From ​Pa-Woke​ to ​Woke​: Profiling the Filipino Gen Z

A paper submitted to the Department of Anthropology, University of the Philippines,

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

of Anthropology 225, Midyear Term 2019

under

Dr. Chester Cabalza

By

Patricia Miguela S. Alpay

Kaisa Aquino

Lea Marie Barcelona

Natalie Basquez

Jon Robin Bustamante

Julius John F. Borja

Diane Marie Carabeo

Ma. Alessandra P. Casiano

Fatima Sharleen Palad

Anna Patricia S. Ruiz

Portia R. Soriano

July 2019

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 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Meet the Filipino Generation Z (Gen Z-ers): the latest addition to the Philippine

workforce, and what now accounts for about 20% of the Philippines’ current population (Manila

Standard, 2019). They are also known as the ‘tech generation,’ or the ‘digital natives’ -- those

that have been born and reared towards the beginning of the 21st century where rapid

technological advancements took place. But, what else is there about this generation?

This study aims to fill the gap in the literature to better understand the Filipino

Generation Z and how their values, norms, and ideologies shape the country’s businesses,

political climate, and everyday conversations using survey method, and analyzed through

descriptive statistics.

Significance of the Study

Generational research is a valuable method of understanding people, according to the

socio-economic, political, technological, and cultural context in which they were born and came

of age. A lot has been written about the generation of millennials, but with Gen Z, very little

consensus and understanding have been made. What often comes about when academics look

at this generation are stereotypes, and as Jam Pascual presented in the article “We’re Still

Talking about Gen Z the Wrong Way” (2018), generalizations filled with discursive mistakes.

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This generation is often treated as if youth slang is an indecipherable code, and presenting

young people as mere consumers, instead of looking at the larger cultural and political picture.

This is the gap this study aims to fill. Rather than referring to this generation through the

stereotypes propagated by popular media and driven by their much older cohorts, this study

finds value in exploring the different aspects and nuances that come with defining Gen Z and

drawing valuable conclusions, that are not stereotypical but are sociological. This study is

significant in the way it attempts to regard generations not merely as a group or a club, not

united by specific social bonds, but as full of people in unique positions and contexts,

negotiating their reality in their own varied ways.

Statement of the Problem

The study aims to answer the following questions in order to provide a definition of what

Generation Z is. Beginning with presenting the profile of the respondents in terms of age,

gender, occupation of parents, family size, school or workplace, gadget ownership, social media

accounts, and online group membership. Then, the engagement of these respondents is

examined with regard to the hours spent online, nature and level of their participation or

engagement (e.g. school-related, personal, social, political; gamer, vlogger, blogger, passive

reader, icon reactor), nature of sites visited, online group membership and/or involvement (in

social media, cause-oriented or game-related groups), areas of interest, benefits gained,

problems encountered, and online impact (assessment of the impact of online participation to

others or the society and vice-versa). After presenting such information, the question of what

generation z characteristics can be inferred from their posts, shares, and comments should be

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answered. Lastly, the study will also look at how do the respondents identify with or differentiate

from the general defining characteristics of generation Z.

Research Objectives

The study should provide information on Generation Z, more specifically on Filipino

Generation Z. Upon its completion, the reader should be able to define who the Filipino

Generation Z is in terms of socio-demographic profile, lifestyle, relationships, career and

education, online use, and stand on current issues. The study also aims to contribute to the

growing literature on the subject such that the reader may add to the discussions related to it.

Lastly, the paper should have assisted the reader in gaining a deeper understanding of Filipino

Generation Z.

Scope and Limitation

This study looked into the responses of 344 Gen Z-ers residing in the Philippines

through an online survey method (Google Forms) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

Anthropology 225, Midyear 2019-2020. Due to the time constraints, the survey was open from

July 12, 2019 to July 16, 2019, using convenience and snowball sampling methods, only.

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 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Over the past several years, the Millennial Generation has had the spotlight in research,

articles, and conversations about what is to come for the Filipino workforce -- but following this

year’s graduation season, a new generation of the Filipino youth has entered the fray:

Generation Z.

It is projected that by 2020, Generation Z will make up for 24% of the global workforce.

However, entering the workforce has been a problem for many Gen Zs across the globe. In the

European Union, where the youngest generation comprises 19% of the population,

unemployment among the Generation Z is high; standing at 22. 8% in 2018. Similarly, the lack

of employment opportunities among the youngest generation is beginning to surface in the US

where employment among teenagers has declined from 65% in 1996 to 43% in 2016. There is a

myriad of reasons behind this downward trend in employment among teenagers and these

include a struggling economy and tough competition with older cohorts (Novkovska &

Serafimovic, 2018). In a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, the declining

employment rate cannot always be attributed to the lack of job opportunities but also because

teenagers are venturing into informal sectors of the economy and the so-called “gig economy.”

Teenagers are now shifting to establishing their own jobs rather than being an employee in a

traditional “teenagers’ job” such as flipping burgers and other low wage service. In fact, it was

found that 70%t of American teenagers are generating money from contemporary ways such as

teaching piano or through a Youtube channel (Johnson, 2015).

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 Chapter 2 looks into each of the factors that define Gen Z-ers as a collective and

displays them side-by-side what has been studied.

Socio-economic

From the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to the 2007 Global Financial Crisis, the 21st

century has proven to be economically tumultuous. The members of Generation Z were born

and raised in this kind of economic climate. Many of them witnessed and experienced the

ramifications of the widespread layoff implemented by many companies which rendered many

of their parents jobless. Some scholars even compare them to the Silent Generation, those who

lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War. However, unlike the Silent

Generation, the Gen Zers have reaped the benefits and disadvantages of a rapidly expanding

and evolving global economy. In the landmark study “A Generation Without Borders” by OC&C

Strategy Consultants (2019) covering nine countries, it was identified that Gen Z accounts for

more household spend in developing economies. According to this report, “Gen Z’s spend

over-indexes in technology (e.g. their mobile phones and media subscriptions) and clothing,

with Gen Z in China, Brazil and Turkey accounting for more household spend than their

Western peers” (7). At US$3.4 trillion, this group accounts for over 7% of total household spend,

even though the vast majority are teenagers or even younger. Their spending power presents

vast opportunities for businesses. In fact, over 35% of those involved in this study are reported

to be regularly saving for big purchases.

In developing countries, Gen Z is more likely to be in employment having left school at

an earlier age. While their spending habits are not as high as those in more developed

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economies, they are already contributing to household earning (OC&C Strategy Consultants,

2019). This nuance in the ways with which Gen Z participates in the economies of their society

is something that is not often regarded in studies that attempt to capture the generation’s

capacity to purchase.

To add to details often missed, China and their one-child policy launched in 1980

impacted the number of only children Gen Zers born. According to OC&C Strategy Consultants’

study, being only children, Gen Zers are more likely to receive generous financial support from

their parents than older generations (2019).

Another valuable insight brought to light by “A Generation Without Borders” (2019) is

Gen Z’s interest in conscious consumption. While this trend went mainstream with Millennials

first, Gen Z seemed to be continuing the trend. In particular, issues of social responsibility have

captured the attention of Gen Z.

For example, as revealed in this study by OC&C Strategy Consultants, national

differences that appear to directly reflect the political climate of the country affects the Gen Z’s

buying choices. In China, Gen Z is more concerned by human rights issues, while American

Gen Zers, regarded as the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in the US, are most

committed to solving diversity issues (2019).

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 Figure 1. Gen Z Priorities

As shown in the visual above, Gen Z is most concerned about environment-related

issues and social responsibilities, considering these two in choosing the brands they support

and advocate for. Their awareness on such issues is strengthened and can be rooted to their

active participation in various online platforms, which already serve as their source of

information, and often, shape their opinions and perspectives, too.

Cognizant of these realities and other longstanding economic problems that still mar

many modern-day societies such as rising unemployment and widening socioeconomic gaps,

Gen Zers have developed a certain degree of uncertainty and pessimism towards their financial

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and economic outlook. In turn, many members of this cohort have risk-averse and conservative

buying behavior (Petro, 2018). ​In contrast to their older peers, the “Millennials,” Gen Zs are not

known for their optimistic outlook on financial security. The booming global economy seems to

have done little in mitigating the underlying generational sense of anxiety, especially for those

who have college debt. In the US alone, the total college loan now stands at a record of USD1.5

trillion (Adam, 2019)​. Additionally, ​based on a survey conducted on American teens, nearly 10%

of respondents said that their biggest problem relates to the economy and debt (Novkovska &

Serafimovic, 2018).

Given the centrality of the internet and technology in Generation Z’s identity, it is only

important to look at how these factors affect their lives. Born at the time when the internet was

first commercialized, scholars described this generation as “digital natives” and “net generation.”

However, access and appreciation to the new technology are not homogenous for all members

of this cohort. While mobile phones, internet broadband services, and traditional computers are

almost ubiquitous among Americans who belong in households earning USD100,000 a year,

three-in-ten American with household income below USD30,000 a year do not own a

smartphone and four-in-ten lower-income Americans do not have home broadband services at

home. Furthermore, access to computers varies across income levels. Fully 96% of teens from

households with an annual income of USD75,000 or more per year say they have access to a

computer at home, but that share falls to 75% among those from households earning less than

USD30,000 a year (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). There is also a wide disparity across geographic

areas in terms of internet penetration. In Africa, only 39.8%of the population has access to the

internet; Asia scored higher with 51.9%; while North America has the highest internet

penetration rate with 89.4% (Internet Usage Statistics, 2019).

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 Moreover, access to the internet varies depending on the type of internet connection. In

the US, for example, while nine-in-ten Americans use the internet, only barely seven of them

have high-speed broadband service at home (Internet/Broadband Fact Sheet, 2019). Many

lower-income Americans in households earning less than USD30,000 a year are relying more

on smartphones to access the internet. According to Anderson and Kumar (2019), reliance on

smartphones also means that the less affluent are more likely to use them for tasks traditionally

reserved for larger screens. For example, lower-income smartphone owners were especially

likely to use their mobile device when seeking out and applying for jobs. This disparity in online

access is also apparent between school-age children who have access to high-speed internet at

home and those who don’t or what has been called the “homework gap.” In 2015, 35% of

lower-income households with school-age children did not have a broadband internet

connection at home (Anderson & Kumar, 2019). This means that 35% of students belonging in a

lower-income household find it more difficult to complete homeworks than their more affluent

peers.

Online/Internet

The gap in research that specifically deals with the Filipino Gen Z made it necessary to

look into western sources for background literature review on the rising generational cohort.

In terms of socio-political views, one study has found that American Gen Zs feel “more

stressed” about issues such as climate change, migration issues, gun control, mental health,

and sexual harassment. The same study reports that more than half (55%) of Gen Zs claim

social media use provides a feeling of support in light of such stresses. On the other hand,

almost half (45%) also believe social media makes them feel ‘judged’ and two-fifths (38%) report

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that they feel bad about themselves as a result of social media use. (American Psychological

Association, 2018)

Surveys by the Pew Research Center (2019) have determined that only 39% of Gen Zs

consider the fact that people are getting their news from social media is a bad thing for society,

compared to around half each for the older generations. This may prove worrisome, as a

separate study by Breakstone, McGrew, Ortega and Wineburg (2017) showed that 82% of

middle school students in the US failed to distinguish between an advertisement and an actual

news story, while three-fourths of high school students ‘missed the significance’ of the blue

checkmark showing an account has been verified by Facebook. In the same group, 30%

thought a fake news article posted on social media was more trustworthy than a verified news

story.

Gen Z has also distinguished itself on the social media platforms it favors compared to

Millennials. According to Young (2019), Gen Z prefers to use social media primarily for ‘funny

and entertaining content’ (51%) compared to Millennials (40%). The latter of the two prefers

using social media as a way to socialize and post status updates. Gen Zs are also more likely to

spend more time on social media but use much fewer platforms. The study finds that 84% of

global Gen Zs use YouTube, 80% for Facebook, 63​% ​for Instagram, 44% for Twitter, 35% for

Snapchat and 25% for Pinterest. It should be noted that this study excludes China where the

social video-sharing platform TikTok is based. The app boasts 500 million users globally, 60%

of which are between 16 to 24 years old. TikTok has also been touted by outlets like Forbes (El

Qudsi, 2019) and Nieman (Schmidt, 2019) as an emerging platform extremely popular with Gen

Z.

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 Social media plays an even more important role in the Philippines since the country has

been deemed the ‘social media capital’ of the world due to the sheer number of active users in

the country. (ABS-CBN News, 2019) According to a 2018 survey by Pulse Asia, nearly half of all

the respondents (47%) reported that they use the internet, and nearly all of them using their

mobile phones to access the internet (97%). When asked about the primary purpose of

accessing the internet, almost all (98%) answered that it is for the purpose of checking their

social media accounts. The 2018 figure of 47% is a significant increase from the 2017’s figure of

37% of Filipinos using or accessing the internet.

In terms of geopolitical and socio-economic divides, only Metro Manila has a majority of

its population using social media (65%), while only about a third (35%) use the internet in the

Visayas region. The majority of those from the well-off Class ABC (66%) report using or

accessing the internet, while only a third (32%) from the poorest Class E report the same.

The Miniwatts Marketing Group (2019) estimates there are 67,000,000 internet users in

the country as of March 2019. In comparison, there were only 2,000,000 estimated internet

users in the Philippines when record-keeping began in December 2000. This represents an

internet penetration growth of 3,250% between 2000 and 2019. The same research also finds

that the mobile internet penetration rate is growing at a rate of 1.5 times per year.

Data provided by the local telecommunications company Globe Telecom reported that

Filipinos spend an average of 3.2 hours on mobile, and 5.2 hours on a desktop or tablet device

daily.

Meanwhile, a comprehensive annual study on digital trends by the marketing platform

Hootsuite (2019) reports that there are 75 million Facebook users from the Philippines,

significantly larger than the total reported number of internet users by both Miniwatts and Pulse

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Asia. In comparison, there are only 11 million Instagram users, 5 million Twitter users and 3.7

million Snapchat users in the country. Although the Filipino userbase of Facebook reports an

even split in reported sexes (51%female, 49% male), the same even split surprisingly does not

exist in the other platforms. Filipino Instagram users are made up of 64% females, 36%males.

Twitter reports 63% female, 37​%​ male. Snapchat has 81% female, and only 19% male. It must

be noted that the majority of Filipino Facebook users are in the 18-24 age bracket (33%) and

the 25-34 age bracket (30%) and this signifies that millennials (along with the oldest Gen Z

members) make up the vast majority of Facebook’s Filipino userbase.

However, it must be taken into consideration that the report finds a significant drop in the

number of Facebook users in the 13-17 age bracket, comprising only 11% of the Filipino

userbase. Although no literature has specifically mentioned any causes for this drop-off, it could

be hypothesized that minors using Facebook are deliberately misreporting their ages to be

above 18 years old. The reason for this is that, as a safety precaution, Facebook limits the

features available for users under 18 years old, such as the ability to make public posts, receive

messages from anyone or be searchable within the site. (Facebook, n.d.) This potentially makes

gathering primary data on Gen Z users from the social media platforms themselves unreliable,

as an incentive exists for the younger members of the cohort to misreport their ages at great

benefit for little perceived consequence.

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Stand on Current Issues

Parker, Graf, and Igielnik (2019) claim that Generation Zs similarly compare with

Millennials now into their 20s and 30s in terms of possessing a liberal set of attitudes and

openness to social trends. However, this generation stands out in their views on race and

gender as well as the role of government in maintaining peace and order and in pursuing

development. For instance, 61% of the American Gen Zs who participated in their research view

the increasing number of women running for public office as a positive change in their society.

Likewise, some 46% of Gen Zers agree that people should be more careful about the language

they use so as not to offend people while 53% believe that people are easily offended by the

language used by other people. Gen Zers’ view about climate change and global warming as a

result of human activity is also shared by Millennials and those born under Generations X and

Y. data from their research point out that this generation is critically aware of what’s happening

around them whether in the national or global scale and they take a stance on issues

confronting society today.

Although the article of Salfino (2019) sought to look into the consumption patterns of the

Generation Zs like their attitudes as consumers and product preferences, it also equally gives

attention to the engagement of this generation on social and environmental issues. According

to her, not only do those consumers consider the values they uphold in patronizing products;

they even connect with other consumers for a social cause. She also mentioned that in a

surve​y by Greenmatch, a renewable energy consulting agency, 72% of Gen Z respondents

showed willingness to spend more money on goods and services produced in a sustainable

fashion and nearly half (49%) have stopped purchasing or boycotted a brand that reflect

images that are against their values. Likewise they are interested in quote a number of social

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and environmental issues as revealed by the results of a study conducted by The Monitor in

which concern for water quality tops the list for 91​% ​of Gen Z and 75​% ​of millennials. This is

followed by concerns with global warming and climate change (91​%​ versus 70​%​), loss of rural

farmland (91​%​ versus 64​%​), extinction of animals and/or plants (91​% ​versus 75​%​), and the

depletion of natural resources such as oil or minerals (82​% ​versus 71​%​). These results show

that this generation is out to make an impact and to live the principles they embrace.

Career and Education

Experts opined that Gen Zs will change the future of education. With their ability to

discover, to educate themselves and to process a lot of information in a short span of time,

educators will be challenged to revisit their styles, their methods, and their platforms. Upgraded

skills, relevant knowledge, and competencies are implicit commands of the 21st-century

classroom. The educational sector needs to comply with the demands for the next echelon of

learning innovation. (P. Fermin, personal conversation, July 2019)

The publication ​Getting to Know Gen Z – Exploring Middle and High Schoolers’

Expectations for Higher Education​ (2018) by Barnes and Noble College explored the attitudes,

preferences, and expectations of Gen Zs. Results showed that 89% of Gen Z students see the

value of a college education. They have strong beliefs, opinions, and preferences about how

they learn and what expect from their educational experiences. The study also implied that

universities and other learning centers are headed towards a ​more learner-centric environment

where students are protagonists of their own learning and of their own futures.​ Lastly, the

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research also pointed out that Gen Zs are more career-focused earlier on in their college years

and sees career preparation as one of the top factors in choosing a college.

Making a career choice is a defining phase in every young person's life. It involves a

complex interplay of many factors. Admittedly not an easy task, it involves a tedious and

painstaking decision-making process. This experience is universal and cuts across creeds,

colors, tongues.

A recent study shows that parents’ influence remains the most significant consideration

in making career decisions, followed by influence from peers, gender, print media, financial

reasons, interest and others (Kazi & Aklag, 2017).​ Other studies point to relevant influences.

Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, and Pastorelli (2001) found out that an individual’s

environment, talents, skills, and academic achievement exert an influence on career choices

made by young people. The educational level of parents, their professions and income are also

identified as very important factors (Hearn 1984, 1988).

Lifestyle

Given the lack of scholarly work about the Generation Z in the Philippines, much of the

existing literature covers lifestyles from the western perspective and this existing literature is of

limited scope as the majority of it talks about education, employment, and online use and

presence. However, it can be noted that much of the literature on the lifestyle of Generation Z is

anchored on its interaction with technology.

In everyday life, the routines and the manner of living that one does each day reflect the

lifestyle in which one was raised or developed. There is a plethora of cultures and plenty of

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ways of living life. For Generation Z, they are known as the “digital natives” (McKnight, 2018;

Granados, 2017), born into an era where smart electronic devices have been integrated into

almost every aspect of everyday life: using a smartphone to open a garage door or turning on

the lights in a house, having access to a doorbell that comes complete with a camera and calls

one’s phone when someone presses the button of the doorbell. For some of these people born

in this era, such notions of instant gratification are the norm and it is hard to imagine life without

it (Howard, 2018).

In relation to this, Yücebalkan and Aksu (2018) in “An Application on the Use of

Facebook by Generation Z in the Context of Social Network as a Means of Virtual

Communication” state that Generation Z’s are literally born in the digital era, as they are also

called as the ‘Internet generation’, the ‘iGen’, and the ‘digital generation’ among many other

names. They also add that this generation is more likely to feel lonely due to excessive

individualization. In the same study, it appears that this generation uses Facebook for various

reasons such as gaming, news information, etc., and is not limited to communication. However,

it was added that virtual voyeurism was rampant in the use of Facebook due to the “rapid

development of technology in social networks” (17, 2018).

It can be then said that social media has become ingrained in the everyday life of most

Generation Z while previous generations believe it is more of a perk than a necessity. However,

the consumption of media with Generation Z is not for entertainment purposes only, being digital

natives, this kind of consumption is a lifestyle, spending many hours of the day using

smartphones or computers or other devices to grasp the majority of content digitally, such as

news, research, social media, and etc. (Granados, 2017). Hence, their consumption habits are

far different from previous generations (even millennials), they prefer products over experience,

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likes to watch YouTube over regular television cable, would try out DIY tutorials first before

buying a product, and prefer popular products if they are to purchase something. Generation Z

is believed to be the future entrepreneurs in the workplace as well as the most tech-savvy of

past generations. Being the pluralist generation, the amount of consumption of media that they

consume each day also includes culture. Generation Z would like to fuse cultures, create

culture, change culture, and have the world consume it (Kleinschmit, 2019).

Generation Z, according to the Chu in “From A to Gen Z” published in April 2019, are

more consumers than Millennials. They shop at Amazon but are more likely to shop in physical

stores than Millennials. They travel more, anticipating marketing hype of a product, more likely

to shop at brand names or own luxury items, and more willing to buy a house than rent. Being

pluralist, they expect brands to be more inclusive and accessible to them. They are a more

global generation due to being able to access the world with just their smartphones, they enjoy

collaboration with people with the same skills or a different set of skills apart from their own, and

they expect user-friendly experience in every market they encounter. Despite the technological

advancements in which Generation Z was born into, it is that they only have an eight-second

attention span (Chu, 2019). However, the article fails to hone in on just Filipino Generation Z

and gives an overview of the western stereotypes (namely American) of Generation Z. Most

Generation Z Filipinos cannot afford brands such as Gucci, Hermes, Revolve, Supreme, etc.

Filipinos are still in a world where cash is still the norm, whereas the United States is able to buy

goods by just scanning their smartphone into the system.

On a different note, Anthony Turner in “Generation Z: Technology and Social Interest”

(2015) explores the different facets of the generation Z’s special relationship with technology

and its implications on their social interests. He dissects the various aspects of this generation’s

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social interaction and lifestyles but emphasizes more of this generation’s rampant use of

technological platforms such as smartphones, computers, the internet, etc. Turner finds that this

generation has formed an attachment with the internet as well as their smartphones. The

participants have mentioned that they would feel more upset if their parents opt to take away or

force to give up their phones and other gadgets, and they see this as some sort of punishment

more than not being able to receive their allowance money. These devices, as well as the

internet, create a computer-mediated form of communication which enabled the formation of

virtual spaces. Eventually, this created a virtual reality but there is still a need to define what this

kind of reality truly is (Runcan, 2015). People nowadays have the need to stay connected all

the time and checking on social media has always been part of routines. Given this social media

need, Runcan in “Facebookmania – the Psychical Addiction to Facebook and its Incidence on

the Z Generation” (2015), identifies a type of social media addiction, particularly on Facebook,

which they call “Facebookmania”. He claims that “Facebook has been transculturally viral, and

after over 10 years, one can truly identify and measure the degree of addiction among some of

its users” (130). The author conducted a study on the incidence of “Facebookmania” among

Generation Z and found that they rely on the platform mostly for communication purposes.

Given Runcan’s findings on how much the Gen Z kids rely on social media mostly for

communication purposes, it again coincides with Turner’s (2015) section in his article that there

is a decline in face-to-face communications and mentions that “the society views face-to-face

interaction as impractical” (Turner, 2015).

Amidst this inclination to grasp technology, there have been other traits that this

generation possesses. In a study entitled “How Generations Think: Research on Generation Z”

(2015) and conducted among Hungarian Gen Z’s, lifestyles were categorised according to the

following: the conscious group, the sensitive future planners, members of the me/celebrity

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group, the average group, and the members of the sensitive motivated group. Each of these

categories possesses a trait that best describes the Hungarian Gen Z. It was grouped according

to how they wish to live their lives given a certain speed (fast, slow, or average paced), what do

they think is valuable, and their social behaviors (Törőcsik, 2015). However given these initial

findings, the authors still recommend further research, as it only revealed some of the lifestyle

characteristics of Hungarian youth: “distinguishing carefree, ambitious, struggling, and longing

young people” (43).

One aspect that remains the same globally for certain is capturing the attention of

today’s youth. In the Philippines, one of the most devout Christian countries in the world, is

struggling to figure out how to keep their followers and gain new followers. Due to mainly the

influence of the media, Generation Z is more skeptical of organized religion and other spiritual

endeavors, however, they are more open and less judgemental on the content they have yet to

try. Youth groups in the Philippines capture the attention of their audience by telling stories that

relate to them or answering questions they have on life. Despite being modern people, they still

struggle with age-old questions on the meaning of life, what is their purpose, if there is more to

life than what meets the eye, if life is just about living and if there is no goal at the end of one’s

life, and other questions that pertain to meaning and fulfillment. The answers the Generation Z

wants for those questions are different from the previous generation since being digital natives

have greatly affected their personality, culture, and lifestyle in this day and age.

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Relationships

Generation Z is exposed to a world where social media is commonplace and they are

attributed with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), frequent blogging/vlogging, and having little

concern with privacy, as presented in “An Emerging Awareness of Generation Z Students for

Higher Education Professors” (2017) by Catherine Giunta. According to Turner (2015), the use

of social media allows Gen Z to meet new people, to find romantic partners, to keep up with

family and friends, and to gain online therapeutic support. While Gen Z feels the need to be

connected all the time, they view trust as the core of this interaction. This generates the value of

transparency that Gen Z find significant for they put emphasis on truthfulness and

trustworthiness (Giunta, 2017). As extended by the aforementioned study, Gen Z responds to

authorities not through commands and yells but by positive and relevant feedback that allows

for improvement and growth, thus in terms of work hierarchy, they are less likely to follow an

authoritarian. In terms of classroom set-up, they prefer to learn with their peers than from

authorities. In this manner, educational trends and practices focus on collaborative, blended and

situational learning styles where the teacher is the facilitator who assists and guide for the

students themselves to explore, interrogate and navigate around their learning experiences, as

discussed by Rika Swanzen in “​Facing the generation chasm: the parenting and teaching of

Generations Y and Z” (2018)​.

Debunking the labels of Generation Z as the “Selfie Generation” and “IGen”, Josh Miller

in “​10 Things to Know About Gen Z” ​(2018), claims that such are “misleading and

condescending” terms since his generation do crave for genuine human connections. As the

said generation is characterized as digital natives, they are accustomed to interacting and

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communicating using gadgets and devices. However, Miller’s article posits that even though

Gen Z have varying means to communicate via technological platforms they would rather resort

to a face-to-face interaction when the context requires serious and important discussions.

Moreover, they can shift from one mode to another depending on their interest in involvement.

Thus, when they see it fit, Gen Z “seeks authenticity and honesty” in their relationships that can

be best delivered in person (Miller, 2018).

A similar study extends the same observation from an Adlerian position in which social

interest is an inherent human aspect fundamental in individual development and the

advancement of evolution (Turner, 2015). Technology shape Gen Zers to be diverse as they are

exposed to a gamut of cultural perspectives. This allows them to be informed and open to

varying means of expression and ideas. For example in Turner’s study, he noted that the

LGBTQ community grows and thrives more as secrecy is less prominent compared to previous

generations. Relationships with fewer demarcations are accepted by the Generation Z that

marks them as the most open-minded and liberal who are less likely to hold on to conservative

views.

Desai and Lele, in “Correlating Internet, Social Networks and Workplace - a Case of

Generation Z Students” (2017), recount that Gen Z is “born to older mothers, live in smaller

families and have fewest siblings in any era”. As the cohorts live in a generation of low fertility

rates and smaller households, they are likely to have a limited number of social interactions

growing up.

In Swanzen’s study (2018) she re-evaluated Gen Z by the manner on how they are

influenced by the parenting styles of the Generation X and their involvement with the

community. The study draws comparisons between Generation Z and Generation X which are

22
their parents. Due to Generation X being more skeptical, they put more emphasis on protection

and they are very guarded and cautious in terms of raising their young ones. This is evident

when Gen X parents tend to keep a close eye with their Gen Z kids in such a way that they

prefer to focus on the quantity of time they spend with them by making sure they are safe and

well-behaved (Swanzen, 2018). This leads Gen Z to have lesser time to self-explore. Another

study mentions that Gen Z’s engagement with media can be affected by parents’ regulation on

how much time they spend using their devices at home (Turner, 2015). The study explained

how the youth who are exposed to limits have lesser time to engage with online.

As the studies above mentioned, Gen Z’s relationships with their family and friends

reveal social dynamics that are unique to this generation. As Gen Z can have access to any

information within a hand’s reach, they are perceived to work independently while preferring to

work collaboratively as well. Thus, Gen Z makes sense of their world through the people they

interact with online and offline. Their Gen X parents may influence their engagement through

the regulation of their usage of phones and devices either with restraints or without. However,

as noted by Swanzen’s study, Gen Z is more accustomed to learning with their friends and

peers than with older people. To address this characteristic, educational practices lean more

towards student-centered classrooms than the traditional classrooms that are teacher-centered.

Thus, in understanding Gen Zers involve trust to do things their own way. Strict structures do

not appeal to them as this subsumes their free will. At best, the free-spirited Gen Z lean towards

relationships that enable them to grow and flourish.

23
Theoretical Framework

The research uses Mannheim’s Sociology of Generations for its theoretical framework.

This framework involves two approaches -- ‘ positivist’ and ‘romantic historical’ approach.

(Mannheim, 1952) The former seeks to classify the problems of the research through a

quantitative approach through breaking down the specific objectives and transforming them into

survey questions with measurable results. The latter, on the other hand, expands beyond the

positivist approach through qualitative analysis.

A ‘generation’ is defined as a social unit that is “consciously developed into a basis for

the formation of concrete groups.” (Mannheim, 2009) Therefore, it is possible to distinguish one

generation apart from another because of their distinct characteristics, interests, and values.

However, unlike communities, generations don’t know one another and they may exist without

full knowledge of their other members but develop same characteristics as they do, (Mannheim,

2009) which makes studies about generations highly debatable and contested. This research

seeks to paint a clear profile of the Filipino Gen Z-er and what makes it stand apart the

generations before it, such as the Millennial Generation, Generation Y, and Generation X.

This is particularly significant because Mannheim stated (1952) that a current

sociological climate of a country is affected by the dominant generation. This year, as the Gen

Z-ers slowly integrated into the Philippine workforce, the dynamics in social relationships,

businesses, and political climate will most likely follow suit. This ‘conscious emergence’ is an

important part in the ‘cultural process’ (Mannheim, 2009) of the Philippine society.

24
Operational Framework

Figure 2. Operational Framework of the Study

Definition of Terms

Table 1. Conceptual and Operational Definition of Terms

Term Conceptual Operational

Millennial “A person​ born in the 1980s or 1990s, a member of Generation immediately

Generation Y” (Dictionary.com) before to Generation Z

Generation X “Generation born between around 1966 and 1980” Generation immediately
(Dictionary.com) prior to
Millennials/Generation Y

25
Generation Z “People born in the late 1990s and early 2000s” Generation born after the
(Dictionary.com) Millennials, born in the
digital era, digital natives

SOGIE Sexual orientation and gender identity and expression Sexual orientation, gender
identity, and expression
which the respondents
associate themselves with

Social Media “Websites and other online means of communication Social networking sites
that are used by large groups of people to share such as Facebook,
information and to develop social and professional Instagram, Twitter,
contacts” ​(Dictionary.com) TikTok, Youtube,
Snapchat, and Discord

Woke Slang, “actively aware of systemic injustices and Aware of social issues,
prejudices, especially those related to civil and human occasionally
rights” (Dictionary.com) comments/acts upon them

Pa-woke Slang, someone who acts or is seemingly woke Appears to be aware of

social issues or projects
an image of such but does
not give genuine concern

26
 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Research Design and Methods

The researchers employed a quantitative approach using a descriptive survey method to

determine respondent Gen Zs’ demographic profiles, lifestyle, self-perceptions, views on career

and education and levels of social awareness and position on some social issues. A survey

instrument was collaboratively developed by the group, pilot-tested through 75 respondents,

revised based on the results of the pilot-testing, and then finalized. The finalized version of the

survey instrument was shared using Google Forms.

A small online discussion group of 12 respondents was convened to verify the survey

results.

A marketing expert, Ms. Pauline Gatera Fermin, Managing Director of Acumen Brand

Strategy Consultants, was also interviewed by one of the members of this research team.

Statistical Treatment of Data

27
 For the section on Social Identity, Awareness and Advocacy, data requesting

respondents to select from a number of options similar to a Likert scale were run in SPSS, the

results of which were presented in tables, using frequency and percentage, as well as graphs.

For the qualitative item in which respondents were asked to provide three words that

best describe them as Gen Zers, data from the summary of responses provided by Google docs

was transported to a word file and then analyzed using the nvivo software to generate a word

cloud. Nvivo is a qualitative data analysis software.

As for the item which asked the respondents to rank six issues which necessitate an

urgency to be addressed by the government, rank-mean was used where the mean for each

rank was computed per item by multiplying the number of responses for a corresponding rank

per issue. The computed rank means were added to get the overall rank mean of an issue/ item.

The overall rank means were arranged with the lowest rank-mean occupying rank 1 and the

highest computed rank-mean occupying the last rank.

The sampling method used was purposive sampling and snowball sampling in which the

researchers first gave the link to their contacts, and their contacts gave to theirs.

28
 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the results of the surveys and interviews done will be discussed. The

chapter begins with the presentation and analysis of the digital footprint of Generation Z,

followed by its attitude towards current issues, career and education, its lifestyle, its

relationships, and lastly, its social identity, awareness, and participation.

Socio-Demographic Profile

29
 Figure 3. Age of the Respondents

Out of the 344 respondents, 135 (39%) are 18 years old. The ages 19 (22%) and 17

(15%) also comprise the majority of the respondents. Such turnout is only expected because

members of the Generation Z were born in 1996 onwards.

Figure 4. Gender of the Respondents

Majority or 60% of the respondents identify as female while 27% identify as male.

Meanwhile, nearly 10% identify with non-heteronormative orientations.

30
 Figure 5. Employment Status of the Respondents

Almost all of the respondents are students (93%). This result is not surprising given that

many of them are below 18 years old, the legal employable age. Notably, 5% of the

respondents are employed either as a regular or contractual employee. The remaining 2% is

either involved in freelance work or is unemployed.

31
 Figure 6. School Type of the Respondents

Majority of the respondents (70%) either study at a public high school or a state

university. While the rest are from private non-sectarian (16%) and private sectarian (9%)

educational institutions.

Figure 7. Highest Educational Attainment of the Respondents

Majority of the respondents (63%) are currently completing an undergraduate course.

Meanwhile, 12% of them are finishing Senior High School (SHS); while 6% have already

completed SHS but have not yet entered college. Furthermore, 5% have completed

32
middle-school but have not yet entered SHS. On the other hand, 8.7% of the respondents

already earned an undergraduate degree; while 2% have either obtained an advanced degree

or is currently finishing a postgraduate program.

Figure 8. Monthly Household Income of the Respondents

Many of the respondents (22%) are from the low-income class with monthly household

income of Php 7,890 – 15,780. Meanwhile, 19% of them belong in lower-middle-income

households; while 9% of them are part of the country’s middle-class. Only 3.7% of the

respondents belong in the high income strata. Notably, a significant portion of them (30%) is

either oblivious of their family income or have chosen not to disclose it.

33
 Figure 9. Number of Household Members of the Respondents

In terms of the respondents’ household size, many of them have either a five- (28%),

four- (22%) or six-member household (15%). The remaining said they have either a seven-

(8.7%) or three-member household (8.4%). Meanwhile, 7.3% of the respondents have a

household size of more than 10 people.

34
Current Issues

Figure 10. Respondents’ Online Position on Societal and Political Issues

Respondents express their position on societal and political issues in a variety of ways.

Most of them express their thoughts by writing posts or comments on their respective social

media accounts, publicly liking or sharing the posts of other people regarding issues, and

personally expressing their opinions to friends, colleagues, family or other social circles. While

two (2) respondents said that they do not express their opinion nor participate in online

discussions, the overall results reveal that most of them openly express and articulate their

positions on societal and political issues which affirms Buensalido’s (2017) claim that the Gen Z

has been identified as a generation that cares deeply about social issues. They are “woke” or

aware of social issues and they have the ability to identify problematic situations. The results

35
 also reflect Miller’s and that they are inspired to make a change in the world because they were

born at a time when terror has always been the norm.

Social Identity, Awareness, and Participation of Gen Zs

Figure 11. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Stand on Social Issues

Figure 11 presents the Gen Z-ers attitude of support on selected current issues. It is evident

that Gen Z-ers are not apathetic with national issues. Less than 10% of the respondents said that

they do not support any cause (strongly agree = 4% and agree 4%). Of the selected current

issues, Gen Z-ers strongly support campaigns against racism and ethnicity-based discrimination

(57%) and campaigns fighting climate change (56%) while almost half of the Gen Z respondents

(48%) strongly support campaigns eliminating sexism and gender-based discrimination. These

36
results affirm prevailing notions of Gen Z-ers as deeply concerned about social issues (Buensalido,

2017). It is worth noting that most Gen Z-ers do not support the current administration’s anti-illegal

drug campaign suggesting a heightened consciousness on the ills of violence being born at a time

when politics revolved around terrorism (Barenberg and Corzo, 2019). Moreover, the proportions

of those who expressed disagreement (19%) and strong disagreement (28%) to this campaign are

starkly larger compared with other campaigns for other current issues.

Figure 12. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Perception about themselves

The generation Z respondents of this research were in agreement in describing their

generation as creative, where the same percentage of Gen Z’s (45%) agreed and strongly agreed

to this statement. A similar pattern can be observed for the description that Gen Z-ers are anxious

about the future. There were 41% and 43% of Gen Z who respectively agreed and strongly agreed

37
to this description. Gen Z-ers also believed that they can become highly productive with apt

motivation (47% agree and 38% strongly agree). Moreover, they also converge in their opinion that

Gen Z-ers are vigilant online on issues affecting the country and the world (47% agree and 31%

disagree).

Two of the Gen Z descriptions communicated the ambivalent stance of the respondents.

Almost half (44%) of the survey respondents agreed that Gen Z-ers’ are entitled while three in 10

Gen Z’s (30%) responded neutrally to this description. Growing up as latch key kids also conveyed

the ambivalent position of the respondents with 43% neutral while a little over one third (36%)

agreed to this Gen Z description. Asfaha (2018) asserts that the biggest criticism of Generation Z

would be that they are an entitled group who believe that they deserve to have good things.

Whether this characteristic emerged as they believed they are primed up for great things or for

their desire to make an impact or to effect change is something that has to be examined more

closely.

The responses of Gen Z on the remaining descriptions are quite dispersed, which express

divergent positions on some Gen Z-ers’ characteristics. For the description, ​Gen Z-ers are

motivated to do well in school, ​the proportions are high for both agreed (42%) and neutral (31%),

but those who disagree and who strongly disagree have almost similar percentages of respondents

(12% and 15%, respectively). For the descriptions, ​Most Filipino Gen Z-ers show nationalistic

sentiments and support for human rights ​and ​Most Filipino Gen Z-ers are unmindful of digital ethics

when deciding what to post, share and comment, ​the modal response agrees with 46% for the

former description and 37% for the latter. However, those who responded neutral and who strongly

agree to these statements were around the same magnitudes too.

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 Figure 13 Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Online Participation

Online participation of Gen Z as depicted in Figure 13 is quite diverse when it comes to

social issues. They do various online engagements like sharing posts, commenting on posts,

expressing their agreement and disagreement through emoticons or emojis and sometimes they

just read about social issues that their friends share but do not comment nor use emoticons.

The levels of agreement for these online activities, however, are dispersed. For example, for the

online activity ‘​I share posts on issues of national or global concern with no additional captions

or descriptions’,​ 31% agreed with this statement but at the same time, 30% disagreed. Also,

there were 19% who communicated strong agreement to this kind of online participation but

another 15% said they disagree. This pattern is the same for all types of social issues-related

online participations except for the two items that connote negative online behavior. These are

the statements ‘​I engage in online debates when my views are challenged or questioned’​ and ‘​I

39
can be unruly online at times particularly when I feel strongly about an issue​’, which garnered

the highest proportions of strongly disagree and disagree, and relatively large percentages of

neutral responses. These results tend to show that majority of the respondents maintain their

composure even when they encounter agitating comments and would not engage in online

interactive activities that might compromise their image online.

Figure 14. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ stand on national government issues

Figure 14 shows the stand of Gen Z respondents on the recent national issues involving

the government. The leadership of the recently elected Mayors of the City of Manila and Pasig

City, Isko Moreno, and Vico Sotto, were positively perceived by the Gen Z-ers with almost half

(49%) and a little over one fourth (28%) saying they strongly agree with their leadership style.

The opposite, however, is true with issues connected to the Duterte administration. The

40
combined proportions of Gen Z respondents that negatively view the appointment of ex-military

men to government positions is half of the total respondents. Also equivalent to half of the total

respondents the government’s response to the Recto Bank incident, with slightly one third

(36%) expressing strong disagreement with this statement, while 14% in disagreement. The

proportions of respondents who were neutral about the last two issues involving the current

President are strikingly high at 40% and 43%. This may be interpreted as being indifferent to

issues that are directly under the government’s responsibility to be resolved.

Figure 15. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ ways to express their views

It can be gleaned from Figure 15 that Gen Z-ers use both online and offline ways to

express their views and opinions based on their multiple responses. For online, of respondents

(33%) publicly like or share posts of other people regarding issues, 21% express their views and

41
opinions by writing online posts or comments on social media, while 7​% upload photos, video,

artwork, and other materials as forms of expressions. It is noteworthy that Gen Z-ers’ still prefer

offline expression by personally expressing their opinions to friends, colleagues, family and

other social circles with 34% choosing this manner of expression. It can be construed that while

technology affords this generation with fast and easy communication platforms like social

media, Gen Z-ers seem to still prefer authentic communication especially with people they have

personal relationships with. This is particularly true with the Filipino Gen Z’s having been raised

in a culture where personal relationships matter whether online or offline.

Table 2. Respondents’ Ranking of Social Issues on the Urgency to be Addressed

Social Issues Rank- Mean Over all

Ranking

1.Widespread poverty in the country 2.34 1

2. Rising incidences of extra-judicial killings in the country 2.39 2

3. Continued presence of Chinese vessels on West Philippine Sea. 2.47 3

4. Crimes perpetuated through online platforms. 3.57 4

5. Cyberbullying 3.59 5

6. Rising number of HIV -positive cases in the Philippines 9.27 6

Table 1 shows how the respondents ranked the given issues as to the urgency to be

addressed by the government. Data reveal that respondents believe that widespread poverty in

the country needs to be addressed the soonest as it registers a rank- mean of 2.34. This tends

to show that though this lingering issue is not as explicitly taken up nor as highly visible in the

42
news feeds, respondent Gen Zs acknowledge that this problem needs urgent attention from the

government and must be addressed immediately. The ​rising incidences of extra-judicial killings

in the country l​ anded on the second spot with a rank mean of 2.39, closely followed by the

​ t rank 3 with a rank-mean

continued presence of Chinese vessels on the West Philippine Sea a

of 2.47. The two items which implicate the national government either for the perpetuation of

the issue or lackluster response to the issue may suggest that the respondent Gen Zs are

critical of the government’s action on matters involving respect for human rights and maintaining

our national patrimony. Meanwhile, issues closely associated with online navigation ranked

4​th​and 5​th​respectively, with Crimes perpetuated through online platforms registering a

rank-mean of 3.57 and 3.59 for cyberbullying. These results may likewise imply that the

respondent Gen Z-er are aware of the dangers of the online digital world and would want the

government to intervene on these issues. The rising number of HIV-positive cases in the

Philippines ranked 6​th​with a rank-mean of 9.27, which is quite far off from the rank-means of the

preceding issues. This may suggest that the respondent Gen Z-ers do not yet consider this

issue as needing urgent attention or that there are other more important pressing issues that

should be brought to the attention of the government for an immediate and appropriate solution

or intervention. Data gathered from the respondent Gen Z-ers on this item complement results

in other questions relating to their position on current and social issues in which resonate their

being Gen Z-ers, which are being aware of and actively engaged with social issues.

43
Lifestyle

As stated earlier, lifestyle is the way a person lives their life, in which it is influenced by

the culture surrounding them. As Generation Z is pluralist in general, they absorb and create

habits for themselves not just based on the physical life around them, but from what they learn

through media. With respondents from all over the Philippines and from the different

socioeconomic background, the survey was able to capture an idea of what the Filipino

Generation Z lifestyle is all about. This portion of the study begins with figuring out if the

respondents are introverts, extroverts, or ambiverts. Understanding this demographic will also

help recognize the different activities each of the respondents do and why they do them (e.g.,

an ambivert agrees to actively seek out new experiences, but expresses later that they prefer to

do activities on their own). Out of the 358 respondents, 57% are ambiverts, 24% are introverted,

and 19% are extroverted. Ambiverts are generally neutral with most of their answers, while the

latter two show more extreme opinions on a certain activity.

Figure 16. How Gen Z-ers describe themselves when relating with others

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Activities and Leisure

Being considered as the first generation of true digital natives (McKnight, 2018), it cannot

be denied that one of the primary activities involve spending time on what is now considered as

virtual space. Social media platforms are widely used mainly to communicate with friends,

peers, and family members. As it was mentioned in the lifestyle section of the literature review,

Anthony Turner mentions that there has been a decline in terms of face-to-face communications

among this generation due to the fact that the society somewhat finds this impractical (Turner,

2015). Here in this table, we find various activities that interest the current generation here in the

Philippines. The choices listed among the survey that was conducted stems from online

activities to art, and, etc.

Figure 17. Activities frequently done by the Filipino Gen Z-ers

In this table, it is evident that the highest percentage of activities done very often among

the respondents goes to browsing through social media (63%), watching and streaming online

45
content (53%), and music (51%). Despite having high percentages on activities involving the

use of social media, with this data, it seems that a high percentage among the respondents do

not engage in creating their b/vlogs. 36% of the respondents say they often travel; however, it

was not specified how often these individuals travel. 35% say they often read, and do music - it

may be listening to music through the online streaming platforms or other means, or playing or

making music as a leisure activity.​ ​Among these activities, the lowest percentage of activities

who responded with ‘not at all’ belong to extreme sports, aside from b/vlogging. Generation Z

individuals who refuse to engage in extreme sports and b/vlogging may have several reasons

for not doing so, and it is likely because of time and money constraints.

Other leisurely activities that Generation Z Filipinos like to do are writing (short-stories,

poetry, prose, novels, blackout poetry, journaling, literary pieces), visual arts (drawing,

sketching, calligraphy, digital art, painting, photography), performance arts (acting, playing

guitar, listening to music, dancing, public speaking, studio recording, debate, spoken word

poetry), studying (reading, learning philosophy, learning different languages, researching,

staying informed about Philippine current events, figuring out life), cooking, baking, eating, going

to museums, physical activities (water sports, sports, going to the gym, trekking, running,

swimming, walking the dog, walking around, martial arts), creating (handicrafts, DIY crafts,

knitting, crocheting), shopping, cleaning, watching shows (Netflix, going to the movies, TV),

going out (hanging out with friends, enjoying the nightlife, social gatherings, conversing, hanging

out a local pub), spending time and bonding with family, volunteering (church, community),

collecting (stationary, merchandise), and using social media. The most interesting aspect to

point out here is the number of people who enjoy writing (about a quarter of people who

46
answered this optional question like to do some form of writing, mostly poetry) and art. One

amusing response is that two people inputted “fan-girling” as a past-time activity that they do.

Everyday Life

After looking into a few general activities, the next set of questions further broke those

activities down to see if Generation Z Filipinos fall into some of the stereotypes that western

Generation Z tends to be placed in. As culture creators, collaborators, and changers, the

western minds of Generation Z celebrate their diversity and collectively try to be true to

themselves and their lifestyle despite what society tells them to be or what they say they are.

With that statement in mind, it is fair to say that most of Generation Z of the west are open to

new experiences. Out of the young Filipinos we surveyed, the results are lined up with the

western notion of seeking out something new to do in their life. More than 82% of Filipinos

agree to actively seek out new experiences.

47
 Figure 18. Extent to which Filipino Gen Z-ers seek out new experiences

Despite having respondents who claim to be introverted, figure 18 shows that 137 of 344

respondents strongly agrees to the fact that they wish to seek out new experiences in life,

however it was not disclosed as to what kind of activities or experiences they intend to seek. On

the other hand, 143 of the respondents agrees to the idea, and 40 people are just neutral about

it. There were only 4 people who disagree with the statement and no one strongly feels that they

are against seeking out new experiences.

As stated in the related literature, all of Generation Z Americans prefer having a

smartphone over owning a television and admit that it is hard to go throughout the day without

their mobile device. Those that represented Generation Z in the Philippines have a different take

on how long they can go without their devices and are pretty evenly distributed across the

board. The biggest difference between the Philippines and the Americans that were interviewed

is that most of the Americans are able to and have access to a smart device and internet almost

48
anywhere in the USA. The Philippines have limited access to WiFi and unlimited cellular data

essentially does not exist. So when it comes down to leaving their mobile phones behind for a

day, Generation Z Filipinos are generally more able to last throughout the day without a cellular

device. Though 56% majority of the Generation Z Filipinos that were interviewed do not think

they can live a week without their phone, the rest of the Filipinos think they are able to.

Figure 19. Extent of cellular use of Filipino Gen Z-ers

Out of the 344 Generation Z Filipinos that were surveyed, 74 people strongly agree that

they can last a day without their phone. 102 respondents agree that are able to, 78 are neutral,

61 disagree, and 29 strongly disagree being able to last the entire day without it. Unlike

Generation Z Americans, 44 Generation Z Filipinos can strongly agree that they can last week

without their phone, while 50 agree, 58 are neutral, 105 disagree, and 86 strongly disagree

about their inability to not use their phone for a week.

49
 A lot of media influences the young minds of today. Though most of them would say that

they do not follow the most popular of fads, they still follow some sort of style that they feel it

would reflect upon themselves. Generation Z Filipinos are distributed evenly across the board

about how they feel about celebrities and social media influencers and how they affect their

everyday life. 32% agree that there is an influence, 30% are neutral, and 38% do not believe

that the media has any effect on their taste in culture. When it comes to fashion trends, about

half of the respondents feel neutral about following any sort of fashion movement. A quarter of

respondents agree that they do keep up with the latest fashion trends while the other quarter

does not. Part of the plethora of trends is understanding the different types of gender, sexual

orientation, the practice of using the proper pronouns for each of the genders, and other factors

of these notions that are now being recognized around the world. 86% of Generation Z Filipinos

believe they are fully aware and practice the proper way of addressing gender and sexuality

issues. Another social media practice that many western Generation Z people look into or even

follow it is “cancel culture.” Cancel culture is when someone (usually a celebrity, YouTuber, or

other social media influences) relates to a serious issue (i.e. they are anti-gay rights,

anti-feminist, anti-abortion, part of human trafficking, etc.) and people who followed them, were

fans, or not even fans at all would try to “cancel” (this is done by, e.g. a YouTuber will lose

millions of followers, a celebrity will receive backlash from both media outlets and their former

fans and other antagonists, people will find out where that person works and contact their

superiors to get them fired, etc.) them and try to make sure other people will follow suit. Cancel

culture is not limited to celebrities and social media. People can “cancel” their friends at school

(in what Generation Y or Millennials and previous generations would call it “shunned” or leaving

people out, ignoring to a broader extent, etc.). Many Generation Z people will agree such culture

is toxic, but still somehow ends up knowing about the situation despite not taking part in it. The

50
people of Generation Z in the Philippines generally do not follow in cancel culture. About 45% of

Generation Z Filipinos have not participated in cancel culture. 37% remain neutral on the issue,

while 19% admitted in canceling people.

Figure 20. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ cultural involvement

The table correlates that 18 out of 344 people strongly agree that they have participated

in cancel culture. 47 people also agree, 127 remained neutral, 88 disagree with the issue, and

64 people strongly disagree in the practice of cancel culture. As far as celebrities, social media

influencers, YouTubers, and other popular media affecting tastes, 31 of Generation Z Filipinos

strongly agree that they follow people in the media, 78 people agree, 102 are neutral, 80

disagrees, and 53 respondents strongly disagrees. The latest fashion trends are generally

neutral for Generation Z Filipinos as 162 people are not above or about the trends. 21

respondents strongly agree, 75 respondents agree, 69 respondents disagree, and 18

respondents disagree to following the latest fashion fads. For the knowledge of gender issues

and sexual orientation, 153 Generation Z Filipinos strongly agree they know of it while 145

51
generally agree, 36 are neutral, 8 disagree, and 2 people strongly disagree with the awareness

of this culture.

One of the biggest factors in Generation Z culture is the advocation of health and image.

Most Generation Z believe that all body types, regardless of race and gender and sexual

orientation, are beautiful. Generation Z also recognizes that people are healthy in their own way,

whether it is they are striving to become healthy are obviously health or probably do not practice

healthy at all, it is not their business, but if someone promotes anything on weight loss,

Generation Z tends to congratulate them. Most Generation Z lack sleep due to social media

being the main influence, while others say there is not enough time in the day for all the

activities. Generation Z is also extremely verbal in expressing their mental health and agrees to

take mental health breaks whenever necessary. When it comes to multitasking and preferring to

work at night, most Generation Z agree to these factors as 74% of people believe they can

multitask (using their phone and listen at the same time) and 66% prefer to work at night. 17%

are neutral about being able to multitask with their phone while 9% believe they cannot. 19% of

respondents are neutral with working at night while 15% cannot work at night. Most Filipinos are

neutral in comparison to their western counterparts about exercising throughout the week. 45%

of Filipinos are neutral about physical health while 26% of them do not exercise versus the 28%

who do. One-third of each of the categories do Filipino from Generation Z agree, be neutral, or

disagree with being able to sleep to get an adequate amount of sleep at night.

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 Figure 21. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ working habits

One hundred twenty-five respondents strongly agree that they can use their phone and

listen at the same time while 131 agree to multitask, 28 are neutral, 27 disagree, and 3 of them

strongly disagree on being able to. 103 people strongly agree to being able to work at night, 124

agree as well, 64 respondents are neutral, 36 disagree, and 17 people strongly disagree on

working at night. 114 people are neutral about being able to get an i amount of sleep at night

while there are more people who disagree (88 respondents) and 30 who strongly disagree. 85

people agree and 27 people strongly agrees to being able to sleep soundly at night.

This study is to look at the general overview of Generation Z Filipinos. Perhaps in

another study, we can further delve into why Generation Z Filipinos feel that cannot do certain

activities. Their western counterpart mostly agrees that there is not enough time in the day to be

able to do all the activities they want to achieve. Money is the second major issue, and the other

follows from physically not being able to do it, certain beliefs from parents or society refrain

them, and other internal and external factors. The theory for Filipinos, however, is probably due

53
to money constraints is possible the main reason over time. Despite whatever reasons, overall,

93% of Filipinos of Generation Z agree that there are activities they want to be able to do but

are not able to do them. Only about 0.5% of respondents disagree with this.

Figure 22. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ activity

One hundred eighty-three strongly agree, 136 agree, 23 are neutral, two people

disagree, and zero disagree about not being able to do certain activities.

Religion

The Philippines is one of the most religious countries in the world with almost 89% of the

population being Christian, and the rest being Muslim, Agnostic, or other religions. Only a small

fraction of Filipinos remain non-religious. Westernized Generation Z is more skeptical about

54
organized religions, but are open to spiritual life. The following figures show that most Filipino

Generation Z is still religious, but it is probably less religious than that of previous generations.

Figure 23. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Religious Affinity

Generation Z Filipinos ticked all the boxes that apply to them. 77 respondents do not

care about religion. 90 of them believe that they are pious and religious. 166 respondents attend

religious functions (however, does not necessarily mean that are fully practicing, nor does it say

how often to they do go to religious functions). 105 people are religious-lite (a phenomenon in

which Christians, usually non-denominational and contemporary churches, get all the benefits of

being a Christian, but does not have to practice every single dogma or doctrine).

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 Figure 24. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Religious Affinity continued

One hundred ninety respondents still follow their faith, while 96 do not care about

religion and 58 people are undecided.

Beyond the Questions

To hone in more specifically about Generation Z lifestyles, the participants of the survey

were optionally asked if there is anything else that they feel they should mention that was not

stated in the questionnaire. 67.59% of people chose not to answer the question (left completely

blank) while 12.29% explicitly stated there is nothing else that is needed to know. Though there

are a plethora of answers, most of them can be grouped due to the similarities among the

responses.

There were many responses stating that they have a simple lifestyle, however, almost all

of the responses did not specify how and why and what makes their lifestyle “simple.” There is

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one answer that says that they practice minimalism and due to that, it makes their simple

lifestyle comfortable. There are other people who did not state their lifestyle was simple, but

mentions the simplicity of boredom with their own lives due to either they eat and sleep during

their free time, play video games, the preference of sleeping over travelling or only using social

media as a way to pass time. Some of these people describe their life as being “financially

stable, but bored” or “tediously flat.” There are no extroverts that stated a response such as

simple, but there are some ambiverts and introverts that did reply about preferring to spend time

alone, watching videos all day, or sleep as something to do in their past time. There was one

introvert that illustrated that social tasks are daunting to them.

There were also mentions of spontaneity and repetitiveness. Those who live a more

repetitive and scheduled out lifestyle only state that their everyday life is repetitive with little to

no room for doing something at the spur of the moment. Some people mention their distaste for

a boring, repetitive life. One person does mention about being satisfied with their repetitive,

everyday life. This person also mentions that they spend a lot of time studying, alone or with

friends; does not care for the latest trends; and rather live a healthy lifestyle instead of partying

or drinking. The more spontaneous people say that they live their life however they want. They

want their schedule to be flexible and prefer a more laid-back lifestyle.

Throughout the survey, we did not ask about smoking, drugs, alcohol, or partying, but

there are many responses here that do say they do not like partying. There was only one

respondent in particular that says they enjoy smoking marijuana during their past time. Other

than that, there were plenty of people who commented on wanting to lead or actively pursue a

more healthier lifestyle from dieting well to avoiding consumerism, parties, smoking, drugs, and

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alcohol. One person mentions trying to live the best life possible and strive to be happy and

spread joy all around them. There are respondents who admit to not having a healthy lifestyle

due to not wanting to go outside of their house, being too busy to prepare food for oneself, not

enough time in the day to sleep, or lack of exercise. Most of the reasons are due to time, but

there are some who admit that they do not lead a healthy lifestyle by choice. A particular

respondent acknowledges that they are not healthy in a physical, emotional, psychological, and

spiritual way. They also state that their parents think that their “queer-ness” is just a phase.

Those who picked that religion is important to them, or they lead some sort of religious

agenda, responded with statements on their beliefs. Majority of the replies that mention religion

say they do go to church and actively participate in different church groups or activities. One

person likes to study theology in their free time. However, there was one who wanted to further

define their spirituality saying that they are not very religious (as per the terms of organized

religion), but they are agnostic in their belief, acknowledging that there is a higher being out

there, and practices prayer and meditation for self spiritual enrichment. There was one response

where it shows complete disdain and adversity to life in general. This person feels that there is

no purpose in life, everyone will die at one point so it is pointless to strive, and feels that they

are not great enough to leave their mark in the world or leave behind a legacy.

The rest of the responses were based on what the respondents want to pursue or add to

their current lifestyle. No surveyee said they wanted to do something out of the ordinary, go on a

travel adventure or anything outside their comfort zone. All the answers go back to what the

majority of the short answers stated in this portion of the questionnaire: simplicity. Generation Z

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Filipinos generally want to live a happy life. They mentioned wanting to live healthy, comfortably,

peacefully, and overall, just being okay from day-to-day.

Relationships

The charts below show how the respondents view their relationship with their family in

terms of how complicated, reserved or at ease they are in communicating.

Figure 25. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Communication with Family

The results of the study reveal how the Filipino Gen Z have less complicated

communication dynamics with their parents with only 11% based on the respondents’ answers.

The rest of the chart meanwhile is divided between at ease and reserved by a slight difference

in margin. 40% of the respondents reveal they are reserved meanwhile 49% are at ease with

their parents. This shows that Gen Zers are significantly guarded and cautious with their parents

when the results of 11% with complications and 40% with reservations are both combined. This

may result to Swanzen’s study (2018) that points out the tendency of Gen X’s parenting styles

that resort to restraint and control while Gen Z’s characteristic, on the other hand, prefers to

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work independently. Turner (2018) explains that a controlled environment may actually

discourage Gen Z to engage more because strict structures prompt them to be distant and

removed from a relationship. On the other hand, a great number still shows how the Filipino

Gen Z is relatively at ease with their parents. This shows that the Gen Zers trust their Gen X

parents in terms of how they are being brought up. Open communication between the two

generations within the parent-children parameters is what allows a relationship with trust and

comfort ensue with less difficulty. As long as the Filipino Gen Zers regard their parents as

trustworthy, there will be no problem in their communication dynamics.

Another set of results reveal the communication dynamics of Gen Zers with their siblings

who are either in the same generation as them or from the millennial generation. Compared with

their parents, Gen Zers have fewer complications with their siblings with only 10% as a slight

decrease in the result. Meanwhile, the respondents are reserved at 37% with their siblings while

on the other hand more than half of all the respondents answered with ease at 53%. Within the

family household, the Gen Zers are more at ease to communicate with their siblings than they

are with their parents.

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 Figure 26. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Communication with Friends

The set of results in communication dynamics with friends offer a dramatic difference in

contrast with Gen Z’s family members. A whopping 71% are at ease with only 2% of the

respondents are having a complicated relationship with their friends. In terms of having

reservations, only 27% of the respondents agreed to communicate with reservations among

their friends. Still, the statistics show a drastic difference with the communication dynamics from

the Filipino Gen Z’s familial relations. Overall the results point out that the Filipino Gen Z are

more at ease to communicate with their friends than with their family.

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 Figure 27. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Online Communication

The statistics in the Filipino Gen Z’s comfort in communicating online shows most of the

respondents have varying levels of responses. The greater number of answers show they are

neutral at 33% meanwhile 19% and 22% find comfort in communicating online. The lesser part

of the statistics shows disagreement in 20% and 6% of the respondents.

Most of the respondents’ answers show ambivalent attitude towards online

communication. As Gen Z is born in the age of the internet, the neutrality of their answers

reveals how it is common and ordinary for them to communicate online that the respondents’

failed to decide between comfort and discomfort. Meanwhile, in the other part of the statistics

show many of the respondents find more comfort in communicating online than those who do

not. This shows that the online platform for communication is positively received by the Filipino

Gen Z and if not finding it comfortable is just neutral about its use.

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 Figure 28. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Preference for Open Relationship

As studies reveal how Generation Z are leaning towards non-traditional modes of

lifestyle (Turner, 2015 & Miller, 2018) the figures for preferring ‘open relationships’ of the cohorts

are not surprising. Open relationships deviate away from the conservative and traditional

monogamous relationship in which dating is seen consensually as non-exclusive (Klesse,

2006).

As a generation that is observed to have an aversion to limited and restrictive structures,

the norms for intimate relationships are also shifting for Generation Z. Filipino respondents

reveal to have more agreeable stances on ‘open relationships’ at 17% and 25% in contrast with

those who are not at 13% and 15%. Meanwhile, the young generation opted to give neutral

answers at 31% in terms of this non-traditional set up in dating and in establishing intimate

relations.

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Career and Education

Figure 29. Persons consulted by Gen Z-ers when making decisions

The section devoted to learning and career was limited to three questions and was

supplemented with an expert interview and online group discussion results. The pie chart below

details the influences in the decision making of Filipino Gen Zs. Consistent with Asian values,

the majority still consult their parents when making decisions. This is followed by peers,

comprising 72.3% of the population we surveyed, and by mentors at 53.7%. Surprisingly,

Filipino Gen Z’s make the least consultation from online sources, which is very different

behavior from their western counterparts.

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 Notwithstanding, Pauline Fermin, president of Acumen consulting said that Gen Z’s have

a broader world and mindset given the exposure to digital, social media, etc. They have a more

expansive world from which they make decisions. She posits that the level of critical thinking of

Gen Z’s is still not deep and this is what we need to train them on. They need more critical

thinking to help them make the right decisions.

In choosing their career paths, Gen Z’s are also surprisingly very different from their

western counterparts. The chart below shows that their first consideration is profit, the second is

convenience and lastly the prestige that cone gets from the job.

Figure 30. Top Considerations of Gen Z-ers when choosing a career path

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 When asked what best assets will Gen Z’s contribute to the workplace, Fermin

enumerates three. “First is that they are driven by purpose. This is a generation no longer

motivated just by tasks -- they need to know the deeper "why" of what they will be asked to do.

They will demand that companies and leaders articulate the purpose of the company and

everything they do. They are also hyper-empowered, they believe their generation has the

power to change the world, and rightly so, they have access to platforms that allow them to

effect meaningful change in the world. They are also more mature thinkers - they want to enjoy

life, but with a sense of responsibility. They know that education is the key to success. They

want careers that have more meaning and societal impact.”

Figure 31. How Gen Z-ers learn best

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 Fermin also detailed what she perceived as the expectations of Gen Z’s in the world of

work. She opines that they expect that there is meaning and purpose to what they are doing.

They expect companies to articulate that purpose. They also expect that they become leaders

in their organizations fast.

How can we prepare them? The educational sector should already anticipate the

revolutions that Gen Z’s will bring into the classroom and beyond. In other parts of the world,

they are protagonists in the demand for innovations since their learning styles are very different.

They are somehow challenging the teachers and educational leaders to change their teaching

styles and the dynamics that they create in the classroom. Fermin affirms this and added, “We

have to be ready to train them on many types of skills they acknowledge as gaps in them:

communication skills, analytical and critical thinking skills, interpersonal relationships, technical

skills. The current educational system is falling short vs what the Gen Zs need it to be: visual,

interactive, experiential.”

Filipino Gen Z’s learn best by watching, then by listening, and by discussing. This pattern

is also very different from those in the US where students demand more doing and participating

in learning.

Gen-Z’s Digital Footprint

Gen-Z respondents are largely multiple gadget users, with 87% owning and using two or

more devices. This is prevalent across different age groups and socio-economic classes.

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 Figure 32. Gadget Use of Filipino Gen Z-ers

The two most popular devices used by Gen-Zers were smartphones, with almost all

having their own phones (97%) and laptops (77%). Least popular gadgets include tablets and

wearables.

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 Figure 33. Gadget Owned by Filipino Gen Z-ers

The most common mode of accessing the internet is still through home-based WiFi

connections (65%). Mobile data access is also used by some (28%), while there are few who

access the internet through public connections, while fewer still do not have regular internet

access.

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 Figure 34. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Manner of Access to the Internet

The top three social media platforms used by Gen-Zers are Facebook (100%), YouTube

(90%), and Instagram (84%). Twitter also remains to be popular to most of the respondents

surveyed (82%).

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 Figure 35. Social Media Platforms Used by Filipino Gen Z-ers

Among the multiple social media platforms used, Gen-Z respondents varied in terms of the

site that they consider essential. Almost half (48%) considered Facebook indispensable, while

others notably chose Twitter (23%), YouTube (15%), and Instagram (10%).

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 Figure 36. The extent of use of Social Media Platforms by Filipino Gen Z-ers

Overall Facebook enjoys most use based on self-reported frequency, with almost all

(92%) of respondents claiming that they use the social media site in the top three that they use

the most. It is followed closely by YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. It is notable that despite

using the newer social media sites like TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord, Gen-Zers do not

consider them essential nor do they claim that they use these sites and apps frequently.

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 Figure 37. Top 3 Social Media Platforms Used by Filipino Gen Z-ers

Self-reported and estimated time spent online varies - some claim they are online 4-6

hours in a day (39%), others peg it at 1-3 hours (24%), and a few are online 7-10 hours (22%).

Figure 38. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Time Spent Online

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 Gen-Zers have multiple reasons for being online. Almost all spend time on the internet to

get updates on news and current events (97%), for school (96%), and to communicate with

family and friends. A large majority are also online for personal reasons (87%) and to gain social

awareness and support various social advocacies (69%). More than half of the respondents

also go online to express their opinions on various social issues (58%) and to purchase or sell

items online (51%).

Figure 39. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Motivations for Being Online

Gen-Zers observed several problematic activities and behavior when online. The most

prevalent ones noted were fake news (87%), the use of offensive language (80%), and

cyberbullying (59%).

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 Figure 40. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Online Observations

When asked to rank which among the observed deeds were most bothersome,

cyberbullying (67%) and fake news (48%) were identified as the most worrying activities

encountered over all the other behaviors observed.

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 Figure 41. Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Perception of ‘Disturbing Online Activities’

Fake news is among the top concerns of Gen-Zers online. When it comes to screening

the information that they encounter online, the respondents look at several signs, the top among

them the source of the article (94%), its author (60%), and the appearance of the website

(60%).

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 Figure 42. How Filipino Gen Z-ers’ Screen Fake News

With the amount of time Gen-Zers spend online and the numerous activities they do on

the internet, it is important to look at the respondents’ disposition during such activities. Being

online relieves the stress of a majority (41%, 26%) of the Gen-Zers who participated in the

survey.

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 Figure 43. Stress or discomfort Filipino Gen Z-ers experience online

In terms of feeling anxiety when online, most (40%) are neutral, but there are some

(33%, 6%) who agreed that the activity can cause discomfort.

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 Figure 44. Anxiety Filipino Gen Z-ers experience online

The internet also helps Gen-Zers (44%, 19%) find like-minded people.

Figure 45. Anxiety Filipino Gen Z-ers experience online

Being online also provides an avenue for the Gen-Zers interviewed (44%, 25%) to

express themselves.

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 Figure 46. Online activity as self-expression

Majority of the respondents (54%, 26%) agree that being online enables them to lend

assistance to people.

Figure 47. Online activity as assistance to others

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 Being online helps almost all (51%, 42%) of the Gen-Zers interviewed to stay connected

with their peers.

Figure 48. Online activity as a mode of connection

Despite the seemingly conflicted feelings of Gen-Zers when they are online, the majority

(30%, 37%) of them still believe that having access to the internet is better than not being able

to go online at all.

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 Figure 49. Access to internet

Generation Z spend a lot of time online, engaging in a plethora of activities. Social media

use cuts across all those who participated in the study, with a 100% penetration rate for

Facebook, apart from the use of other social media platforms. This generation use the internet

for a wide variety of things, not limited to staying connected with friends, using it for school, and

being their primary source of information. They are able to express themselves, find like-minded

people and at the overall, being online relieves their stress. However, from the responses of

Gen-Z participants, the study cannot categorically say how being online affect this generation’s

anxiety level.

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 Figure 50. Top Three Words that Describe Generation Z

The answers collected from the survey respondents as to the top three words that best

describe the Gen Z were extracted from the excel file and converted into a word file to generate

a word cloud using the nvivo software. As can be seen from the word cloud, the top three words

that best describe the Gen Zs are active, woke and aware. These descriptions are consistently

aligned with previous and recent characterizations of Gen Z’s from literature as caring

individuals who are also critically aware and driven to make an impact. These best descriptive

words for them also resonate in their responses asking for their stance on social issues, their

degree of agreement or disagreement to the national government’s action on issues and

problems confronting the society and their level of participation on social issues that appear in

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social media. These descriptions support previous studies by the Pew Research Center and

The Monitor which describe Generation Zs as deeply concerned with social, political and

environmental issues and as a generation that translates the values they embrace even in their

consumption patterns and product preferences.

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 CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION

Summary

This research paper looked into the (a) socio-demographic profile, (b) lifestyle, (c)

relationships, (d) stand on current issues, (e) career and education, and (f) online use of Gen

Z-ers to understand this generation and to fill in the gap brought about by the influx of

millennial-centric research in the academe.

Using Mannheim’s Sociology of Generations as it’s Theoretical Framework, the

researchers developed an extensive survey questionnaire via Google Forms and using

purposive and snowball sampling methods gathered a total of 344 respondents from all over the

Philippine Archipelago.

Focused group discussions and expert interviews were also conducted to supplement

the findings of the survey. The generation who came prior to the Generation Z kids today are

the Millennials, or also known as the Gen Y have lived a life of transitioning from ‘ancient’

technologies to the modern, and more advanced. Prior to the advent of smartphones, social

media networks, video and music streaming services, and other digital technologies, the

previous generation mostly relied on activities that do not require, nor rely on the use of the

internet, the computer, or of a smartphone. This survey gave out an overview of what the

Filipino Gen Z’s lifestyles are via the respondents who have provided the research with an

85
overview of activities where these individuals are more inclined to do - and we see that their

online presence and behavior plays a huge part in their life.

While some of these lifestyles depict other Generation Zs from other continents,

especially from the West, there are a few factors that might limit the Filipino Gen Z from doing

the activities they wish to engage in. Given an individual’s socioeconomic status, some

individuals may not be able to do several activities due to financial constraints; say for example,

not every household possess a personal computer at home, and despite the widespread

availability of smartphones and mobile data, not everyone has access to it, or can afford to own

one. However, for those who belong to the higher social strata, they are able to do as they wish

but are often lacking in time due to employment schedules and other priorities.

Data from the research was analyzed via descriptive statistics and presented through

graphs, methods of dispersion tables, and frequency distribution tables.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of the research, the profile of the Filipino Gen Z-er is as follows:

Socio-Demographic Profile

○ Gen Z-ers were born from the year 1996 to the present, with the majority of the

respondents being 17-19 years old

○ They highly aware about sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions

(SOGIE), with a majority of the respondents identifying as Female

○ Majority of them are students taking up their respective undergraduate degrees

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 ○ Majority of them are enrolled in public schools and/or state universities

○ Many Gen Z-ers come from low-income to lower-middle class households

○ They are born into a family size of 4-6 members

Lifestyle

○ They are ‘pluralists’ in general; in other words, they absorb and create habits for

themselves not just based on the physical life around them, but from what they

learn through media.

○ They are considered as the first ‘true generation’ of digital natives who use social

media ‘very often,’ with watching/streaming, and listening to music following

closely after

○ They are inclined to seek out new activities that gather their interests, and would

happily explore more if not for constraints like time, money, resources, etc.

○ They are not entirely ‘phone-dependent,’ with more than half claiming that they

can last a day without their hand-held devices, and about ¼ claiming to be able

to last a week without it

○ They are strongly aware about gender issues and SOGIE

○ They prefer to work at their own schedules -- mostly at night -- and are adept at

multitasking

○ More than half say that religion is important to them, with about half attending

religious functions but only ¼ consider themselves ‘pious and religious,’ and are

inclined to ‘not care about religion at all’ or care about it only to a certain extent

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 ○ No surveyee said they wanted to do something out of the ordinary, go on a travel

adventure or anything outside their comfort zone.

○ Generation Z Filipinos generally want to live a happy life

○ They mentioned wanting to live healthy, comfortably, peacefully, and overall, just

being okay from day-to-day

Relationships

○ Gen Z-ers communicate with their friends with more ease than with their families

○ As Gen Z is born in the age of the internet, the neutrality of their answers reveals

how it is common and ordinary for them to communicate online that the

respondents’ failed to decide between comfort and discomfort.

○ Reveal to have more agreeable stances on ‘open relationships’

Stand on Current Issues

○ Most Gen Z-ers express their thoughts by writing posts or comments on their

respective social media accounts, publicly liking or sharing the posts of other

people regarding issues, and personally expressing their opinions to friends,

colleagues, family or other social circles

Career and Education

○ Consistent with Asian values, the majority still consult their parents when making

decisions

○ In choosing their career paths, Gen Z-ers are also surprisingly very different from

their western counterparts. The chart below shows that their first consideration is

88
 profit, the second is convenience and lastly the prestige that cone gets from the

job.

○ Gen Z-ers expect that there is meaning and purpose to what they are doing and

expect companies to articulate that purpose.

○ They also expect that they become leaders in their organizations fast.

Online Use

○ The two most popular gadgets for Gen Z-ers are smartphones and laptops

○ The most common mode of accessing the internet is still through home-based

WiFi connections

○ Gen Z-ers identified Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram as their top three social

media platforms used

○ They spend an average of 4-6 hours online each day for various reasons like

checking news and current events, and communicating with family and friends

○ They are uncomfortable or disturbed whenever Cyberbullying, Fake News, and

Pornography perpetuate in social media

○ A number of the respondents attest that social media brings them stress and

anxiety, but provides them an avenue to build communities with like-minded

people, provide a platform for self-expression, and connect with others, as well

as give assistance to others in need

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Recommendation

This survey on the lifestyles of the Filipino Generation Z gives us a peek into the world of

the current generation and their interests. However, there are still other things that need to be

investigated; it would be nice to further ask the different social categories (e.g. the ambiverts,

introverts, and extroverts) on specific questions that pertain to their personality. Although 40% of

the respondents say that they ‘actively seek out new experiences’, it would be nice to

specifically determine who among these social categories say that this is so, as there might be,

for example, introverts who actively seek new experiences but only seeks those activities that

they can do on their own. Moreover, it would also be necessary to categorize activities

depending on the individual’s socio-economic class, as not everyone enjoys the same activities

as the other, given certain factors such as time, money, and accessibility to name a few.

Should the study further be developed, the researchers recommends the following:

● A longer timeframe to conduct the research

● Conducting other forms of statistical analysis, such as, methods of dispersion,

regression, etc. to further connect the variables of the research

● Conduct additional qualitative measures to verify the results of the initial survey,

which may include, but are not limited to, focused group discussions, expert

interviews, etc.

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a

APPENDICES

RespondentsProfile:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gI0_GcIY0hTQphqUo97tcxdrojGD_cOW/view?usp=sharing

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