John Della Volpe - Understanding Gen Z | The Daily Show

Gen Z IS living in a different economy than the rest of us. It's a lot easier to weather a storm when you already own a boat than to have to build one while trying not to drown.

Kids today know the world is dying and they see no one in power is stopping it but keeping a foot on the throttle

Jon, I know you are a youngster, but when we protested in the 60s, most of our peers were just angry with us for doing so. They always talk about how active the boomers were in the 60s, but in my experience, most who stood up for human rights were demonized in their communities except in rarified environments. Also, yes, we dove under our desks, but we never witnessed our fellow students being shot in the classroom. Yes, we were in Vietnam, but we didn't have the suffering first hand in most cases. Meanwhile, I jumped job to job in youthful freedom and never worried about where I might stay because there were places to live that were affordable and offered a roof, even if not fancy sometimes, at least it was a roof and a bed. Let's listen to these young people. Let's listen to one another.

As an Elder Millennial myself (born 1983) I'm actually quite impressed by Gen Z. The Gen Z people I know shock me by how self aware and genuinely mature they seem to me. I was NOT as actualized at that same age. It took a while. Which is why it's so infuriating how much our society is failing them. These truly impressive young people...who feel deeply hopeless about the world they find themselves in. Scott Galloway is someone I have plenty of disagreements with, but he just did a TED Talk fairly recently that absolutely hit it out of the park on how America is utterly failing young people. I didn't agree with all of his solutions....though I did agree with most of them, and entirely agreed with his framing of the problems, AND could not agree more with the sheer righteous anger he gave voice to. Worth a watch if you haven't seen/heard it yet...

The difference between the nuclear strike preparedness and the shooter drills is that the nuclear hit didn't happen, the shootings they experience on a shockingly frequent basis.

I think Jon, whom I adore, is seriously missing the mark with this interview. He talks about needing to listen to Gen Z and spend alot of the interview interupting any point the advocate for Gen Z is making before he can get a full sentence out. Frankly, Jon your proving the point a lot of Gen Z say about never being listened to Jon. Even with the things Jon's generation faced, they certainly had MUCH MUCH more means to face it than anyone has today.

I didn’t appreciate how Jon spoke over him, and minimized the impact of gun violence on Gen Z. I could not imagine walking into school every day wondering if there would be a mass shooting, and I would survive.

I'd love to hear an interview with Volpe by someone who won't interrupt him and trivialize his points.

As a Gen Xer, I recall a lot of peers worrying about whether they would ever own a home. Gen Zers are worried about being homeless. That tracks with the trajectory of trends on wages, debt, and other cost of living factors. PS: I love you Jon but using your own kids as anecdotal examples doesn’t address these minimal quality of life issues, young adults growing up in privilege aren’t the young adults he’s talking about.

He’s a National treasure and a I’m 25+ year fan of the man, but first time I’ve ever heard him sound old.

Jon, been watching you for many years and have never once disagreed with you until this interview. Your host was right and professionally in a better position than you to smell the winds of change in his field. Gen Z do think differently. Depressed they may be due to social media but they are empowered by it as well. Unlike my "drop out" generation they will (begin to) save the world, Roll on November.

I have 3 kids, 16-21, and I do my best to listen. The one that I believe is most likely to make a looooot of money tells me he thinks he'll never be able to afford his own house. This interview is hitting so hard right now

In defense of Gen Z... I'm a Gen Xer. Was a housewife and mom all my adult life. My husband (now passed away) left me penniless in a foreign country. (Canada). I returned to the States thinking I knew what I needed to do to start over. But I didn't. I ended up staying with relatives across the USA (Michigan, Indiana, New Mexico, California, New York) looking for some way to actually get a foothold to stand on my own two feet. I was even homeless for some of it. Long story short: This country isn't working anymore. Things that were hard but doable are nearly impossible now. Gen Zers aren't exaggerating or making excuses. They're not lazy or incompetent. It really IS harder to survive now when you're starting from scratch and with nothing.

This is the first time I've heard jon actually sound old. The message was LISTEN to gen z, and jon kept bringing up his generation and making it about himself and his family (who he said he doesn't even know what they like). A lot of older generations i talk to refuse to listen to my problems as a chronically anxious and depressed person and just make it about themselves. "I did this, i had this, so you should do this too." Its annoying, disingenuous, and why you will never understand the strengths and weaknesses of the young.

As a millennial, gen z is this country's only hope, they didn't get duped into the American dream like us. You have our generation's support!

This type of research, and caring for young generations, and having the freedom to criticise the government, vote, and elect. These things have a profound effect on societies and nations, in America and many other nations these things are basic rights and there's no question about them. I've always wanted to live until I see my country, Egypt this way. It breaks my heart that this probably will never happen in my lifetime. I'm only 32, but nothing is gonna change. We deserved a better life, and rights! But seeing such a show makes me happy to even know that this exists... freedoms and research with Democracy and informed citizens are vital for healthy societies and nations.

I’ve never seen John try so hard not to understand

Stewart! You need to listen, Bro. You killed that conversation.

Im a Gen Xer. The kids do have it harder. I love having Jon back but with his interviews he needs to listen twice as much as he talks.

Im glad to agree with the comments for once that Jon was minimizing the "plight of Gen Z" to just algorithms and the same old societal problems that everyone faces. Kudos to John Della Volpe for trying his best to meet Jon where he was at. as someone right between millennials/Gen Z, I was helped by Volpe to look at the importance of actually understanding what events we witnessed during our most formative years and how those in/directly influence our outlook / understanding of current events and politics.