Augmented Digital Identity: A New Generation’s Opportunity to Shine

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A person born in 1900 came of age as World War I and the Spanish flu epidemic ravaged the world. They started their family in the affluence of the 20’s, raised that family through the dire poverty of the Great Depression and then, despite the promise that the war they fought would end all wars, sent their sons off to fight - and for many, to die in the Second World War. This jumble of life experience formed that generation. The context and circumstances of the decades we live through always form who we are and who we become. This was true for their generation, it’s true for ours and it will be true for our children's as well.

Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012 and currently ages twelve to twenty seven, are no different. The context and circumstances of their lives are forming them in the same sorts of ways previous generations were formed. Like those who came before them, this formation has caused them to have certain characteristics and values that make them different from previous generations in both positive and negative ways.

Gen Z however, is one of those unique generations living through a great turning point in history. The industrial economy is quickly giving away to the information economy. While past turning points, like the industrial revolution, were decades long and gave people the opportunity to plan and reflect and adapt, this cohort is living through a change that, in comparison, is happening overnight. The home computer showed up in the early 80s and became fairly common within a decade. The Internet - and this is where the turning point really takes shape - was accessible by 16 million people worldwide in 1995, had skyrocketed to 1 billion by 2005, 3.2 billion by 2015 and 5.4 billion today. The iPhone came out in 2007, social media in 2012 and the world has never been the same. One day we had computers and the Internet on our desk, the next day, they were in our pockets. The smartphone life is all Gen Z has ever known. For the rest of us, born prior to 1997, we had a different life and upbringing. Gen Z is the first generation to be formed by more than their immediate context and circumstances. Spending an average of 7 hours a day on their phones, the digital world they inhabit is undoubtedly forming who they are and who they will become as much, if not more, than their immediate context of the embodied world around them; their family, friends, neighborhood and religious communities.


[Read: The Missions Movement Needs Gen Z]


The Lausanne Movement recently released a report, “The State of the Great Commission”. In their online launch of the report, I jumped into the “What is Digital Life?” breakout session to walk through the findings. It was there that our host used the term, “Augmented Digital Identity” (ADI).  ADI is most often used in discussions of online security and blockchain and other things that I’ve not yet fully wrapped my mind around, but in this context, ADI was crystal clear. 

My identity growing up through my teen years was largely shaped by my available circumstances and context. My parents, teachers, youth pastor and friends were my main influence. Television was still coming through our antenna and the handful of channels didn’t offer much in the way of diverse thought. Our public and school libraries were treasure troves of information but were limited to the space available on the shelves. Reading Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums and Mitchner’s 800 page tome, The Drifters gave me a romantic inclination toward a hippy lifestyle but it never got much more developed than trying to grow my hair out for a few months. There was just not enough input of these types of ideas to shape my identity in any lasting way. I still love the music of the late 60’s and early 70’s but beyond that I’m pretty plain Jane. 

Members of Gen Z however are being shaped by an onslaught of input from every corner of the world through their smartphones. I’ve not seen any comparative studies but I’d guess that Gen Z sees, reads, or watches more messages in a week than I came across in a year, maybe more.

As a rather disturbing example, in a recent study I came across in Jon Haidt’s new book The Anxious Generation and reported on in The New York Times, Tik Tok began pushing videos about eating disorders and self harm to 13 year old girls within 30 minutes of their joining the platform. A steady stream of any issue will begin to shape the identities of anyone and social media is created to do just that. The identities of Gen Z, like every generation, are being shaped by the circumstances and the context of their lives. It just so happens that theirs is the first generation to be shaped by a digital space rather than the real, flesh and blood spaces of their homes, neighborhood and schools. This is the augmented digital identity.

There is much that is problematic about the phone based life of many in Gen Z. Haidt’s book or his Substack After Babel would be excellent places to learn more. The augmented digital identity does however prepare Gen Z in unique ways to interact with an increasingly globalized world. They - and when I say “they” I mean Gen Z in every country on earth - have more in common with one another than any generation prior. Sixteen year olds in China and Mozambique, Canada and Mexico, the U.S. and Vietnam are all watching the same TikToks, seeing the same Instagram influencers and are all learning how to fix their iPhone from the same Youtube videos. They share gaming advice with one another on Discord and they openly mock those of us who still use Facebook. They are poised to work together in business and service better than any generation in history. Their embodied identities are still culturally defined by their local community but the augmented digital identity is flattening this out as it moves toward the center where they are interacting with people and content online from all over the world.

They are the most interculturally connected generation to ever walk the earth making them a generation poised and prepared to do great things in new ways. I for one want to learn how to support and encourage them in doing just that.

Also Read: Gen Z, Epic Learning and the Future of the Church

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