The Future of Iran with Generation Z
The future of Iran with Generation Z: A recent ISPA survey about the cultural and social status of students in state universities provides a good picture of the new Iranian generation. Since most students, especially those in undergraduate and master’s programs, are now born in 1996 and particularly in the 2000s, they form the Iranian Generation Z. This survey provides an image of the characteristics of this generation.
A survey that shows the direction in which Iranian society is heading and what features it will have in the future.
According to ISPA’s survey findings, more than 85 percent of students in state universities use Telegram and Instagram.
This number is significant for Telegram, with around 90 percent usage, because according to the same survey institute, on average, about 40 percent of Iranians use Telegram.
The meaningful gap between these two numbers shows, firstly, that if no alternative to Telegram is created, within the next 5 years, Telegram will become the primary communication messenger among the youth and middle-aged. Secondly, the new Iranian generation does not care whether a platform is filtered or not and will use it if they find it useful in their daily lives.
This finding is also seen in another part of the data released by ISPA, where more than half of the students in state universities use YouTube.
The YouTube platform, which some consider the largest online university, was filtered as soon as it entered Iran and never gained attention or use in Iranian society. Even now, when it can be used to generate income, only 15 percent of Iranians use it.
This indicates how neglected this platform is in Iranian society, but the interaction of Generation Z and students in state universities with this platform is completely different.
More than 50 percent of students use this platform, and there is evidence that many high school students also use YouTube.
The use of YouTube has been on the rise not just in Iran but around the world, and it is now the most popular platform globally. YouTube has many educational functions, and its high usage by the new generation in Iran also confirms this reality that students use YouTube for educational purposes.
The use of this platform, in addition to showing that filtering it is a completely futile and pointless policy, also has another meaning.
While the education system in Iran is such that many cultural and political values are transmitted through formal education, the high reference to YouTube will result in students being less exposed to this formal education than before, a factor that intensifies the generational gap and further increases the values prevailing in the new generation compared to previous generations.
This phenomenon is also evident in the film and series viewing patterns of Generation Z, where 61 percent of respondents watch films and series through downloading from the internet, satellite, or foreign movie streaming platforms.
The meaning of these numbers is that most of the new Iranian generation is less exposed to official productions. This behavioral pattern in consuming cultural goods like films and series, alongside the significant use of YouTube among students, indicates the inefficiency of cultural policies in the country and has practically rendered cultural policymaking ineffective.
In other words, most students are not exposed to official educational and cultural productions, and as a result, it is quite natural that they have different values and perspectives from what the official structure desires.
In these released data, the rate of Twitter usage among students in state universities is also noteworthy. While Twitter is one of the platforms with the least use in Iran, about a quarter of state university students use it and are exposed to discussions on it.
Since various political groups are most active on Twitter, the active presence of students on Twitter will influence their political views, and this influence is not necessarily aligned with official policies.
Therefore, it seems that the values and perspectives of Generation Z, influenced by their media consumption, are completely different from the values that the official structure promotes, and the socialization of the new generation is entirely different from the socialization of previous generations.
Some might, on this basis, think that the filtering policy should continue, whereas these data actually show that the filtering policy is a failed policy that has distanced the official structure and political system from proper cultural policymaking.
In reality, filtering has led to the issue being erased by the policymaker, while the issue remains strong and has practically been abandoned by the policymaker. Changing this situation is only possible with a fundamental change in perspective towards filtering and turning to newer and more creative ideas.
Globally, policymakers pay attention to the interests of the new generation and make policies based on them. For example, international survey data show that the new generation is more interested in audio-visual media productions than textual ones and turns to these types of productions to get news. This has gradually led all media to focus on audio-visual productions to not fall behind the global trend.
The future of Iranian society will also be shaped by this new generation with these different values and perspectives.
The shape of Iranian society is changing, and likely, in the next 5 years, the prevailing values will be completely different from today. This trend began a few years ago and is evident in surveys related to hijab and lifestyle or data related to religiosity.
This change has occurred, and a confrontational policy is not responsive. If this change in Iranian society, driven by Generation Z, is not understood and accepted, there will be no proper engagement with it, and the policymaker, as in all these years, will mistakenly believe that they have erased the issue and will practically abandon it.
This type of engagement with the issue is unscientific and wrong. The new Iranian generation has different values and perspectives from previous generations. The future Iranian society will be completely different from today, and the key to engaging with this society lies in transforming perspectives on cultural issues.
