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Young people are leading the way when it comes to disconnecting from the online world and building real world friendships. There is a growing movement worldwide, led by Gen Zers, who are starting or joining offline clubs and finding friendship and common interests in these organizations, The Guardian reports.
Young people seek to disconnect
The pandemic exacerbated the feelings of disconnection that many in the most (wirelessly) connected generation in history experience. Penelope Jordan, founder of the First Timers Club, where people seek new experiences from salsa dancing to bouldering, together tells the Guardian that thanks to the pandemic, “People are now having to actively go and seek that [social connection],”
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But even before Covid-19, young people were at risk of spending excessive amounts of time passively consuming online content or “doom-scrolling,” sociology professor Roger Patulny says.
A Mccrindle study from 2021 backs up these results citing that 82 percent of Australians ages 16 to 24 self-report spending too much time online and more than half say it had a detrimental impact on their mental health. The report also found that 32 percent of young people are actively engaged with their local communities, compared to 47 percent of baby boomers.
Patulny however, sees evidence that the media-use tide is turning. He tells The Guardian that because Gen Z grew up “always having the internet,” it could be easier for them to break unhealthy media habits.
“I think they’re more savvy with social media, gen Z, because they’ve grown up with it,” Patulny explains. “And as a consequence they’re more willing to drop out of … certain platforms, if not social media altogether, and be more discerning about it.
“The more any given platform encourages excessive passive consumption, whether it's the consumption of ideology or fashion or entertainment … then savvy gen Z’s will get sick of it and drop off,” he says.
The Coogee Run Club
And getting sick of it and dropping off seems to be a growing trend, according to The Guardian. Except these young people aren’t just dropping certain platforms, they are putting down their technology altogether to seek real world friendships.
For example, 35-year old fitness enthusiast Tara Meankins used to go to the gym for regular exercise, but she found it too difficult to create social connections there so, instead, she founded the Coogee Run Club.
“On a run, you’ve got to be running,” Meakins says. “You can’t text and you can’t scroll when you’re on a run … it’s the blood pumping around your body, it’s the endorphins that are filling your mind.”
Meankins tells the Guardian that when she first advertised the Coogee Run Club two years ago only one person showed up. Now, there are nearly 2,000 members of all ages, from 17 to 70 years old that participate in different runs that the club hosts five days a week “rain, hail, shine, or hangover.”
Meankins adds that the run club isn’t just about exercise. “We like to say that we’re a social club with a bit of running on the side, because for us, it’s never just been about the running,” she explains. “[Club] people spend Christmas together. We all spent New Year’s Eve together … I went away with people for Easter. It’s not just a fleeting acquaintance … these are real friendships, real people who are going to go the distance.”
Data from the popular running app, Strava, from 2022 that corroborates Meankin’s experience that young people are making friends “on the go.” The data found that the largest cohort of app users that recorded runs were Gen Z (69 percent of users vs 62 percent of millennials and 51 percent of GenX). Additionally, Gen Z runners were 29 percent more likely than millennials to go running with someone else.
According to Axios San Francisco, running club apps weren’t just for social connection, but facilitated romantic connections as well, becoming “the new dating apps.”
Even introverts need connections
Skye Cusack, a Gen Z Melbourne resident and self-described introvert also co-founded a club with a friend. “We really wanted to make some friends and some connections, but we are both introverted,” she told the Guardian.
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Cusack’s club is a silent book club, reported The Guardian. That means participants show up and BYOB (bring your own book). Then, they can all read together quietly, enjoying the companionship, or they can discuss the books if they want.
Cusack says that she finds friendships through the shared love of reading.“That’s the appeal of a book club, you have a common ground where you know you both have this shared interest you can talk about. I work a lot, like seven days a week, so having that regular time every month that I know for sure I’m going to meet new people and connect with the core people that go all the time is really nice.”
Whether through the shared love of running or the shared love of reading or any other offline social activity, Gen Z is leading the way in fostering meaningful connections that enrich their lives and well-being. Embracing these opportunities to engage with others can significantly enhance one’s mental and physical health, proving that sometimes the best way to connect is by simply unplugging and disconnecting.
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