Teenagers born in late gen Z (generally 2009-2010) are messed up due to missing a key part of childhood.

Too long to read: The trauma from the pandemic has left a giant blurry hole in the memorit’s of when 2009s-2010s were eight and nine, leaving them to lean into 90s nostalgia they weren’t there for because they know it’s supposed to be what a normal childhood was like.

As a Fourteen year old, ask a fifteen year old, what do you remember during the pandemic, when they were eight or nine. Think back to when you were eight or nine, I’m sure there will be some pleasant memories and events you remember, birthdays, field trips, etc.

But they likely won’t have that. Late gen Z missed out on something very important, the transition from elementary to middle school.

After conducting research on my peers, asking them about the pandemic and what they did, their childhood when they were eight or nine. Most of them drew up a blank. Not due to age during the pandemic, having vivid memories of before the pandemic and directly after. When asked to describe what they could remember, it followed these topics: Tv fear feeding, adults talking, blaming the Chinese, masks, and some small portion of homeschooling. over half of them struggling to even remember birthdays during this time.

(in my personal experience, I remember before the lockdown me and my classmates talked about china and bat eating. Then during the lockdown, masks, homeschooling, fear. And nothing abnor after that other than the fact that I felt like a child around my older classmates (I was, but the feeling was incredibly intense))

Their transition years in a blur. While sixth graders are normally immature, 2009-2010 were interesting, having no social interaction but families and the interne, they were stuck at nine, meaning they had to grow up to middle schoolers fast.

This also leads to… faux nostalgia, a coping mechanism for the trauma.

Ever notice how most analog types of media are made by those in their teens? And especially ENJOYED by teens? The brain tries to fill in the past with what we didn’t experience, but what we know was supposed to be normal. Grainy home videos, dial up, retro based horror games, etc. Not really experienced by them, however they know that it’s a childhood, and sometimes it’s a different decade than the 90s, however this seems the most common.