Gen Z students in Manchester to learn ‘soft skills’ such as empathy and time management
Thousands of ‘digital natives’ to be taught social skills, as employers say they are too afraid to speak on phone.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/21/gen-z-students-in-manchester-to-learn-soft-skills-such-as-empathy-and-time-managementOpen linkView original on jlai.lu207
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As a Gen Z I agree that this is neccessary. Many of us are honestly stunted regarding emotional maturity.
If I'd had access to the internet growing up I'd have never left the house either.
Parents were stunned when 16 hit and I didn't want to go anywhere. "Its all here"
That being said if my dad hadn't forced me into socializing at a young age I'd be fucked. Having a 4 year old introduce themselves to elderlies went a long way.
One thing you hear all the time from older folks. When they were young everyone in the area knew every kid. The people in the neighborhood would chat. These days, that's rare. Kids grow up without the idea of having a social network in the real world.
"death and life of great American cities" by Jacobs talks about this. The suburban mode where everything is car focused and isolated is really bad. Having spaces with foot traffic and community is much better for people.
Malls took the place of the town square, but the internet is killing them.
I mean my company made me do a time management course and I am born in the early nineties...
To be honest, I've seen most people "too afraid" to speak on the phone do so because of two things:
Honestly, fuck phone calls.
I hate speaking on the phone for a couple of reasons, but the key one is not having time to think of how I want to respond to any questions that may come up. If someone at work calls me out of the blue without prior context and time to mentally prepare, I don't answer the call.
I made the mistake, years ago, of using my favorite song at the time as a ringtone.
To me, it's just a personalized bad news machine.
Yeah. I had "So and so says X in a one on one phone call and then says Y in a meeting and then sends Z per mail" one too many times. If it is something relevant i'll have it in writing. At the very least that i make notes as we speak.
I became afraid of the phone because of medical debt collectors. (Not Gen Z)
Gen Z is the only generation in need of this?
This is us learning we should have had this all along
If they ever want to work abroad on some specific countries, they'll also have to learn to use printers and a fax machine.
Will it include discussion of the concerning incest pr0n trend?
edit: Sorry everyone, I didn't realise that so many people would take it personally.
I don't think that's a new trend
Believe me, the scale of it is a new trend.
No, find a real problem to be upset about
I'm upset about you now.
Depends on who you are and what circles you run in ;)
Concerning to whom? And why? And how is it related to this post?