Zillennials, born between 1993 and 1998, are being hailed as the luckiest generation in the workforce and a 'superpower generation,' according to Maddy Mussen. She argues that this micro-generation occupies a unique position: close enough to Gen Z to understand their culture, but old enough to have avoided the forces that shaped younger Gen Z negatively.
Why Zillennials Are Distinct
Mussen, born in 1998 and straddling both Zillennial and Gen Z definitions, claims that Zillennials are the 'last remaining sane generation.' She points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a key dividing line. The youngest Zillennial would have left university in 2019, making them the last age group to experience adolescence and early adulthood without pandemic disruption. They also remember a five-day in-office working week and the social rituals that came with it.
In contrast, younger Gen Z faced closed clubs, online seminars, and quarantined university halls, paying £9,250 for a diminished experience. Mussen notes, 'No wonder Gen Z are so bad at drinking, they had no one to show them how to do it at university during the pandemic. It was the blind leading the blind.'
Impact of AI and Social Media
Mussen highlights generative AI as a factor 'literally rotting Gen Z's brains.' According to the Higher Education Policy Institute, up to 92 per cent of students in 2025 use AI in some form, up from 66 per cent in 2024. An MIT study found that ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.'
She also notes that Zillennials were the last age group to go through childhood without a front-facing camera. The iPhone 4, released in 2010, popularised selfies and FaceTime, shaping a more self-focused generation. Gen Z are widely considered to suffer from 'main character syndrome,' while Zillennials benefited from Millennial-driven movements like body positivity, sex positivity, and fourth-wave feminism.
Political and Economic Context
Politically, Zillennials first voted in the 2016 Brexit referendum, marked by 'misleading' figures and 'implausible assumptions,' followed by Donald Trump's election and the rise of 'fake news.' Mussen argues that younger Gen Z have never known active political ability in a pre-post-truth era. Economically, high rents and limited house-buying ability affect both groups, but Zillennials entered the workforce before the pandemic, giving them a slight edge.
Mussen concludes, 'Many things set us Zillennials apart from our malformed younger siblings, but one thing's for sure: we're the last normal ones.' She expresses gratitude for being born just one year earlier, suggesting that being a lower-end Gen Z might be 'cursed.'
