On today’s episode, Meagan O’Rourke joins Virginia and Germán. Reporting on Gen Z trends has become trendy. It’s an easy way to get a few views and likes. “Gen Z aren’t drinking alcohol,” “Gen Z are Nixonmaxxing,” “Gen Z are turning their backs on technology,” and many more. It’s tempting to believe this sort of reporting without much inquiry. It makes Gen Z seem interesting and helps explain apparent cultural differences between generations. But is this reporting based on reliable data? Some of these pieces surely are, but many are a product of taking a viral concept and assuming that it is a widespread phenomenon.
Why should we care? Because political decisions are being made in response to these supposed trends, and our political future is being set by misinformation.
Meagan O’Rourke is an associate editor at Reason and has been pointing out the discrepancy between trends and data for a long time. We’ll discuss particular claims, why they might be false, the reason why they are trending, and the consequences of not slowing the brakes in trend reporting.
The episode is embedded below. For your long-term convenience, subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Image by Alfredo Castilla, licenced via Creative Commons. Image cropped.
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