The Future of Iran with Generation Z
The future of Iran with Generation Z: A recent ISPA survey on the socio-cultural status of students in state universities provides a good picture of the new Iranian generation. Since the majority of students, especially undergraduate and master’s students, are now born in 1996 and particularly in the 2000s, they form the Iranian Generation Z. This survey gives an image of the characteristics of this generation.
A survey that shows in which direction Iranian society is heading in the future and what characteristics it will have.
According to ISPA’s survey findings, more than 85% of students in state universities use Telegram and Instagram.
This number for Telegram, with a usage rate of about 90%, is significant because, according to the same survey institute, on average, about 40% 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, the Telegram platform will become the main communication messenger among young and middle-aged people. Secondly, the new Iranian generation does not care if a platform is filtered or not, and if they find it useful in their daily lives, they will use it.
This finding is also seen in another section of the data published 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 from the moment it entered Iran and was never really paid attention to or used in Iranian society. Even now, when it can be monetized, only 85% of Iranians use it.
This shows how much this platform is neglected in Iranian society, but the encounter of Generation Z and students of state universities with this platform is completely different.
More than 50% of students use this platform, and there is evidence that many high school students also use YouTube.
The use of YouTube has not only been on the rise in Iran but worldwide, 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 the reality that students use YouTube for educational purposes.
The use of this platform, in addition to showing that its filtering is a completely futile and useless policy, has another meaning.
While the educational system in Iran is such that many cultural and political values are transferred through formal education, the high reference to YouTube will cause students to be less exposed to these formal educations than in the past. This intensifies the generational gap and increases the values prevailing in the new generation compared to the values of previous generations.
This is also evident in the film and series watching patterns of Generation Z, where 61% of respondents watch films and series through downloading from the internet, satellite, or foreign film 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 the consumption of cultural goods such as films and series, alongside significant YouTube consumption among students, indicates the inefficiency of cultural policies in the country, rendering cultural policymaking ineffective.
In other words, most students are not exposed to formal education and cultural productions, and as a result, it is quite natural for them to have values and perspectives different from what the official structure wants.
In this published data, the usage rate of Twitter among students in state universities is also notable. While Twitter is one of the least used platforms 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 affect their political outlook, 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 promoted by the official structure, and the socialization of the new generation is entirely different from the socialization of previous generations.
Some may think that based on this, the filtering policy should be continued, but in fact, these data show that the filtering policy is a failed policy that has distanced the official structure and political system from correct cultural policymaking.
In reality, filtering has caused the issue to be erased by the policymaker, while the issue remains strong and has been practically abandoned by the policymaker. Changing this situation is only possible with a fundamental change in the approach to filtering and turning to newer and more creative ideas.
Worldwide, policymakers pay attention to the interests of the new generation and formulate policies based on them. For example, international survey data shows that the new generation is more interested in audio and visual media productions than textual productions and turns to these types of productions for news. This has gradually caused all media to focus on audio and visual productions so as not to fall behind global trends.
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 in the next five years, the prevailing values will probably be completely different from today. This trend started a few years ago and is evident in surveys related to hijab, lifestyle, or data related to religiosity.
This change has occurred, and a confrontational policy with it is not effective. If this change in Iranian society, driven by Generation Z, is not understood and accepted, there will practically be no proper encounter with it, and the policymaker, thinking that the issue has been erased, will practically abandon the subject.
This type of approach to the issue is unscientific and wrong. The new Iranian generation has different values and perspectives from previous generations. The future society of Iran will be completely different from today’s society, and the key to dealing with this society is a transformation in the approach to cultural issues.