97 Fun Facts About Gen Z

What does the Gen Z slang term "no cap" mean?

'Cap' for a lie comes from African-American Vernacular English; the blue cap emoji is used online to call one out.

Which app popularized the short-form vertical video format among Gen Z?

ByteDance bought the lip-sync app Musical.ly in 2017 and folded its users into TikTok the next summer, which is how the app arrived in the US with an audience ready-made.

What year range is generally used to define Generation Z?

Pew Research Center defines Generation Z as those born 1997-2012; it set 1997 as the start partly because that cohort has no memory of the September 11 attacks.

What word was named Oxford's Word of the Year in 2023, largely due to Gen Z usage?

Rizz, meaning charm or the ability to attract romantic interest, was popularised by YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat in 2021 before Oxford crowned it Word of the Year for 2023.

Which Billie Eilish song became a massive Gen Z anthem and was the theme for a James Bond film?

"No Time to Die" was written and performed by Billie Eilish for the 2021 James Bond film of the same name. She was the youngest artist ever to write and record a Bond theme song.

What does "sus" mean in Gen Z slang, popularized by the game Among Us?

'Sus' is a clipping of 'suspicious'; the 2018 game Among Us, a lockdown hit in 2020, turned it into global slang for calling someone suspect.

Which app popularized ephemeral photo messaging with streaks tracked by a flame emoji?

Snapchat introduced Snapstreaks in 2015 (a flame emoji marks one, an hourglass warns it is about to lapse) and added the location-sharing Snap Map in June 2017.

Which Gen Z aesthetic romanticises tweed, old libraries, and classic literature?

Dark Academia romanticises classical study: tweed, cardigans, Oxford shoes in black and dark green, Gothic college buildings, and novels like Donna Tartt's The Secret History.

Which blocky sandbox building game had its full release in November 2011?

Minecraft, Mojang's block-based sandbox, was first shared publicly in May 2009 and had its full release on 18 November 2011; Microsoft bought Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.

What does "bet" mean in Gen Z slang?

'Bet' is slang for agreement, like 'okay' or 'deal': 'Want to grab food?' 'Bet.' It is a clipping of the older affirmation 'you bet'.

Which 2021 Olivia Rodrigo song broke Spotify's single-day record for a non-holiday song?

'Drivers License' set Spotify's non-holiday single-day record on its fourth day and beat it again the next day with over 17 million streams; it won Best Pop Solo Performance at the 2022 Grammys.

What Gen Z term describes someone excessively devoted to a celebrity or public figure?

Eminem's 2000 song is about a fan whose obsession turns deadly; two decades on, 'I stan' is used with no menace at all.

What does "slay" mean when used by Gen Z?

It spread through Black, Latino and queer ballroom culture in the 1970s and reached wider ears via the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning.

Which activist born in 2003 led the 'Fridays for Future' school strikes?

Greta Thunberg, born in Stockholm on 3 January 2003, began her 'Skolstrejk för klimatet' alone outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018; her mother is opera singer Malena Ernman.

Which 2020 app prompted users to post unfiltered photos at random times?

BeReal was built in France by Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau and sat quietly for two years before its early-2022 surge; latecomers are marked as having posted late.

Which Lil Nas X song went viral on TikTok and became the longest-running Hot 100 #1 at the time?

'Old Town Road' held the Hot 100's number one for a record 19 weeks in 2019; Lil Nas X bought its beat for $30, and Billboard's removal of it from the country chart sparked a genre row.

Which gaming platform, popular with younger Gen Z, lets users create and play millions of user-made games?

Creators build in Roblox Studio using Luau, a dialect of Lua, and can sell items for the in-game currency Robux.

What does "bussin" mean in Gen Z slang?

It came out of African-American Vernacular English for delicious food and widened to mean excellent in general.

What does the Gen Z term "main character energy" refer to?

It cuts both ways: TikTokers film cinematic 'main character' moments, but calling someone an MC can also mean they crave the spotlight.

What Gen Z aesthetic romanticizes rural life, baking bread, and flower gardens?

Cottagecore idealises a slow rural life of bread-baking, foraging and flower gardens; it boomed during the 2020 lockdowns, with sourdough starters and linen dresses filling feeds.

Which 2020 viral game involved completing tasks on a spaceship while identifying hidden impostors?

Among Us, released by Innersloth in 2018 to little notice, exploded in 2020 when streamers played it through lockdown; its original map is a spaceship called The Skeld.

What does "understood the assignment" mean in Gen Z internet culture?

Rapper Tay Money's 2021 track 'The Assignment' and her TikTok pushed the phrase into red-carpet commentary.

Which streaming platform became Gen Z's go-to for live gaming and later added "Just Chatting" streams?

Twitch, bought by Amazon for about $970 million in 2014, added the non-gaming 'Just Chatting' category in 2018; by 2020 it was the platform's most-watched category.

Which informal nickname for Gen Z took off in 2018 through a 4chan Wojak meme?

'Zoomer' plays on 'boomer' and the generation's speed with technology; the Zoomer Wojak of 2018 followed the 30-Year-Old Boomer Wojak, while Doomer and Bloomer Wojaks are about outlook, not age.

What does the Gen Z slang "it's giving" mean?

'It's giving' means something conveys a vibe; like much 2020s slang it came out of Black and queer ballroom culture before TikTok made it universal, so 'it's giving main character' means protagonist energy.

Which Doja Cat song, boosted by a TikTok dance, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020?

'Say So' stalled at number 5 until a Nicki Minaj remix in May 2020 pushed it to number one, the first for either rapper; Haley Sharpe's TikTok dance had made it a hit first.

Which secondhand-clothing app, a favourite of Gen Z resellers, did Etsy buy for $1.6 billion in 2021?

Depop, founded in Italy in 2011 by Simon Beckerman and moved to London the next year, was bought by Etsy for about $1.6 billion in June 2021; most of its users were under 26.

What does "rent-free" mean when Gen Z says something is "living in my head rent-free"?

'Living rent-free in my head' means you cannot stop thinking about something; advice columnist Ann Landers used the image in the 1990s, warning that a grudge lets someone you despise 'live rent free in your head'.

Which 2016 Netflix show about 1980s kids encountering supernatural phenomena became a Gen Z touchstone?

Stranger Things, created by the Duffer Brothers, premiered on Netflix in July 2016; it is set in Hawkins, Indiana, where a girl called Eleven opens a gateway to the Upside Down.

What Gen Z term describes someone who goes to excessive lengths for the attention of someone who doesn't reciprocate?

'Simp' means someone who does far too much for a person who does not reciprocate; it began as a clipping of 'simpleton' around 1900 and appeared in 1980s rap before TikTok revived it in 2019.

Which June 2020 movement saw millions post a single blank square on Instagram?

#BlackoutTuesday on 2 June 2020 began with music executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang after George Floyd's killing; posting black squares under #BlackLivesMatter was criticised for burying protest information.

What is the Gen Z term "NPC" used to describe in internet culture?

'NPC' is used for someone who seems to run on autopilot, not thinking for themselves; the grey-faced NPC Wojak spread in 2018 as a political insult, and 2023 TikTok 'NPC streamers' acted out robotic loops for tips.

Which generation immediately precedes Gen Z and is its usual foe in online 'generational wars'?

The two feud over skinny jeans versus wide-leg, side parts versus middle parts and the laughing-crying emoji; Generation Alpha comes after Gen Z.

What does "vibe check" mean in Gen Z language?

It can be a compliment ('the vibe check was immaculate') or a verdict ('they did not pass the vibe check').

What habit, named around 2018 and rampant during the COVID-19 pandemic, is 'doomscrolling'?

The word predates the pandemic, appearing around 2018, but the WHO's 'infodemic' of 2020 made it a household habit; studies find it most common among young men who follow politics.

Which 1977 Fleetwood Mac song soundtracked Nathan Apodaca's viral 2020 cranberry-juice longboarding TikTok?

Nathan Apodaca filmed himself longboarding to Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams' with cranberry juice in September 2020 after his truck broke down; the 1977 song re-entered the Hot 100 and topped Rock Digital Song Sales.

What does "caught in 4K" mean in Gen Z slang?

'Caught in 4K' means busted with undeniable proof, as if the evidence were ultra-high-definition footage; the phrase spread on Twitter around 2020, with screenshots of deleted tweets the classic case.

With which two-word Gen Z retort did NZ MP Chlöe Swarbrick silence a parliamentary heckler in 2019?

'OK boomer' was Swarbrick's reply on 5 November 2019; the heckler, Todd Muller, was actually Gen X, and the phrase, first seen in a 2009 Reddit comment, had gone viral on TikTok that autumn.

What does Gen Z call a second, private Instagram account kept for close friends only?

A finsta blends 'fake' and 'Instagram'; the polished public account is the 'rinsta', or real Instagram.

Per Gallup's 2022 data, what percentage of Gen Z identifies as other than exclusively heterosexual?

Gallup put Gen Z at 20.8% against 10.5% of Millennials and 7.1% of all US adults; most of the Gen Z respondents identified as bisexual.

TikTok users and K-pop fans claimed credit for leaving which June 2020 event's 19,000-seat arena two-thirds empty?

Trump's Tulsa rally on June 20, 2020 drew about 6,200 people by the fire department's count into the 19,000-seat BOK Center, and a planned outdoor overflow stage was scrapped.

What 2022 term describes Gen Z workers doing no more than their job requires?

Quiet quitting involves no quitting at all: supporters call it 'acting your wage', and it is essentially an individual version of the old union tactic of working to rule.

In Gen Z dating slang, a partner's neither-good-nor-bad quirk is a flag of what colour?

Red flags warn of harm and green flags signal healthy behaviour; the beige flag arrived later for quirks like eating cereal with water.

Which Gen Z term describes a romance that is more than friendship but lacks a formal label?

A situationship is a romance with more than friendship but no defined label; the 'talking stage' comes before anything is defined, and a 'soft launch' hints at a partner online without showing them.

Which Pixar film became a crowd-sourced TikTok musical, streamed as a benefit on 1 January 2021?

Ratatouille the TikTok Musical grew from users' songs, choreography and set designs; the filmed concert, streamed on 1 January 2021, raised about $2 million for The Actors Fund and got an encore on January 10.

What does the term "iPad kid" refer to in Gen Z discourse?

'iPad kid' means a child raised on constant tablet screens, pacified with videos and games; the term spread on TikTok in 2021, and since the first iPad launched in 2010 the cohort is mostly Gen Alpha.

Which company's shares did Reddit's r/WallStreetBets drive from about $17 to over $500 in January 2021?

GameStop shares went from about $17 at the start of January 2021 to over $500 pre-market on January 28, when Robinhood halted buying; short-seller Melvin Capital needed a $2.75 billion injection.

Which July 2023 X rival gained 100 million users in five days?

Threads reached 100 million sign-ups within five days of its 5 July 2023 launch by piggybacking on Instagram log-ins, beating ChatGPT's record; third-party trackers reported daily use falling sharply after the first week.

Which platform did Pew's 2022 survey find 95% of US teens use, the highest share?

YouTube topped Pew Research Center's 2022 survey of US 13-to-17-year-olds at 95%, ahead of TikTok (67%), Instagram (62%) and Snapchat (59%); Facebook had fallen to 32%.

Mark McCrindle's agency, which named the cohort after Gen Z in 2008, is based in which country?

McCrindle Research is based in Sydney, Australia; its founder Mark McCrindle coined 'Generation Alpha' in a 2008 survey, citing the 2005 hurricane season's switch to Greek letters after Latin names ran out.

Which name did Strauss and Howe adopt in 2005 for the cohort after the Millennials?

Howe and Strauss's 'Homeland Generation' (2005) nods to the Department of Homeland Security, created in 2002: this was the first cohort to spend its whole childhood under post-9/11 security measures.

Psychologist Jean Twenge's 2017 book about Gen Z carried which one-word title?

iGen (2017) is Twenge's book on the first generation raised on smartphones; its subtitle warns they are 'Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy', and her 2006 book on Millennials was Generation Me.

What placeholder label did Pew Research use for Gen Z in 2018 before adopting 'Generation Z'?

Pew Research Center called the cohort 'post-Millennials' in its 2018 reports and announced in January 2019 that it would use 'Generation Z', the label that had won out in popular usage.

Which cusp micro-generation, born around 1993-1998, had both dial-up childhoods and smartphone adolescences?

Zillennials, born roughly 1993-1998, straddle Millennials and Gen Z: old enough to remember dial-up, young enough to have had smartphones in high school. 'Zalphas' is the separate Gen Z-Alpha cusp.

Who became the first Gen Z member of the US Congress after the 2022 election?

Frost, a Florida Democrat born in 1997, was previously national organizing director for March for Our Lives.

Which poem did 22-year-old Amanda Gorman read at Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration?

The Hill We Climb made Gorman the youngest poet to read at a US presidential inauguration; weeks later she became the first poet to perform at a Super Bowl, and an alga genus was named Gormaniella after her in 2022.

'Brain rot', Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year, was first recorded in which 1854 book?

Henry David Thoreau used 'brain-rot' in Walden (1854), asking whether anyone would cure it while England fought the potato-rot; Oxford said usage of the term rose 230% between 2023 and 2024.

Which phrase for shamelessly indulging lazy habits was Oxford's 2022 Word of the Year?

'Goblin mode' won Oxford's first public vote for Word of the Year in 2022, beating 'metaverse' and '#IStandWith', months after a doctored Julia Fox headline about 'going goblin mode' went viral.

Which Collins Dictionary 2024 Word of the Year was lifted from a Charli XCX album title?

'Brat' was Collins' 2024 Word of the Year, lifted from Charli XCX's June 2024 album; after she tweeted 'kamala IS brat', Kamala Harris's campaign restyled its X banner in the album's lime green.

Whose August 2024 'How to be Demure at Work' video spawned 'very demure, very mindful'?

Jools Lebron, a Chicago-area TikToker, filmed the clip in her car before a shift; 'very demure, very mindful' spread within days and 'demure' became Dictionary.com's 2024 Word of the Year.

Which Gen Z pejorative, coined in 2013, mocks lifestyle trends stuck in the early 2010s?

'Cheugy' was coined in 2013 by Beverly Hills High School student Gaby Rasson for trends a few years out of date; it exploded only after Taylor Lorenz's April 2021 New York Times piece.

Skibidi Toilet's episodes are animated with which Valve-made tool?

Alexey Gerasimov, a Georgia-based animator posting as DaFuq!?Boom!, makes Skibidi Toilet in Valve's Source Filmmaker with Half-Life 2 and Garry's Mod assets; the first 11-second short went up on 7 February 2023.

Which TikTok star, a competitive dancer long before her first video, won Dancing with the Stars in 2022?

Charli D'Amelio had danced competitively for over a decade before her first TikTok in 2019, and partnered Mark Ballas to win season 31.

Which 14-year-old choreographer was revealed as the true creator of the Renegade dance?

After the credit row, K Camp retitled the song 'Lottery (Renegade)' and Harmon performed the dance at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.

Which creator, who silently mocks overcomplicated life hacks, became TikTok's most-followed in 2022?

Khaby Lame, born in Dakar, Senegal and raised near Turin, overtook Charli D'Amelio as TikTok's most-followed creator in June 2022; he was only granted Italian citizenship that August.

MrBeast overtook which channel in June 2024 to become YouTube's most-subscribed?

T-Series, the Indian music label, had held the most-subscribed crown since beating PewDiePie in April 2019 after a meme-fuelled eight-month race; MrBeast passed it on 2 June 2024.

Vine, the looping-video app Twitter shut down in 2017, capped clips at how many seconds?

Vine capped clips at 6 seconds, looping endlessly; Twitter bought the company for about $30 million in October 2012, four months after it was founded, and co-founder Dom Hofmann later launched Byte.

What was the name of Travis Scott's record-setting April 2020 concert inside Fortnite?

'Astronomical' ran inside Fortnite from 23 to 25 April 2020 and drew a record 12.3 million concurrent players to its first show; Epic disabled combat in the concert zone, and it premiered 'The Scotts'.

The 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge raised money to fight which disease?

The Ice Bucket Challenge raised money for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis); popularised by ALS patients Pat Quinn and Pete Frates, it brought the ALS Association over $115 million in summer 2014.

How long did ChatGPT take to reach 100 million monthly users after its 2022 launch?

ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022 and, by a UBS estimate, hit 100 million monthly users in January 2023, about two months later; the $20-a-month Plus tier followed in February 2023.

Labubu, the blind-box plush craze of 2024, was created by illustrator Kasing Lung from where?

Kasing Lung was born in Hong Kong and raised in the Netherlands, where Nordic folklore inspired his series The Monsters; Blackpink's Lisa sparked the 2024 Labubu craze by clipping one to her bag.

Stanley, maker of the viral Quencher cup, hired president Terence Reilly in 2020 from which brand?

Terence Reilly came to Stanley from Crocs, where as CMO he had revived the clog with celebrity collaborations; under him Stanley's revenue grew from about $70 million in 2019 to about $750 million in 2023.

On which date did Barbie and Oppenheimer open together, creating 'Barbenheimer'?

Barbie and Oppenheimer both opened on July 21, 2023; between them they collected 21 Oscar nominations and eight wins, seven of them for Oppenheimer including Best Picture.

Coco Gauff, born in 2004, won her first major singles title at which 2023 tournament?

Coco Gauff won the 2023 US Open at 19, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final; at 15 she had beaten Venus Williams at Wimbledon as the Open Era's youngest qualifier.

Which team took Caitlin Clark first overall in the 2024 WNBA draft?

The Indiana Fever took Caitlin Clark first overall on April 15, 2024; she left Iowa as NCAA Division I's all-time leading scorer and became the first WNBA rookie to post a triple-double.

Zendaya won two Lead Actress Emmys for playing Rue Bennett in which HBO show?

Euphoria, HBO's Sam Levinson drama, won Zendaya Lead Actress Emmys in 2020 and 2022; at 24 she became the category's youngest winner, and Drake is among its executive producers.

Netflix's Heartstopper is based on a webcomic by which author?

Alice Oseman began Heartstopper as a webcomic in 2016, spun off from her 2014 novel Solitaire; Netflix's adaptation premiered in April 2022 with Kit Connor and Joe Locke.

Jenna Ortega's viral Wednesday dance was originally performed to which Cramps song?

'Goo Goo Muck', the Cramps' 1981 cover, plays in the school-dance scene; fans swapped in Lady Gaga's 'Bloody Mary' on TikTok, and Ortega choreographed the moves herself while filming with COVID symptoms.

How many players enter the deadly contest in Squid Game?

Squid Game's contest has 456 players; the prize is 45.6 billion won, 100 million per eliminated player, and the title comes from a Korean playground game.

What title did Netflix originally want to give Squid Game?

Netflix initially called the show 'Round Six', doubting non-Korean viewers would get the playground-game reference, and kept that title in Brazil; creator Hwang Dong-hyuk's 'Squid Game' won out elsewhere.

Which video did 'Baby Shark Dance' overtake in 2020 to become YouTube's most-viewed?

'Baby Shark Dance' passed Luis Fonsi's 'Despacito' (then about 7 billion views) in November 2020 and in January 2022 became the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views.

Sabrina Carpenter's 2024 hit 'Espresso' led which album?

Short n' Sweet (August 2024) is Sabrina Carpenter's sixth studio album; at the 2025 Grammys it won Best Pop Vocal Album while 'Espresso' took Best Pop Solo Performance.

Which Grammy did Chappell Roan win in 2025?

Chappell Roan won Best New Artist at the February 2025 Grammys; born Kayleigh Amstutz in Willard, Missouri, she had released 'Pink Pony Club' in 2020, been dropped by Atlantic, and gone home to work a drive-through.

Kai Cenat's 2023 Union Square giveaway of which console ended in a riot?

Kai Cenat's PlayStation 5 giveaway drew thousands to Union Square on 4 August 2023; the NYPD charged him with inciting a riot, and in 2024 he became the first Twitch streamer to pass one million subscribers.

What was Dream's breakout Minecraft series, where friends try to stop his speedrun, called?

In Dream's Minecraft Manhunt series, he tries to beat the game while friends such as GeorgeNotFound and Sapnap hunt him; the format took off in 2020, when his channel passed 10 million subscribers.

What is the name of Emma Chamberlain's weekly podcast, launched in 2019?

Anything Goes is Emma Chamberlain's podcast, launched in 2019 as Stupid Genius and renamed in 2020; in 2019 she also founded Chamberlain Coffee and made Time's 100 Next list.

Bella Poarch's record-setting most-liked TikTok lip-synced which song?

Bella Poarch's August 2020 lip-sync to Millie B's 'M to the B' became TikTok's most-liked video; the Philippines-born US Navy veteran's own 2021 debut single reached the Hot 100.

March for Our Lives was organized after a 2018 school shooting in which Florida city?

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on 14 February 2018 killed 17; students announced the march four days later, and the main DC event drew an estimated 200,000 to 800,000 people.

Who wrote The Anxious Generation, the 2024 bestseller blaming phones for teen anxiety?

Jonathan Haidt, an NYU social psychologist, argues in The Anxious Generation (March 2024) that a 'great rewiring' of childhood between 2010 and 2015 caused the mental-health decline; he calls for phone-free schools and no smartphones before 14.

The Juul e-cigarette, blamed for a teen vaping wave, was spun out of which company in 2017?

Juul Labs was spun out of Pax Labs, the vaporizer maker founded by Stanford design graduates Adam Bowen and James Monsees, in 2017; Altria bought 35% in 2018, and the FDA ordered Juul off the US market in 2022.

Kabosu, the dog behind the Doge meme, was which breed?

Kabosu was a rescued Shiba Inu; owner Atsuko Sato posted the photo in February 2010, and the meme's Comic Sans captions inspired Dogecoin in December 2013. Kabosu died in May 2024.

Juice WRLD's 'Lucid Dreams' is built on an interpolation of which Sting song?

'Lucid Dreams' interpolates the guitar figure of Sting's 1993 'Shape of My Heart'; producer Nick Mira said Sting took 85% of the rights, and the track peaked at number two behind 'Girls Like You'.

Which 1985 Kate Bush song hit number one in eight countries after Stranger Things used it in 2022?

'Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)' had peaked at number three in the UK in 1985; its use in Stranger Things 4 sent it to number one there in June 2022 and past a billion Spotify streams.

Glass Animals' 'Heat Waves' took a record how many weeks to climb to number one on the Hot 100?

'Heat Waves' took a record 59 weeks to reach number one on the Hot 100, in March 2022, and logged 91 weeks on the chart, beating 'Blinding Lights' for the longest run.

Colleen Hoover's BookTok phenomenon It Ends with Us was first published in which year?

It Ends with Us was first published in August 2016; BookTok sent it to number one on the New York Times list in January 2022, and Hoover at one point held six of the top ten paperback fiction spots.

Bottle flipping went viral after a 2016 high-school talent show in which city?

Mike Senatore's single flip at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May 2016 went viral and set off a summer of copycat videos.

Which TikToker co-founded the Hype House with Thomas Petrou in December 2019?

Chase Hudson, known as Lil Huddy, co-founded the Hype House with Thomas Petrou in December 2019 in a Los Angeles mansion; Netflix aired a reality series about the collective in January 2022.