Gen Z are often reduced to clichés: glued to their phones, politically polarised, obsessed with aesthetics. That framing misses what’s actually happening. They are coming of age in a world that feels economically tighter, digitally louder and harder to step away from. This combination is fundamentally changing what growing up today looks like.
Presented at the MRS Generation A–Z Conference and grounded in our 2023 and 2025 Generations Study (2,000 UK respondents across four generations, alongside 25 “everyday expert interviews” and ongoing 12–18 research), this three-part series explores where that change is most visible: relationships, AI and aesthetics.
Adulthood is being redefined. The ‘fun years’ no longer sit neatly in your twenties and the markers that once signalled stability such as leaving home, building a career and feeling financially secure are arriving later. This is not a failure to launch, but a response that reflects higher housing costs, more precarious work and a thinner social safety net. The timeline has stretched.
For Gen Z, this extended transition has unfolded at the same time as rapid digitisation. Their entry into adulthood has happened through a screen - lockdown birthdays, online learning and social lives managed through apps. Social media became a central site of connection.
It is therefore unsurprising that our research showed that 71% of Gen Z believe social media has been positive for making new friends and that nearly half rank friendships above romance (a figure that drops steadily in older generations). The question is whether connection translates into closeness.
The data suggests not always. Over half of Gen Z also say they feel lonely and wish for stronger relationships. They are navigating an abundance of contact alongside a scarcity of closeness.
Part of the explanation isn’t digital at all. It’s structural. Entry-level wages have not kept pace with living costs, while the price of a night out has more than doubled over the past two decades. Informal time together, once routine and relatively affordable, now requires planning and money.
At the same time, many of the low-cost spaces that older generations relied on have disappeared. Youth clubs, neighbourhood networks and long-term workplaces once offered predictable points of contact. Since 2010, 68% of council-run youth centres in England and Wales have closed (UNISON). What remains is commercial - gyms, coffee chains, gaming platforms and branded venues replacing unstructured gathering places.
Yet Gen Z are not withdrawing from social life. They organise meet-ups through apps, build micro-communities around shared interests and experiment with digital detoxes. Platforms such as Timeleft and Bumble for Friends are growing because young adults are actively creating opportunities to meet. For this cohort, belonging isn’t inherited. It’s assembled.
And Gen Alpha?
They are forming within this environment. Early signs point to tighter parental and governmental controls, school-level phone restrictions and greater public awareness of digital risk to suggest a more guided digital childhood. Our expectation is that Alpha will grow up more regulated but equally immersed in technology - more practised at managing digital connection, though still operating within reduced informal physical space.
For brands, the implication is practical.. Connection is no longer ambient. Whilst previous generations moved through ready-made communities today it takes effort.
The opportunity is not to “join the conversation,” but to make connection easier. Support interest-led communities rather than broadcasting at a generation. Create spaces, physical or digital, where interaction feels natural. Reduce the effort required to meet. Don’t just appear in culture. Help it function.
In our companion pieces, we explore how adulthood is being reshaped through the paradox of connection, and whether Gen Z’s relationship with AI sits closer to utopia or dystopia.