As a parent, I’m continually amazed by the depth of thought my homeschooled daughter demonstrates. In a world where identity often feels fragmented and superficial, Emma, a 17-year-old homeschooled student, delves into the complexities of Gen-Z’s search for meaning through the lens of aesthetic trends. With a blend of personal reflection and philosophical inquiry, she invites readers to rethink what it means to find meaning in a world often characterized by confusion and isolation.
Dark academia and cottagecore, e-girls and That Girls, aesthetic this and aesthetic that. Gen-Z creates a new aesthetic seemingly on the daily, spiraling into increasingly niche word soup to pinpoint exactly who they think they are. From the outside, it seems like Gen-Z knows who it is, each element of its identity labeled and with an associated Pinterest board. Yet when you look closer, it seems shocking and unreasonable to base an entire worldview system of personality and core values on the Strawberry Milk Girl aesthetic. Does Gen-Z really have a sense of identity? Or are the ever-multiplying aesthetics and labels a symptom of a deep-rooted lack of identity caused by the post-modernist banishment of a greater Reality?
Virtue and Vice: Identity in Excess or Deficiency?
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle identified virtue and vice as a triangle of sorts, each virtue associated with a vice of deficiency and a vice of excess. When it comes to identity, most older generations accuse Gen-Z of the vice of excess, claiming that Gen-Z’s problem is too much identity or too many identities. Even Gen-Z itself seems to think that our problem is an excess of identity. Whenever a new popular aesthetic makes the TikTok rounds, a plethora of video essays will pop up urging Gen-Z to return to the good old days of normal life without identity.
This argument fundamentally misunderstands the root of my generation’s problem—Gen-Z does not suffer from an excess of identity but from a deficiency. “The good old days” were not those with less identity but with more. Not just more, better. To overcome the myriad of problems Gen-Z faces and often promotes, my generation must first obtain an identity strong enough to support the weight of a worldview.
Philosophy Castle in a Quicksand Pit
Why is being “That Girl” —an aesthetic characterized by five AM morning routines with Pilates, journaling, green juice, and an overall emphasis on aspirational productivity and healthy, enviable habits—not enough? Gen-Z came into its own with the rise of postmodernism, resulting in a disassociation from consciousness of any sort of external Reality.
Most members of Gen-Z genuinely believe that they are meaningless dust drifting in a cosmic void where the only meaning is what aesthetic they subscribe to. This is an incredibly mentally and emotionally taxing place to be. It is no wonder that Gen-Z is plagued by mental health struggles—we as a generation are exhausted by the mental toll of a crushing meaninglessness and desperate search for a title to cling to that makes us not alone. This generation has turned transient aesthetics into eternal hope, trying to build a philosophy castle in a quicksand pit.
With nothing outside of themselves to turn to, Gen-Z was forced to look inward to derive identity and meaning, driven almost to madness by the lack of ultimate purpose in the chaos of our internal worlds. Every creator knows that boundaries increase creativity, not limit it. Through the banishment of cosmic boundaries, Gen-Z has increased the mental load of existence, not diminished it. Being “That Girl” is not enough because it is a skyscraper philosophy built on an ephemeral foundation. Aesthetics as lifestyles are an illusion driven by this search for a foundation. They mistake the end result of an aesthetic life for the ideological means required to achieve that end.
Finding Hope in Identity Outside Ourselves
Turning away from the exhaustive burden of upholding their own reality, my generation must study the wisdom of the past to find an identity fundamentally outside of ourselves if we are ever to escape the identity deficiency we are trapped in. Reading old books, not as though we are above them or even on the same level as them merely because we come later in the timeline, removes a heavy burden and allows us to rest. Additionally, we must grow the humility to listen and learn from the yet-living generations that have come before us if we are ever to find true rest and happiness.
Gen-Z laziness? Or are we just tired?
Gen-Z is tired. Trends—from a rise in entrepreneurship to quiet quitting and every Boomer’s favorite thing to complain about, quintessential Gen-Z laziness—demonstrate this. The problem is not in the work load like Gen-Z claims or in the lack of stamina like previous generations declare. The exhaustion is rooted in the mental load of identity confusion and can only be rectified through the humble study of what is true, good, and beautiful.
Gen-Z Generational Isolation
Learning from the past, both the living and the dead, growing in humility and submitting to external reality, will also alleviate a related problem my generation faces. Gen-Z philosophy is rooted entirely in the self. It is no wonder therefore that we are isolated and chronically alone, pretending that the influencers we create para-social relationships with are our actual friends while neglecting the flesh and blood people in our real personal lives.
Aesthetics and identity labels create the illusion of connection, yet Gen-Z is lonelier than any generation before. Trends allow my generation to pretend to connect with others while isolating us from anything real. The internet is not the fundamental problem, although certainly it does facilitate the problems many claim it causes. The internet is merely a tool poorly used by a lost generation hungry for (yet afraid of) human connection and lacking a sound worldview. A humble, multigenerational attitude will enable Gen-Z to connect with something real outside of itself and thus connect with others.
Rest for Our Weak and Weary Souls
Gen-Z has no hope in itself. There will never be an identity that Gen-Z can create that will truly bring us the rest and refreshment for our weak and weary souls that we all crave. It is only by looking outside of ourselves entirely, by humbly reading old books and studying the multitude of wise men and women who have come before from Augustine to our parents, that Gen-Z will ever find a real identity.
Instead of focusing on the vignette of a twenty second eclectic grandpa aesthetic TikTok, we must build the underlying worldview that will allow the kind of life we want to live. We must break the cycle of purposelessness, apathy, exhaustion, and loneliness Gen-Z is trapped in.
There is identity in objective truth, purpose in Reality, peace in humility, and connection in multigenerational community that can be found if only we can look outside of ourselves to find it.
Emma Sloan is a homeschool senior in North Carolina. She’s one of the co-hosts of the popular podcast Kids Talk Church History, a one-of-a-kind podcast by kids, for kids. Her writing has been featured on The Gospel Coalition, and she’s been a podcast guest on The Mortification of Spin. She’s also a featured repeat guest on the Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology podcast, including this recent episode featuring her Year of Shakespeare.
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I appreciate your thoughts and insights on Gen Z. I would like to add that as a Christian of any generation, our identity should be found in Jesus Christ and nothing in this world. This would go a long way to heal the hurts and hopelessness in this broken world we live in.
We completely agree! I’ve written about that as well here: https://www.humilityanddoxology.com/humility-doxology-identity/
Thank you! That is another great read. Your family is my prayers!
This is beautifully written and well-considered! As a technically “millennial” mom (though I feel too old for that) who has always been an old soul and who doesn’t do social media, much of the “aesthetic” terminology is news to me. Thanks for helping me understand a different generation. Keep writing!
Thank you! I’m passing this on to Emma. 🙂