Will the Gen Z Millennial Lifestyle Survive Disasters & Zombies? : 2 am Questions

It all began because last night a storm decided to appear out of nowhere in this peak summer. In the face of those strong winds, my lazy self was not ready to pause Netflix, get up, and shut the door to keep all that dust outside. Yet, the sudden shift in the city sky did its work and sent me down a 2 am random thought spiral. The theme:

“If god forbid, a disaster, war, zombie apocalypse, or worldwide calamity were to strike, will our generation survive?”

Now irrespective of all the zombie scenarios we (men) have imagined where we run down burning streets, tear up zombies, and save the day….. In a real crisis, our privileged generation may falter.

The Gen Z Millennial Lifestyle

If you get sad about not deciding which fast food chain you need to order today. If you find utter peace while watching random memes, and If you are friends with FOMO, then yes you are in the privilege pool.

Most of our lives revolve around reels, brands, shows, instant gratification, and a haunting failure to cope with adulting! We are habitual of giving world-changing opinions online but most of us avoid confrontation the moment things get real. So what will we do when tragic times may shatter this online world and our comforts are gone?

My first thought, while imagining (a zero-death scenario) of an earthquake was of panicking Gen Z and Millennial youths. Funnily enough in my made-up situation, all of us had one of the three moods:

1. Depressed over losing our known way of life on wifi, and online deliveries. (Instead of being alarmed by the calamity at hand)
2. Happy that there won’t be an office/class tomorrow.
3. Dead Inside. (A feeling that is visible on the face of an employee on Monday morning)

Now my education does not support any of these three reactions to a crisis. It instead suggests that one should be proactive in crisis and work to create stability for the community in the face of such disasters.

Yet, thanks to our current lifestyle, our dopamine system has been wired to favor instant gratification and our attention span is reduced to seconds. This means any type of unexpected hard work can bring out irritating reactions from most of us.

Imagine this, you have a routine and if anyone were to add an extra activity that may need you to travel a little more that day, you won’t be too thrilled. You would rather procrastinate that work, scroll Instagram while bundling up on a couch, and order something to wear or something to eat.

That begets a big question…. “Will we procrastinate our survival, or will the evolutionary instincts kick in?”. If you ask me, I wish to believe that yes, we can survive!

We may walk on roads glued to our screens, but we are the children of the information age and we won’t go down easy. I would want to pin my hopes on our ability to find the fastest fix to anything and everything. Moreover, with our ability to learn and adapt faster than all the previous generations, we might just sustain ourselves.

Still, it’s in our interest to develop better habits. We must solidify our bonds with mother nature, and not allow technology to control our lives. Most importantly, let’s eat right, sleep well, and stay physically fit.

The thoughts were golden, the intent was pure, the weather was pleasant and it was only 2 am. So, satisfied with my ideas of motivating our generation to a healthy lifestyle, I opened a packet of chips and continued my show on Netflix! (Cant leave an episode cliffhanger for a hypothetical disaster, duh)

Do share your view on my 2 am questions, in the comments.

Till next time…..