Is Gen Z really asleep?

For some time, I have been writing in these pages about generations: Generation X, Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha and even the emerging Generation Beta. Each time I return to the subject, I become more reluctant to judge one generation by the standards of another. Generations do not grow in isolation. They are shaped by their homes, classrooms, institutions and, above all, the opportunities society places before them.

Having spent nearly three decades as a university teacher, I have had the privilege of watching generational change unfold inside the classroom. I taught students who entered university before smartphones transformed everyday life, and I now teach young people for whom the digital world is inseparable from reality. This experience makes me cautious about describing Pakistan's Gen Z simply as passive, indifferent or asleep.

My students are often remarkably aware of what surrounds them. They discuss unemployment, inequality, corruption, climate change, politics and institutional failures. They have access to information at a speed unimaginable when my generation was young. I have frequently heard questions in classrooms that are sharper and more direct than those students asked two decades ago. Yet awareness does not necessarily become collective action.

We often encourage young people to think critically while simultaneously rewarding obedience at school, university and home. My experience as a teacher suggests that students are not short of opinions or awareness; many simply remain uncertain about where they can express them safely. Before calling Gen Z silent or passive, we should ask whether our institutions genuinely provide space for questioning, disagreement and independent thought.

There is another important difference. Protest itself has changed. For Generation X, public engagement was largely physical: student organisations, meetings, demonstrations, pamphlets and debates. Gen Z inhabits a hybrid public sphere. A hashtag, video, online petition or digital campaign may be its first language of dissent. We may regard this as superficial activism, but digital mobilisation can influence public conversations.

Yet we should not romanticise it either. Clicking, sharing and commenting cannot permanently substitute for civic participation. A functioning society needs citizens willing to organise peacefully, question institutions, demand transparency and defend the rights of others.

But courage also depends upon hope. A young graduate facing unemployment, rising living costs and uncertain prospects may reasonably wonder whether challenging the system will improve anything or merely create another obstacle. When merit appears negotiable and accountability selective, silence may be less a sign of laziness than a strategy for survival. Over the years, I have seen talented students become cautious not because they lack ideas, but because they are unsure whether institutions reward integrity or punish inconvenience.

Universities therefore carry a special responsibility. Education should produce neither obedient subjects nor permanently angry citizens. It should create individuals capable of examining evidence, disagreeing without hostility and asking difficult questions. I increasingly believe one of the finest moments in teaching occurs not when a student reproduces the correct answer, but when one respectfully asks why the accepted answer should be accepted at all.

Gen Z has weaknesses, as every generation does. Its attention can be fragmented, its dependence on technology excessive, and digital outrage short-lived. But it is also informed, connected, adaptive and increasingly unwilling to accept inherited assumptions without examination.

Instead of asking only why our young people remain silent, perhaps my generation should ask a more uncomfortable question: what environment have we created for them to find their voice?

Pakistan needs neither a permanently rebellious generation nor a sleeping one. It needs young citizens who understand that citizenship lies somewhere between obedience and outrage, in informed questioning, peaceful participation and the courage to demand better.

If Gen Z appears asleep, shouting at it to wake up is not enough. We must also open the doors through which an awakened generation can walk.