generation

Alcohol needs to win over a generation that is becoming less interested in alcohol. Your strategy: offer something else

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The alcohol industry has come to an interesting conclusion. Maybe Generation Z is less interested for the drink that millennialsbut that does not make it immune to an age-proof claim: curiosity. Starting from this premise, the companies dedicated to producing distillates and wines have decided to refocus their strategy and bet on new products that appeal to the youngest. And that happens so much for him came no/low as for him tequifresa either Dubai chocolate. The goal is clear: connect with a demographic cohort that seems to be losing interest for alcohol and will decide the future of the industry. What has happened? Basically, Madrid has just said goodbye to the Gourmet Salonone of the largest European fairs for the high-end food and beverage industry. Until then, nothing out of this world or that may be of interest beyond the specialized industry. The curious thing, how has revealed the EFE Agro agency, is that on this occasion at IFEMA not only bottles of traditional wines, craft beers and traditional spirits have been seen. Companies in the sector have wanted to bet on new unorthodox products and flavors to awaken the curiosity of customers. And that (although at first it may seem anecdotal) is of interest beyond the industry. Why’s that? Because the sector is transforming. Just take a look at the newspaper library to check it out. Although Spain chains record tourism figuresin 2024 the sales recorded by the brewery association fell by second year in a rowsomething that had not happened for more than a decade. The figures Advanced by Circana suggest that the outlook was more promising in 2025, although also with surprise: sales of ‘without’ beer increased almost three times as much as those of alcoholic beverages. Its turnover is still much lower than that of ‘con’ beer, but there is a trend change. And the rest of the drinks? The panorama is similar in the case of wine. The Spanish Oenology Federation estimates that in 2025, 9.35 million of hectoliters, 5.2% less than the previous year. As with beer, its demand is very established and has experienced fluctuations in recent years, but that does not mean that wineries are looking for new business niches. For example, the development of ‘without’ wines or the use of new formatslike packaged broth bag-in-box or served directly from the tap. With respect to spirits, the employers’ association estimates that in 2024 their consumption contracted 3.7%which aggravates the fall that had already suffered in 2023. What is the strategy? From what has been seen these days at IFEMA, the industry wants to go one step further. Bottles of tequila flavored with strawberry, melon, peach or even with even more unorthodox flavors have been promoted on the stands. Orujos Panizo, which has been dedicated to the production of spirits for almost 90 years, has launched, for example, a cream liqueur Dubai chocolate. The objective is clear: to take advantage of the wave of popularity of the sweet and reach out to the young public at a time that, the head of the company recognizes, is not exactly good for the industry. The strategy does not seem misdirected. EFE Agro assures that the demand for some fruit creams with tequila is growing by double digits. Of course, the product starts from “very low” figures. Are there more ideas? Yes. To bet on him tequifresa either meloncello the one known as came no/lowpartially dealcoholized or alcohol-free broths. From being practically unknown in the sector, ‘without’ bottles have begun to sneak into professional tastingscontribute millionaire income to some companies and (above all) generate promising business expectations in the medium term. The specialized medium Italian Food News assures that the ‘without’ wine market expects to expand with a compound annual growth rate of 10% until 2033, expanding its market from 2,000 million to around 5,200. Does consumption change that much? It seems so. And the change is especially interesting among Generation Z, the population cohort born between the mid-1990s and the first decade of this century. Although 76% of young people between 14 and 18 years old admit having tried alcohol at least once in their life and 21% have gotten drunk in the last month, their relationship with drinking is changing. At least when compared to previous generations. “Generation Z drinks less than millennials and these, in turn, less than the boomers“, explains to The Country Andera Mellado, promoter of a ‘sin’ beverage distributor. “They’ve seen how their elders drank and they don’t want to get into that.” Is it just supply and demand? No. It’s something cultural. Habits change, the way of find a partner and to enjoy the leisure. They even change events that until not so long ago were inextricably linked to the “open bar”, like weddings. The vocabulary is also transformed. Terms become popular straight edge and Dry January and Anglo-Saxon expressions like superb curious, mindful living either zebra stripingwhich identify new ways of approaching drinking. That of course doesn’t mean that alcohol has disappeared from Generation Z’s radar or there are no more bottles. 28% of young people recognize that in the last month they have binged on alcohol, the so-called bringe drinking. What do the studies say? That in general there is a decrease in alcohol intake. Although Spain has one of the higher levels of consumption, WHO data show that the average per capita has decreased in recent decades. If in 1975 it reached 18.5 l (pure alcohol), in 2022 it was already around 11.7. The study on consumption among younger youth (14-18 years old) from the Ministry of Health also shows a gradual loss of interest in drinking over recent years, especially since the middle of the last decade, although in both cases it is a trend with fluctuations. Images | Panizo Distilleries, Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash), Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash) and Ministry of Health In Xataka | Having a beer or a wine at 65 seems like a harmless indulgence. We have more and more evidence to … Read more

Generation Z is uploading videos of their work routines to TikTok and Instagram, and it is already a phenomenon

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If we have learned anything from social networks, it is that everything can be contained, including boring office work. After all there are people hooked on toilet cleaning videosso it’s not that strange. Worktok. It’s how these creators, most of them very young, tag the content they publish about their work. Browsing the hashtag we found mostly humorous gags about work life, but digging a little deeper we found all kinds of videos. There are those who tell their routine, those who use it as a space to vent to complain about their bosses and even those who broadcast his dismissal live. There is a subcategory within this trend and it is the ‘Quittok’, that is, young people who tell why they want to resign from their jobs. Some they even record themselves doing it. Viral. It is not an anecdotal phenomenon, the hashtag #worktok It has already accumulated almost 300,000 publications and the total views amount to 1.8 billion. What has led so many people to share details about their work life? The label began to become popular in 2020 during the pandemic. At a time when teleworking was imposed throughout the world, many people began to share their daily lives on TikTok and that also included work. Why is it important. In statements to the BBCAccording to Sara McCorquodale, head of an influencer firm in the United Kingdom, the fact that it has been maintained over time responds to a need to create a community and seek validation online. It’s like looking for that “coffee machine moment” that for many young people does not exist either because they work remotely or because they do not have that connection with their office colleagues. A space of identity. According to McCorquodale, sharing with the world the day-to-day life of work – with its achievements and its dramas – is also a way of reaffirming one’s identity and taking control of the narrative. It is a way of saying that my work life belongs to me and I am going to narrate it as I want, not as the company dictates. It is also a symptom of a broader trend, that of a generation that prioritizes their mental health and well-being over promotions or working hard. They are the opposite of workaholics. Yes, but. Sharing certain company details or recording videos during working hours can cause problems. It’s what It happened to a paint store worker who started recording videos of how he mixed different colors of paint. The company saw the videos and fired him for recording during work hours and using store materials. Primark also fired an employee in the United Kingdom for having recorded TikToks. It doesn’t seem like ‘worktok’ is going to disappear, so both companies and employees will have to adapt and navigate without crossing boundaries. In Xataka | A generation totally disconnected from their work: 80% of “genzers” want to change jobs Image | Vitaly Gariev in Unsplash

Inflation has made the Lotus cookie the “affordable luxury” of Generation Z

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In the English town of Bridgnorth there is a restaurant that bathes its fried chicken in cream and Lotus biscuit crumbs. And there’s no need to go that far: anyone who stops by this week Champions Burger in Alicante You’ll see how this spicy Belgian snack has become the star ingredient, with dozens of people lining up to devour viral burgers dripping with caramelized cookie cream. A quick look through social media is enough to confirm that this little cookie has jumped from screens to menus around the world. But the question is: how is it possible that a small gift, which in the 90s was nothing more than the free accompaniment they gave you with your coffee at the hairdresser, has become a cult product worldwide? The answer, surprisingly, has less to do with baking and much more to do with macroeconomics. To understand the phenomenon, you have to travel to 1932, to the small Belgian town of Lembeke. As explained The Wall Street Journalthat was where the grandfather of the current CEO of Lotus, Jan Boone, created the recipe (which only five people in the world know today) for his particular version of the speculoosa traditional European dessert. The company’s first big leap occurred in the eighties, when, after a shortage of peanuts, the American airline Delta began to distribute this snack on its flights under the name “Biscoff” (a contraction of biscuit and coffee). This gave a generic item an aura of exoticism and air travel. Today, they manufacture 20 million units a day and invoice more than 1,000 million euros annually, as detailed The Times. But the real catalyst for its current success is its positioning. Lisa Harris, co-founder of food consultancy Harris and Hayes, explains in Guardian that Biscoff’s triumph responds to “accessible indulgence.” In a context where the cost of living is stifling consumers, “people are looking for simple ways to feel like they have done something special,” says Harris. Biscoff offers a nostalgic taste, with individual packaging that gives it a premium feel, but at a price that is affordable to anyone. It is, in essence, a cheap luxury. Doom spending: buy so as not to think This concept fits perfectly with a worrying economic and psychological phenomenon that is defining Generation Z and millennials: he doom spending (or catastrophic expense). This habit is defined as the irrational and impulsive expenses made by young people in the face of the overwhelm they feel for the economy and its future. Instability, inflation and job insecurity have created a feeling that traditional milestones are unattainable goals. When the initial payment of a mortgage requires tens of thousands of euros that you do not have, spending just 3 euros on a package of imported sweets or 6 euros on a slice of viral cake becomes a survival and consolation mechanism. This establishes a mentality of “live in the moment”. Morgan Housel, behavioral finance expert, analyzes it in Fortune explaining that this expense is a natural reaction to not having a clear purpose or being able to reach the great steps of adulthood. Seeing heritage purchases as unattainable, young people find refuge in smaller, more everyday material luxuries. However, the relief is temporary. The magazine verywellmind provides psychological perspective of the matter: when we make these purchases to alleviate anxiety, our brain releases dopamine. But once that momentary pleasure fades, “we are left with overwhelming feelings of guilt, remorse, and an intensified sense of anxiety,” psychologist Christopher Fisher explains in that medium. Added to this is what Ylva Baeckström, a finance expert, defined as a “false illusion of control”. In a world that young people perceive as chaotic – a pessimism fueled by the chronic consumption of bad news on the Internet – shopping becomes the steering wheel of a car that, in reality, they do not drive. A native recipe for social networks The role of social networks in this cocktail is fundamental. Biscoff is a native social media recipe. Content creators like Ashley Markle or Fitwaffle accumulate tens of millions of views cooking with this cream, feeding back the desire for immediate consumption. According to data from Intuit Credit Karma43% of Gen Zers admit that TikTok directly influences their impulsive spending. However, this generation is fully aware of the problem in which is immersed. While 41% of young people from Generation Z admit to practicing doom spending and panic buying, at the same time, a similar percentage (around 44%) are trying to adopt lifestyles low-buy (buy little) or no-buy (not buy anything) to try to build savings and pay off debt. It is a constant struggle between the need to save in a suffocating economy and the uncontrollable impulse to seek small doses of happiness and dopamine through consumption. “We want to conquer the world,” confessed Jan Boone, CEO of Lotus, to The Times last year. Judging by the numbers, the supermarket shelves and the countless videos on social media, he is achieving it. But Biscoff’s global triumph is not just the story of a well-baked sweet or a brilliant marketing strategy born in the airline aisles. It is the edible reflection of our time. The next time you see someone digging a caramelized cookie into a cheesecake in front of their phone camera, remember that you’re not just watching a simple viral recipe. You are witnessing the “lipstick effect” of the digital age; the small, sweet and affordable lifeline of a generation trying to chew the anxiety of an economy that is slipping out of their hands. Image | Andrea Piacquadio and Shameel mukkath Text image | Nano Erdozain Xataka | Traveling with a dog is increasingly common, so the European Commission has decided something: mandatory passport

Japan has been cloning the same mouse continuously for 20 years. In the 58th generation, biology has said “enough”

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When we talk about cloning living beings, many of us may think of the famous experiment. with Dolly the sheep. But he was not the only one, since in Japan a biologist has spent the last two decades taking life to its most extreme limit, since since 2005 his team has set itself a major challenge: serially cloning mice from a single original female donor. 20 years and more than 1,000 mice later, the experiment has collided with biology. A collapse. The results of this great cloning experiment were published recently in Nature and reveal the definitive collapse of the genetic line in generation number 58. A very important finding that not only demonstrates that the continued asexual reproduction of mammals is unsustainable, but also shows us why evolution opted so strongly for sexual reproduction and the constant renewal of DNA in our species. His story. The experiment by Japanese researcher Wakayama is a milestone in reproductive biology. In 2013, the team had already managed to clone up to 25 generations, as was then published in Cell Stem Cell; yesHowever, what seemed like a theoretically infinite process began to show serious cracks from generation 25-27. As the generations progressed, birth rates began to plummet, to the point where we are now, where he points out in his latest article that the incessant accumulation of genetic mutations was a constant. Here it was seen how the animals began to have serious genetic alterations with complete losses of chromosomes with a probability three times higher than natural sexual reproduction. Its consequences. That an animal sees its genetic material altered is not harmless, because these alterations were seen to directly affect embryonic development and the placenta, making each new generation more difficult to obtain than the previous one. But the critical point came in generation 58 of the mice, where the model finally collapsed. And the culprit of this collapse was none other than these genetic alterations, which curiously did not alter the physique of the individuals, who seemed completely healthy, but the weight of the genetic damage made it impossible to continue the chain. The impressions. From the Spanish countryside, Lluís Montoliu, CSIC researcher, has qualified this “heroic” experiment, since it suggests that this test would be impossible to do in Europe due to ethical standards and animal welfare that exist. But he sees it as important, since it proves the evolutionary superiority of sexual reproduction. The other side of the coin. Big questions arise here, since if serial cloning fails due to DNA fragmentation and damage… How is biology protected when it uses sexual reproduction? Here the answer is to have a constant renewal of the interior of our cells. Paradoxically, while science shows that copying the same DNA over and over again leads to genetic disaster, new clinical studies on human fertility are revealing that, to maintain the highest quality in male genetic material, frequent renewal is key. But in addition, it also makes it clear that we are still quite far from being able to clone humans to have two identical people, because in the end it is something that can go really wrong. Images | digitale.de In Xataka | A team of experts wants to resurrect extinct bison. There are many reasons to be skeptical

The generational conflict with Generation Z is costing us a lot of money: $56 billion

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There is a silent war in offices around the world over the focus on AI adoption at work. It has no declared sides or visible battles, but its devastating effects already have a price: a scandalously high one. We are not talking about employees who lose their jobs because an AI does its jobwe talk about an intergenerational war that has been declared between the baby boom generation and generation Z due to the discrepancy of use of this technology. The damage it is causing that confrontation It is not nonsense: almost one working day lost per week for each employee, in addition to projects that do not progress and burnt-out workers who, instead of looking for solutions, are looking for a new job. A very very expensive war. A published study by Salesloft and the consulting firm Workplace Intelligence based on surveys of 2,000 employees, puts figures on the intergenerational battle for the implementation of AI and other technologies that is being experienced in some US companies: 56,000 million dollars a year in terms of lost productivity due to conflict between generations. These losses are not due to misuse or ignorance of technology or lack of employee performance, but because boomers and Gen Z have communication problems and have different expectations about balance between work and personal life. A day’s work wasted for not understanding each other. That conflict between employees more veterans and those who have just joined, translates into a combined loss of 5.3 hours per week of lost productivity for each employee. Steve Cox, CEO of Salesloft, explained the phenomenon in his report: “The $56 billion productivity loss is just the visible cost. When AI adoption is fragmented, the damage multiplies and leads to missed forecasts, slower execution, and higher turnover quarter after quarter. At that point, generational conflict is not a culture problem; it is a balance problem.” They prefer to talk to a bot. A relevant fact from the study indicates that 39% of Generation Z respondents say they prefer to be directed by an AI than by a boomer, while 25% of boomers prefer to work with an AI than with a fellow Gen Z. That’s how heated the mood is. The tensions do not remain only in the environment, this intergenerational friction is causing 28% of Generation Z workers to acknowledge that they are looking for another job so they don’t have to work with boomers. Similarly, 19% of boomers say they are considering early retirementpartly because he can’t stand his younger colleagues anymore. AI, gasoline or solution? Although many of them have indicated that they prefer to have a bot as a boss rather than someone from the “rival” generation, artificial intelligence is aggravating the situation instead of softening it. The problem is that 64% of employees admit that they are not even using the AI ​​tools they already have available well. The study reveals that 60% of boomers surveyed believe the way Gen Z uses technology is hurting customer relationships. Young people, on the other hand, respond in the same tone: 64% think that boomers’ resistance to adopting new tools is slowing down innovation, and 63% say that this attitude is costing them many sales. However, there is room for optimism because both generations agree in some aspects. 86% of respondents believe that AI could improve knowledge sharing between generations, 80% that it could reduce the experience gap, and 79% of participants believe that it could improve communication between teams of different ages. The clash is not just about AI: it is about values. Beyond the tools and the adoption of technology, the underlying problem is values ​​at work. 71% of Gen Z respondents believe boomers value plus the hours in the chair than the results obtained, and 56% point them out as those responsible for the toxic environment that exists in many companies. On the other hand, 64% of more veteran employees believe that Gen Z puts your personal life ahead of the job needs. The assessment of these employees is correct and confirms it a study on job preferences among generation Z prepared by the consulting firm Robert Walters. 52% of the young people interviewed stated that avoided promotions to not take on more responsibilities that were not going to translate into economic benefits or a great evolution in their work career, but rather into more stress and loss of work. time for your personal life. In Xataka | We have found the “kryptonite” of Generation Z: they are experts in apps, but they don’t know how to use a printer Image | Freepik (pch.vector)

Generation Z is prioritizing “experience” leisure based on word of mouth

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Bars with decorations set in Disney movies, establishments inspired by the 80s, cafes where you can have a snack with adoptable cats. The offer to go out is increasingly specific, more themed, more designed to surprise. In a country wheremeet for a drink“is part of the social DNA, bars have historically been much more than places of consumption: they have been meeting points where we celebrate and catch up. And this ritual has not disappeared. The study Socialization trends and habits points out that bars, restaurants or cafes are the preferred places to socialize for 79% of Spaniards. A figure that places us above the European average: 63% choose to go to bars compared to 48% of Europeans. This preference also translates into a numerical reality. According to INE dataIn Spain there are more than 163,000 drinking establishments – bars, cafes or pubs – which is approximately one establishment for every 290 inhabitants. That is to say: we continue going out, we continue choosing the bar, but something is changing. Because although the habit remains, the way of deciding and living it responds to new logic. “Youth leisure has been reconfigured” Ana, 29 years old—one of the young women who agreed to speak with Xataka preserving his identity—he acknowledges that he rarely goes to “regular bars,” in fact they make him “quite lazy.” He believes that today the new generations tend to prefer a type of leisure that is far from what their parents could have: “In my group of friends (and in general) I see that we go less and less to traditional bars or restaurants and we prefer slightly different places, or even chains.” Raquel, 22, doesn’t usually go to “normal” bars either. And although if you have friends who have a “neighborhood bar” specifically as a “meeting point”, he understands that new generations are attracted to “different” plans: “For example, I saw a place where you make the pizza yourself, they help you make it and then you eat it. That cannot compete with a restaurant or a bar.” For Alejandro MonteroHealth Psychologist and disseminator in social networksyoung people seem to “prioritize experiences that are memorable beyond a habitual pattern of socialization, as could be seen in other generations.” He comments how before the “most frequent and most accessible plan could be going to a bar”, but today there is a “variability” – from jazz shows among hundreds of candles and workshops to paint a picture while drinking wine, to restaurants themed in Harry Potter – that “influences the choice of the leisure plan.” For Raquel, for example, it is increasingly important that the places where she stays be “pretty”something that does not usually fit with traditional bars: “I would tell you that 90% of traditional bars are not pretty (…) I prefer it to be pretty to look at, better than the typical bar with the steel bar.” In this sense, he understands that his generation is “bored” of having a coffee “where they always do” and prefers to go to places where you can “paint your own cup while having a snack.” The coffee, better specialty. In this context, Esther Clavero Mira, doctor in sociology, warns of the danger of “falling into the temptation of thinking that any time in the past was betteras Jorge Manrique wrote.” She talks about how nostalgia can evoke “crowded discos” or “endless bars” that we no longer see today, and because of that “mental album” we can think that young people no longer go out. However, the psychologist believes that “youthful leisure has not disappeared, it has been reconfigured.” The hospitality sector is also aware of this change. Juanjo Cuevas, who has been dedicated to the hospitality industry for more than 15 years, believes that “the future of traditional bars is complicated.” Run a irish pub in Arganzuela, The Towerswhich he himself places “between the neighborhood bar and the theme bar.” “Irish pubs were set up as themed, but not in the same sense as now,” he clarifies. This intermediate position, he explains, also allows him to attract young people, something that, he believes, other more traditional bars have increasingly difficult to do. He sees how more and more young people are opting for themed establishments and leaving the usual businesses in the background. In addition, along with other colleagues, he has detected a change in consumer habits. “They have stopped going to eat. Young people don’t eat in a normal bar,” he says. He explains that they do still go down to have a drink—“beers or wines under their house”—but that when it comes to sitting down to eat the profile is different: “Here the few that come are from nearby companies, offices or neighbors, but young people come to eat, nothing. And the same thing happens to the bars and restaurants in the area, they go mainly retirees and workers.” Social networks, the new “word of mouth” Irene, a 26-year-old young woman, is sure that new generations are more inclined towards experiences, and attributes a “fundamental” role to social networks: “Everything is spread through them. Thanks to social networks I have discovered a lot of plans that I would never have discovered on my own.” For Elena, 27 years old, these platforms are a “great source of information” to obtain “recommendations, compare and see opinions…”. This shows that the change in the type of leisure also affects how it is organized, discovered or decided: “Social networks are the new word of mouth,” explains Ana. Alcohol, better with experiences. According to Montero, in 2024 68% of young people At the national level, they reported the daily use of social networks, something that “affects the way they relate to each other.” They not only influence the accessibility and knowledge of new experiences, but also the construction of a public identity: what we decide to show and share with others. In this search for a “life narrative”, social networks offer young people infinite possibilities to fill their lives with … Read more

Generation Z has found the remedy to streaming subscription fatigue: buying DVDs again

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Sales of DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD stopped their decline in 2025. They only fell 9% compared to declines of more than 20% in the previous two years. What is the reason for this slowdown? To an unexpected factor, an unforeseen audience: young people from Generation Z who are filling video stores, promoting labels boutique like Criterion and Arrow and turning the physical format into a gesture of resistance against the massification of streaming. Plummet. For more than a decade, the physical format market in home video followed a downward trajectory that seemed irreversible. Between 2019 and 2023 it was reduced by 40% in the United States alone, and the disappearance of chains such as blockbuster it reinforced the feeling that the album was an exhausted medium. In 2024, DVD and Blu-ray sales were below a billion dollars for the first time. Gasping. However, in 2025 a different phenomenon has been detected: the physical disk market generated 870 million dollarsthat is, it only decreased by 9.3% compared to the previous year. What’s more: in the 4K UHD segment (which allows high-quality viewing at home), US consumer spending grew 12% year-on-year. All this in an extremely unfavorable context: with the unstoppable growth of streaming (19.8% in 2025), the physical format represents only 1.4% of total home entertainment. Fed up with streaming. The overdose of supply in streaming is ultimately causing a tiredness effect. According to recent studies47% of American consumers say they pay too much for their insurance services streamingand 41% consider that the available content does not justify the price. The average number of subscriptions per household has been four for a couple of years, an amount that could be at its critical point. DVD solution. Added to this saturation is a problem that film fans know well: the platforms are unreliable and the catalogs change without prior notice. Movies and series disappear for reasons ranging from the completion of exploitation contracts to tax reasons. In a ‘Los Angeles Times’ piece that has investigated this interest Of the youngest to recover physical formats, some young people under thirty spoke about how they became interested in cinema during the pandemic, describing DVD collecting as an act of rebellion against the fragmentation of streaming. Blockbuster, meeting point. That same article talks about renovated versions of old video stores as meeting points for these new collectors. Of course, it is something that mainly concerns the United States, where such specific types of businesses make sense: Vidiots, in Los Angeles, also functions as a movie theater, and is registering its highest revenue peaks since its opening, with an average of 170 daily rentals. Also from there is Cinefile, which has 500 paying members. Visiting the video store functions as a social activity that streaming cannot offer and the community dimension is key to understanding why the phenomenon exceeds pure nostalgia. And you don’t have to go to such specialized stores: Barnes & Noble, one of the few large chains in the country that maintains a space dedicated to the physical format after the withdrawal of Best Buy and Target, speaks of a double-digit percentage growth during the last year. And they point out that the demographic profile of their buyers is increasingly younger. Stamps boutique. The situation experienced by domestic editions is completely unprecedented in the history of the medium: while the major studios reduce their commitment to the physical format, independent labels are experiencing a moment of expansion. Criterion Collection speaks of “significant year-over-year increases” in sales. The cult film specialist Vinegar Syndrome also experiments similar trends. Of course, sales are incomparably lower than the good times of the physical format, but we are not talking about residual phenomena either. In Spain alone, for example, there are half a dozen labels specialized in reissues of films that cannot be found in streaming (El 79, Cameo, Gabita Barbieri, Trashorama…) that survive crises and recessions alluding to a loyal audience and a cinema that cannot be seen any other way. The inevitable comparison. It is inevitable to think of an analogy with the vinyl recoverythe cassette and the VHS that the previous generations, Millennials and Gen-Xers, have carried out. This has been going on since the mid-2010s, in a mix of nostalgia, vindication of the physical and endless discussions about audio and video qualities. Two decades latervinyl is facing its eighteenth consecutive year of growth, with $1.4 billion in sales (the highest figure since 1984) and 44 million units in stores, surpassing the CD for the third consecutive year. The key difference is that vinyl has an industrial infrastructure that supports it: record companies that prioritize the format, active manufacturers and a distribution chain. The physical video, on the other hand, loses player manufacturers and the big studios prioritize streaming about the disc editions. Video game consoles, eternal support of the format, already have institutionalized versions of their hardware without disc readers. At the moment, the recovery of DVD and Blu-Ray is an isolated phenomenon. But those who we keep listening to cassettes We know better than to look over our shoulders at a format that seems dead. Header | Photo of Lance Anderson in Unsplash In Xataka | Despite streaming, I still buy Blu-Rays and DVDs. But the reason has nothing to do with image quality.

We believed that Generation Z was returning en masse to the Church. An error in a survey is to blame for the mirage

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Stadiums vibrating with thousands of twenty-somethings raising their arms, eyes closed, singing to god. International pop stars posing in nun’s habits on the covers of their most anticipated albums. And, as a backdrop, an incessant barrage of headlines announcing the unthinkable: the massive return of the youth to the church pews. Over the past few months, the world seemed to witness a fascinating twist in the script. Generation Z, the most secular and secularized demographic cohort in history, was re-embracing Christianity. However, when you scratch the surface of this apparent spiritual awakening, what emerges is not a collective epiphany, but a trap. A gigantic demoscopic mirage. What they sold us as the great rebirth of faith is, in reality, a monumental miscalculation where the armies of artificial intelligence, the mischief of paid online surveys and the desire to believe in a revival have completely distorted the true—and much more complex—religious transformation of young people. We believed that faith was returning to the streets, but the fault was in the method. The spark that ignited the narrative of the great Christian revival jumped in the United Kingdom with the publication of the report The Quiet Revivalcommissioned by the Bible Society. Based on survey data YouGov, The study showed a spectacular figure: monthly church attendance among English and Welsh young people aged 18 to 24 had quadrupled, going from a marginal 4% in 2018 to a resounding 16% in 2024. The news spread like wildfire. Entire dioceses held conferences to “turn up the volume” on this revival, and politicians in the British Parliament used the report as proof that “Christianity is neither oppressed nor decayed,” as reported by BBC. However, demographic experts were quick to raise alarm bells. Surveys considered the “gold standard” of sociology for using random probability samples—such as the British Social Attitudes wave Labor Force Survey— showed a diametrically opposite film. According to these rigorous metersthe percentage of practicing Christians between 18 and 34 years old had not only not risen, but had fallen from 8% in 2018 to 6% in 2024. The danger of surveys opt-in If young people are not filling the churches, where do the miracle figures come from? The answer lies in the architecture of the internet itself. The report of the Bible Society was based on surveys opt-inthat is, panels where users voluntarily register in exchange for financial rewards or points. Demographer Conrad Hackett warns that this format suffers an “existential threat.” Those who respond to these surveys usually seek to maximize your profits filling out questionnaires at full speed, lying about their age to access more surveys, or using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) from other countries to get paid in hard currency. Worse still, Artificial Intelligence has come into play. The researchers have detected armies of chatbots programmed to imitate humans and fill out surveys en masse. The fake young people in these polls are so unreliable that, in similar studies carried out in the USA12% of those surveyed opt-in under 30 years old even stated that he had a license to pilot a nuclear submarine. The “great awakening” was largely an algorithmic hallucination. The situation in our land In Spain, the optical illusion is similar. Phenomena like Hakuna Group Music They managed to bring together 12,000 young people at the Vistalegre Palace, while events such as Calls They gathered 6,000 people at the Movistar Arena. Both are betting on Contemporary Worship Music (CWM), an evangelization format of Protestant and evangelical heritage, full of giant screens, pop-rock and raw emotions. But the noise of the stadiums clashes head-on with the silence of the parishes. The comparison of the official reports of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) is devastating. If we analyze the transition from the previous exercises to the most recent data, the fall of the sacraments is an undeniable constant: Baptisms: They fell from 152,426 registered in 2023 at 146,370 in 2024which represents a year-on-year decrease of 3.97%. The magnitude of the collapse is better understood if we look in the rearview mirror: in 2007the Church celebrated no less than 325,271 baptisms annually. Communions and weddings: Inertia drags the rest of the life cycle. First communions fell by almost 5% (standing at 154,677), and Catholic marriages fell by 6%, remaining at a reduced 31,462 ecclesiastical unions. Institutional collapse has other profound social consequences. Given the collapse of baptismal prayers, more than 150 Spanish town councils now offer “civil baptisms” or lay welcome ceremonies to celebrate the arrival of newborns. At the same time, the bleeding of vocations has left Spain with only 15,285 priests, whose average age is around a worrying 65 years. The problem It’s so pressing that has forced bishoprics like that of Tui-Vigo to make lay women official to lead “Celebrations of the Word” in the villages in the face of the total lack of priests. The only discordant note—the small statistical lifeline to which the Church clings—is the baptism of children over 7 years of age. This figure experienced a reboundrising from 11,835 in 2023 to 13,323 in 2024. A figure that suggests a paradigm shift in Spanish Catholicism: conversions that are much more thoughtful, personal and less conditioned by “cultural” inertia. The great gap between Spirituality and Religion To understand Generation Z in Spain, two concepts must be drastically separated: the Catholic institution and the search for the transcendent. Here comes into play what my partner in Xataka defined as: “The 29-59% paradox.” According to the Barometer on Religion and Beliefs in Spain (BREC) of 202561% of young people between 18 and 24 years old declare themselves indifferent, agnostic or atheist. Only 29% define themselves as Catholic, a figure much lower than the 46% national average. However, just because they don’t set foot in a church doesn’t mean they are pure materialists. That same report reveals that 59% of young people firmly believe in the existence of the soul and 45% in “energies.” As the sociologist Mar Griera explainswe are not facing a return to dogma, … Read more

China is clear about who should lead the advances of its best AI and robotics companies: Generation Z

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Those who now enter the labor market find themselves with a rival that is difficult to beat: they have no agreement or need for rest or fulfillment. In addition, it does the tasks of junior profiles quite well: artificial intelligence is limiting the landing of Generation Z in the offices. in the United States, we have seen it in the UK and also in the Big Four that make up the Madrid skyline. Replacing those who start working with AI has been revealed as the West’s formula to boost productivity… from the point of view of the bosses. If you have to fight with her and validate her, not so much anymore. But it is by no means the only way, nor does it happen to everyone. In fact, China is betting just the opposite: it is turning Generation Z and millennials into heads of areas as strategic as robotics or artificial intelligence itself. They are not just any young people: they are true galacticos, their best assets. Give me someone young. As collect TechAsiaa trend is emerging in China: that of hiring millennials and young people from generation Z for positions with high-level technical profiles in large AI and robotics companies. The best example is Vinces Yao Shunyu: at 28 years old he has already been at OpenAI. A couple of months ago he returned to his native China to become the chief scientist of Tencent. He now reports directly to the CEO. Shunyu’s is just the tip of the iceberg of this new organizational strategy of Chinese companies. There are other cases, such as that of Luo Jianlan, formerly of Google since a year the chief scientist of AgiBot. Or of Dong Haochief scientist at PrimeBot after earning his PhD at Imperial College. By the way, OpenAI and Meta have copied the recipe: the first with Polish Jakub Pachocki and the second, with the Chinese Zhao Shengjia. They are scientists, but they could just as well be professional footballers: none of them are over 35 years old. Why is it important. When thinking about a boss within a modern business structure of a certain size, it is inevitable that team management, meetings and bureaucracy come to mind. However, this strategy of Chinese big tech is deliberately different from what we have in the West and is based on three reasons that SMCP explains: Institutional separation of research vs. product. A chief scientist looks to the future, he does not manage human teams or budgets. Competitive advantage in a saturated market, allowing you to build your own technologies without depending on third parties. If you have the best at home, you don’t have to ask for permission or sign abroad. The top youth asset. AI is evolving by leaps and bounds and with this movement, China is ensuring that it has those who have been at ground zero of the great milestones of recent years: elite universities or laboratories of renowned institutions such as OpenAI, Google or Princeton. China is a world source of engineers. That China is a country of engineers is no secret: it is a plan that has been underway for 4o years. In fact, now he has opted to go one step further and accelerate doctorates. The Chinese labor market is already showing signs of some saturationwhich has also brought diversification, changing routes to avoid even setting foot in the university in its new bet on FP. In any case, having an army of almost six million engineering professionals gives you an advantage with AI. And it has more than enough: it has engineers to export. Without going any further, the vast majority of signings of the Meta superintelligence team from last year they are Chinese. But young engineers who stay at home have an opportunity beyond joining a leading company in the sector: leading it. Disclaimer: a chief scientist is not a CTO. It is worth remembering a difference between positions that are often confused: a chief scientist is not the director of technology. While the first profile investigates, explores and plans in the medium and long term without touching products or marketing, the second manages teams, designs architecture and meets business objectives. Confuse both profiles or mix them, as the SMCP remembers what Alibaba or Baidu did, ends up subordinating science to the urgency of the market. In any case, it is a fragile position in a company that is not clear why it is needed. In Xataka | China looks at VET: why more and more generation Z students prefer trades over university degrees In Xataka | If Spain wants to imitate China and be a “country of engineers”, this map reveals the extent to which it has a problem Cover | and Hyundai Motor Group and cottonbro studio

Millennials used the term “TL;DR.” Generation Z is replacing it with something more radical: “AI;DR”

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He infinite scrollsocial networks and AI have made our attention be a rare commodity too valuable to happily distribute it in contents without substance. Millennials got used to ask for quick summaries with the term “TL;DR” (Too Long; Didn’t Read). The summary: a lot of text. Generation Z, transgressive and cornered by AIyou have found another way to filter what is and is not worth your attention. If a content looks generated by AIis sent with only five characters: “AI;DR” (AI, didn’t read). This tag is used to mark content that is perceived as “slop”. AI-generated filler that wastes time without providing real value. Behind this label there is satiety, but also a form of defending something as basic as wanting to read people who have taken the trouble to write a text. From “too long” to “too artificial” Tony “Sid” Sundharam, co-founder of the app Sink Ithe defined in his blog the essence of the new term: “For me, writing is the most direct window into how someone thinks, perceives and understands the world.” For a growing portion of young people, delegating that window of humanity in an AI it breaks the pact of honesty between whoever writes and whoever reads. In the background, a much more powerful idea is latent: “Why should I bother reading something that someone else is not interested in writing?” “TL;DR” was born, as internet memes do, as an inside joke on forums and networks. A way to admit that the effort-reward balance had been exceeded. The text it was too long to dedicate time to it. Over time it became a kind of generational nod: there was a lot of information, little time and limited patience for infinite blocks of text. “AI;DR” reuses that same structure, but changes the paradigm. Now the problem is no longer the length (or at least it is not the main reason), now the problem is the origin of the content. The idea is not that the text is long, but that seems generated by an AIwithout its own voice, critical sense or experience behind it. When someone labels a text like this, they are not asking for a summary. You’re saying it’s not even worth starting to read. A few days ago, my colleague Javier Lacort, counted that AI is conditioning us to look for the “summarize” button in all the contents to save time, thus depriving us of the luxury of enjoying a reading in its entirety, with its nuances and its readings between the lines. AI may be more efficient saving reading time, but taking a toll on the essence of the message. Fatigue in the face of AI “slop” In the new paradigm of rapid content consumption, “AI;DR” becomes a kind of advertisement between humans. A quick way to point out that something smells automated and that it might be better to pass by. When someone answers “AI;DR” to a textis doing more than just complaining about AI. As Sid explained on his blog, the fact that someone has had an idea, fought over it in front of a blank page, and spent time putting it in order are “rudimentary work tests from a pre-AI era,” small stress tests that they legitimize the author before the reader. Faced with that, the famous “dead internet theory“. Machines writing for machines. The same generation that lives surrounded by automation and intelligent assistants is valuing what cannot yet be falsified so easily: one’s own style, strange ideas, imperfect phrases that reveal that there is a person behind it. TL;DR:Generation Z has popularized “AI;DR” (AI; ​​didn’t read) as an evolution of the classic millennial “TL;DR”, to quickly discard texts that appear to be generated by AI or artificial filler without an authentic human voice. In Xataka | While companies boast of efficiency due to AI. Generation Z only sees temporary contracts and closed doors Image | Unsplash (Firza Pratama)

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