Gen Z is seen to be the hope of a liberal future, focusing on issues that resonate from their backyards to the world: social justice, climate activism, combatting inequities, gun safety, voting rights, and more. For Gen Z, a generation that increasingly identifies as LGBTQ+, world politics are inextricable from their identity politics, and they expect everyone from employers to brands to resonate with their values.

Gen Z doesn’t have much money. But, who did at a young age? (This is not a question for the privileged). Headlines resound with doomsday prophesies for Gen Z, who is now battling student debt and rising inflation, and has been completely priced out of the housing market. The economic and financial turmoil Gen Z has witnessed, with their parents or as young workers themselves, has made uncertainty the norm by which they navigate their financial futures.

From Zoom-friendly decor to crashing on your sofa, Gen Z is revamping notions of home in different ways. The pandemic accelerated the need to create a safe zone of their own, away from uncertainty, social pressures or viral germs. The need for stability and safety is also fueled by growing feelings of loneliness and isolation, and the looming mental health crisis among Gen Zers, as the CDC warned of a “steep decline” in teen mental health. As many Gen Zers are drawn to their homes, they are creating spaces they never have to leave.

Gen Z has acquired the label pureteens for their lack of teenage-level sexual behaviors that were prevalent in earlier generations. While Gen Z is often called sex-negative, the perspective echoes out-dated ways of considering intimacy and relationships, when Gen Z is reframing how they want to engage in sex with more consent and mutual pleasure and less misogyny. That might include critiquing the role of porn, as seen in TikTok’s #cancelporn movement or eschewing casual sex altogether.

Gen Z is responding to the planet’s rapidly changing climate by committing their lives to finding a solution, changing their career trajectories and lifestyles in the process. Young people are incorporating climate-conscious behaviors into their day-to-day lives, including eco-friendly diets — buying “ugly foods” in the store or opting out of meat — and choosing environmentally conscious employers to work for and brands to support. Gen Z’s focus on climate and environmental action is a long-haul effort. It’s a noted shift from their older peers, who time and again are seen as less concerned over the demise of the planet — but Gen Z will be around much longer.