedh campaign, knowledge about proper contraceptive use still remained flat, abortion safety education rose, while stigma dropped.

~

Work - Future uncertain, but mine