Gen Z Is A Generation of Perma-Children Who Only Want Kids TV Programming

Gen Z is in a weird spot. As a baby on the cusp — December 1995 — I toe the line between Millennial cringe and Gen Z near-ritualistic commitment to perpetual childhood. If you loosely observe the demographic, which is currently between the ages of 13 and 28, you’ll notice that “never growing up,” seems to define the product marketing to it. The Labubus, Mr. Beast, an endless supply of franchises, Sonny Angels, “girl math” — we live in a deeply unintellectual time defined by a lack of discipline or integrity, where everyone has been trained to seek out constant dopamine hits at the expense of any moral rigor. 

TikTok Shop, Target hauls, 11 hours a day of screen time — this is what Gen Z has been gifted by their elder generations. So, it’s really no wonder that the generation that had to watch Millennials get baited by an endless stream of nostalgia from our childhood has just decided to never fully exit their own. It’s safer in a world where “childlike wonder” can serve as an escape from an existence not built for you or a future you can grow into.

This isn’t all just conjecture from someone ashamed by the cultural and intellectual regression we’re living through — at least in regards to the content we’re consuming, there’s real data to back this up. The latest Teens & Screens study from UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers surveyed 1,500 adolescents (ages 10 to 24) about their content preferences. It provided a lot of meaningful insight into what young people are watching — plenty of traditional film and TV, thank goodness, along with social media — but also what they want more and less of on-screen. 

One notable stat from the report: “A love for animation did not differ significantly across age — nor across race, geography, sexual orientation or gender. For adolescents aged 19-24, 47.8 percent preferred animated content.” Across the broader demo of adolescents, 48.5 percent prefer animated content to live-action content, while 51.5 percent prefer live action. 

And before fans of animation start sending me death threats — that’s actually not the stat that indicates to me that Gen Z is seeking out content that would extend their childhood in perpetuity. (Though, I will just point out that favorite animated shows and movies reported from the study include SpongeBob SquarePants, Family Guy, Naruto, and KPop Demon Hunters.)

It’s the following statistics about content preferences related to sex on screen that really reinforce the idea that the younger generation is shying away from mature topics:

• “60.9% want to see more romantic relationships that are ‘more about the friendship between the couple than sex.’”
• “48.4% feel that there’s ‘too much sex and sexual content in TV and movies.’”

A 19-year-old young woman surveyed for the study explained, “I just really dislike all the sex scenes in movies and TV shows, and I think they could do a lot better with that cause they’re really pointless.”

Again, her opinion is one data point in a much larger picture, but the survey shows that nearly half of the surveyed people for the study were in agreement. Plus, it’s a sentiment that’s often echoed online, when any hint at sex and sexuality is considered some sort of attack on the viewer. 

Not to be the “friend that’s too woke” for a moment, but this attitude — much like the Millennial obsession with nostalgia content — allows fascism to flourish. Being afraid of art that shows nudity, sex and horniness isn’t a stance against sexual abuse or exploitation. It’s a stance against artistic expression and against personal liberation. I sympathize with Gen Z, a generation that’s been endlessly warned about all the ways they can be taken advantage of, of the #MeToo monsters and the Epstein Islands, but are probably not getting very good sex education from their helicopter parents or muzzled educators. 

In the same way that the Millennial obsession with the ‘90s opened the door for Make America Great Again — when you’re constantly yearning for the past you may not be too particular about what makes a return — Gen Z’s stunted views on intimacy coincide with widespread conservative attitudes.

My suggestion? Every 18-year-old watches Eyes Wide Shut.