Step aside, Millennials — it's the dawn of the Founders. While 18- to 34-year-olds in the United States already have a (maybe derogatory) term to identify themselves, the youngest generation in America hadn't yet found a firm moniker. Thankfully, MTV has stepped in.
The network has been studying kids born after December 2000 for several years, and in a survey of 1,000 youths in March, they decided to try to find a better fitting name than some of those that have already been proposed: Gen Z, iGen, Posts, Homeland Generation, ReGen, or Plurals. MTV arrived at some finalists of their own, including the Navigators, the Regenerators, and the Builders, but ultimately settled on the Founders as their preferred label.
"[The Founders are] slightly more risk-averse. They've grown up without a safety net," MTV's senior vice president of consumer insights and research, Jane Gould, said. Generational theorist Neil Howe added that, "You have a whole generation that is going to represent the extreme endpoint of where Millennials were going in many respects: risk-averse, team-oriented, well-behaved."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Research identifies the Founders group as being more pragmatic and independent than their Millennial counterparts, having grown up with realist Gen X parents rather than optimistic Baby Boomer mothers and fathers. MTV President Sean Atkins said the name specifically speaks to the fact that while the Millennials "disrupted," the younger generation has it on themselves to rebuild. What's more, they're diverse, they're comfortable standing out, and they've never known a world that wasn't digital. Not only that, but they're getting older — and will soon be the core target demographic of many companies, MTV included.
Learn more about the Founders below. Jeva Lange
-
Can US tourism survive Trump's policies?Today's Big Question The tourist economy is 'heading in the wrong direction'
-
September's books tell of friendship in middle age, teachers versus fascists, and Covid psychosisthe week recommends September books include Angela Flournoy's 'The Wilderness,' Randi Weingarten's 'Why Fascists Fear Teachers' and Patricia Lockwood's 'Will There Ever Be Another You'
-
'Total rat eradication in New York has been deemed impossible'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
