This is Sarah Weise's keynote deck from the Utah State Board of Education conference (Summer 2019).

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INSTABRAIN
Educating Generation Z
linkedin.com/in/sarahweise
sarah@bixaresearch.com
@weisesarah
@sarahvweise

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TRY NOT TO THINK
ABOUT IT NOW…
I DARE YOU
@weisesarah

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WHY AM I HERE TELLING
JANE GOODALL ABOUT
GORILLAS? I run an award-winning marketing research
studio specializing in deep customer research.
For the past year and a half we’ve been doing
research with Gen Z: mobile diary studies, video
diaries, contextual interviews, ethnography,
intercept interviews, focus groups, surveys.
@weisesarah

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WHAT I CAN SHARE…
HOW GEN Z THINKS ABOUT THEIR PHONES
THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY
FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING
TECHNOLOGY FOR THE CLASSROOM
@weisesarah

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BUSINESS
THE LARGEST
GENERATION
Gen Z is currently on track to becoming the largest generation by the end
of 2019. They hold $44 billion in direct buying power. Not to mention
the 93% of parents whose spending is influenced by their children.
@weisesarah

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SHIFT IN PARENTING
• Helicopter parents kept Millennials tethered to them
• Tech parents taught Gen Z how to find info, warned them about risks
SELF STARTERS, HUNGRY FOR WORK
• Unlike Millennials raised in a boom, Gen Z was born after 9/11 and has
been raised in times of war and recession
• Gen Z is hungry for work. 61% want to start their own business; highly
respect paid influencers
UNPRECEDENTED DIVERSITY
• Gen Z was born after 9/11 and won’t remember a time before a black
president, female presidential candidates, gay marriage in most states
• Growing surge in inter-racial marriages; over 10,000 family structures
• 1 in 3 knows someone who uses gender-neutral pronouns
ATTENTION
• Millennials: Juggle 3 screens; 12-second attention span
• Gen Z: Juggle 5 screens; 8-second attention span
THIS IS ALL NEW à
@weisesarah

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They watch over 3 hours of YouTube per day, on average. They
are constantly learning. They feel good after watching tutorials,
and guilty after viewing pure entertainment.
THEY LOVE
LEARNING!
@weisesarah

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Never before have the behaviors, technology, and language of one generation rippled through
older generations, with such tremendous speed.
GEN Z INFLUENCES ALL
OTHER GENERATIONS
@weisesarah

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Never before have the behaviors, technology, and language of one generation rippled through
older generations, with such tremendous speed.
GEN Z INFLUENCES ALL
OTHER GENERATIONS
@weisesarah

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How do we apply technology to genuinely
spark interest and genuinely deepen the
learning—while developing the whole child?
04
THE RIGHT BALANCE. THE RIGHT
TECH. THE RIGHT APPLICATION
WHERE WE’RE HEADED
If you can strike a spark of inspiration, you can
tap into a superpower of this generation: the
ability to hyper-focus for hours of deep learning.
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SNAP JUDGEMENTS &
DEEP DIVES
Gen Z craves authentic, real-life stories,
behind-the-scenes details. Connecting
learning to the real world matters.
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AUTHENTICITY &
REAL-WORLD CONNECTIONS
Gen Z is made up of natural learners,
aggregators, and curators. They learn by
categorizing. They outsource route tasks to
free mental space for deep thinking.
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NATURAL LEARNERS AND
COGNITIVE OUTSOURCERS

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NATURAL LEARNERS
Whether it’s figuring out how to do James Charles’ rainbow
eyes, how to bake brownies, or how to get past a certain level in
a video game, Gen Z is constantly learning. They watch an
average over 3 hours of YouTube a day and feel good after
absorbing something new.
LEARNING IS A FEEL-GOOD PASTTIME
Binge watching Netflix certainly happens, but afterwards this
generation feels guilty about it. They highly value their time, and
obsess over what they could have been doing instead.
VEGGING OUT IS A WASTED OPPORTUNITY
01
@weisesarah

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AGGREGATORS OF
INFORMATION
Teens are processing more info than before, at an unprecedented rate. Collecting and
organizing info has become second nature.
“My screenshot
gallery is ridiculous.”
“I love, love, love
collecting bookmarks.”
“I text myself
links.”
“I paste text from
different sites into
the Notes app so
that I can see it all
in one place."
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CROWDSOURCED
STUDYING
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Reduces time spent culling information
Presents information in snackable bits
It feels like a hack
Your students are studying more because of these crowdsourced tools. And yet
even though this is their mental model, we try to get them to do what we did
when were young. We tell them “Don’t use Wikipedia” when in fact, they’re
going to use crowdsourced data anyway. Instead, we should be helping them to
develop a barometer of what is current, credible, and correct.
@weisesarah

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01
THIS IS HOW GEN Z THINKS. AND IF WE
WANT TO BE PROGRESSIVE EDUCATORS, WE
SHOULD WORK WITH THAT MODEL—NOT
AGAINST IT.
@weisesarah

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GEN Z WEARS THEIR SMARTS LIKE A BADGE OF HONOR
They pride themselves on their analytical abilities, diligence, hard work,
creative problem solving, unique lines of thought.
FOCUSED ON MONEY
Average age to open a savings account (online, of course) is 13. Gen Z youth
are financially-driven, self-starters. Teens are saving heavily for college
because they’ve witnessed older siblings saddled with debt.
CHOOSING CAREERS THAT PAY WELL
At universities across the country, we are seeing an uptick in STEM majors.
While they want to do good in the world, they are not willing to sacrifice pay.
SEE VALUE IN TRADITIONAL EDUCATION
While 40% of Millennials in a survey said they could have a rewarding career
without a bachelor’s degree, only 25% of Gen Z agree.
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INTELLECT IS THE
NEW BLACK
@weisesarah

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SPECIFIC & DISCERNING
CONTENT CURATORS
IF GEN Y = OVERSHARING, GEN Z = PAINSTAKING CURATION
Teens see their accounts as their personal brand, and curate different content on different
accounts. 55% manage at least 2 Insta accounts.
GEN Z IS CLEAR ON WHERE TO POST (AND LOOK FOR) CONTENT
Gen Z is able to clearly articulate the distinction between when to use each social app,
where to post (and look for) different types of content.
DISCERNING ABOUT DEVICES & APP ORGANIZATION TOO!
Oh the green bubble! 84% of teens have iPhones, and Android users are social pariahs in
the this generation’s version of mean girls. App layout is equally important. Popular now:
minimal apps on the home screen and dock; color coding; emojis to label folders.
01
@weisesarah

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Ever feel a phantom phone vibration? Do you know your best
friend’s phone number? Do you know this building’s address?
At a restaurant, do you calculate tip in your head?
NEITHER DO YOU.
Growing up attached to phones, this generation has been
exposed to an unprecedented amount of visual stimuli. Their
brains have evolved to allow for faster processing.
BRAINS HAVE EVOLVED. THEY DON’T THINK THE SAME.
How do you do laundry? Do you separate colors? Spot treat? Today’s
kids pour in everything and it magically comes out clean. Phones are
the same: pour in inputs and the right output jumps out.
“I don’t have to learn this; I know where it is.” Without your phone can
you remember numbers? Appointments? Gen Z uses phones as an
extension of their brain, “outsourcing” tasks to free up mental space.
TAKING PHONES AWAY IS LIKE CUTTING OUT A PIECE OF THEIR BRAIN
COGNITIVE OUTSOURCING
BAN PHONES IN CLASS?
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@weisesarah

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SNAP JUDGEMENT
THEN DEEP DIVE
SHRINKING ATTENTION SPANS + WATERFALL OF CONTENT
= DECISIVE, SNAP JUDGEMENTS
Attention spans have shrunk from 12 to 8 seconds between Gen Y and Z. Yet
the moment a Gen Z-er decides they are interested in a story or a person,
they dive deeply into it, searching for every shred of information they can
find. You must immediately spark attention to be noticed.
INTERESTS QUICKLY TURN TO OBSESSIONS
Once an interest is sparked, they dig deep into content from numerous
sources. Gen Z is constantly looking for exclusive information. The harder it is
to find, the greater the gratification. They crave the behind-the-scenes story,
and want to know authentic and personal insights. They expect photos,
stories, videos—at all hours of the day. Instagram provides the slice-of-life
they crave, but they use at least 2-3 other apps to find different types of info,
for fear of missing out.
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@weisesarah

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INSPIRATION
FROM FEEDS
Scrolling is inspiring
Gen Z expects deep personalization. They spend hours
scrolling, looking for something that sparks their interest.
Learning is inspiring
There is a blurring between inspiration and knowledge-
finding.
What SHOULD I want?
Millennial expert and Georgetown Marketing Professor Luc
Wathieu cites a shift in the question in customers’ minds
from “What do I want?” to “What should I want?”
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@weisesarah

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Inspiration leads to action
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Writing a research paper? Let them
browse, scroll, get inspired. By
choosing the topic they will be more
able to get excited about it. Make it
something they want to learn about.
SPARK AN INTEREST
Many schools are going to longer
periods of deep learning to work
with the way kids think. They’re
encouraging this state of hyper-
focus. Frontloading the learning
can also help spark that hardcore
engagement Gen Z is capable of.
GET TO THE HYPER-FOCUS
Have them find content in multiple
places—give them tasks that are not
readily searchable so they figure it out
on their own based on piecing info
together.
ENCOURAGE THE SCAVENGER HUNT
Good inquiry comes from knowledge.
Have them watch YouTube videos
before you introduce a lesson. Let
them dig into it on their own terms,
which will lead to conversation in the
classroom. It’s not about flipping the
classroom; it’s about frontloading the
learning.
FRONTLOAD THE LEARNING
A FEW IDEAS TO APPLY…
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@weisesarah

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Gen Z craves authentic, real-life stories and behind-the-scenes details.
Connecting learning topics to the real world inspires learning.
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People over brands
Stories sell—in bite-sized, visual format
Want to know what brands stand for
CRAVING
AUTHENTICITY
Respect entrepreneurs making money—and will respect celebs with less
fame more if they seem more authentic or attainable
@weisesarah

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Gen Z craves authentic, real-life stories and behind-the-scenes details.
Connecting learning topics to the real world inspires learning.
03
People over brands
Stories sell—in bite-sized, visual format
Want to know what brands stand for
CRAVING
AUTHENTICITY
Respect entrepreneurs making money—and will respect celebs with less
fame more if they seem more authentic or attainable
@weisesarah
As CTE teachers
(many from industry),
you’ve got this!

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03
ATTAINABLE CELEBRITY IS MOTIVATING.
@weisesarah

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Of course you know that students pay more attention if something applies to
them. So what are you waiting for—make it apply to them. You highlighting
connections for them is great (especially if they are connections to people they
follow), but it is far more powerful if they make connections on their own.
As CTE teachers, this should be VERY promising to you!
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CONNECT LEARNING
TO THEIR WORLD
@weisesarah

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CONNECTING TO THINGS AND PEOPLE
IN THE REAL WORLD MATTERS.
03
@weisesarah

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What is the right balance?
What is the right technology to use?
What is the right application of that technology?
04
THE HARDEST
PART
@weisesarah

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CREATING NEW
LINES OF THOUGHT,
4D THINKING
KILLING SOCIAL &
EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
For Gen Z, the phone is…
04
@weisesarah

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THE GEN Z STRUGGLE:
SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
How do we find a balance for the benefit of the whole child?
Balancing tech and real-life seems to be one of the most challenging
parts of growing up for this new generation. Phones are an extension
of their being, and they are also killing social-emotional development.
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Bullying and mental health impacts
In the past 5+ years, there has been a surge in bullying and teen
mental health impacts. The root cause here is not that we’re raising
bullies; it’s that both parents and educators alike are no longer giving
kids the space to learn how to interact with each other.
Schools are giving
up playground
time
Connected parents
aren’t present
We rush to
separate kids who
argue
Kids are never
bored: always have
a device
Fewer
communities
outside of school
(neighbors, church,
family friends)
Dating has
drastically
decreased
Driving is no longer
a rite of passage
Not as much
“hanging out” after
school (89% are in
scheduled
activities)
@weisesarah

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TODAY’S YOUTH USE TECH TO
THINK AND GROW IN NEW WAYS.
BUT THEY SACRIFICE OTHER
KINDS OF GROWTH.
04
@weisesarah

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HOW DO WE DECIDE?
TWITTER
THE RIGHT TECH?
One school in Utah has a 3D model that prints a heart. So cool! But…
wouldn’t an AR/VR experience be more valuable?
04
THE RIGHT APPLICATION?
Instead of printing hearts with our 3D printer, what if we had students
designing instruments, printing and experimenting with them?
THE RIGHT BALANCE?
What else can we be teaching alongside the tech, to enhance the whole
person? Communications? Problem Solving? Writing? Teamwork?
@weisesarah

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Make sure you know what the
outcome is in using tech, and
have a real reason behind it.
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE?
What can you develop at the
same time: Problem solving?
Communication? Writing?
Teamwork?
WHAT OTHER SKILLS?
When using technology, ask
yourself if it’s authentically
deepening the learning.
WILL IT DEEPEN THE LEARNING?
Gen Z is a generation of doers.
If it sparks their attention,
they will take action.
HOW WILL THEY USE IT?
WHEN CONSIDERING TECH…
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57% of Gen Z students prefer in-person activities with classmates—21% more than Millennials!
@weisesarah

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How do we apply technology to genuinely
spark interest and genuinely deepen the
learning—while developing the whole child?
04
THE RIGHT BALANCE. THE RIGHT
TECH. THE RIGHT APPLICATION
SO WHEN YOU’RE PLANNING YOUR NEXT LESSON, REMEMBER…
If you can strike a spark of inspiration, you can
tap into a superpower of this generation: the
ability to hyper-focus for hours of deep learning.
02
SNAP JUDGEMENTS &
DEEP DIVES
Gen Z craves authentic, real-life stories,
behind-the-scenes details. Connecting
learning to the real world matters.
03
AUTHENTICITY &
REAL-WORLD CONNECTIONS
Gen Z is made up of natural learners,
aggregators, and curators. They learn by
categorizing. They outsource route tasks to
free mental space for deep thinking.
01
NATURAL LEARNERS AND
COGNITIVE OUTSOURCERS

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YOU ARE AMAZING.
@weisesarah

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