On Gen Z’s Mentality: From Bruising to Ripe Strawberries

Criterion A: Planning.

Learning Goal
My learning goal is to learn more about the stigma around the mental vulnerability of Gen Z and use that
information to improve my mindset.

I chose this learning goal because, ever since I was a child, I felt like I had struggled with controlling my
emotions and my responses to certain situations, although I did not completely understand why. Having a weak
mentality, I used to easily give up on doing things that I disliked doing or were too hard for me, and because of
this, there was a large period of my childhood where I had low self-esteem, and I always expected the worst from
myself. However, at some point over the course of the pandemic, I was able to change my mindset by
experiencing unusual hardships. I was put in situations by my parents where I had to adapt and persevere, or I
would end up unsuccessful in whatever I was trying to do. This helped me build a mentality where I see
adversity as a challenge and something to overcome rather than something that puts me down and something to
avoid. The idea for my learning goal was triggered when my mom showed me a meme about how different
generations would react to a stubbed toe. She was laughing very hard while I did not find anything funny. This is
when I realized that we had vastly different perceptions on the same topic. When I look at the people around me
(specifically Gen Z), I realize that not everyone has a similar mentality as me, and many have struggled with it
like I did as a child. This made me wonder what differences in our upbringings led us to our differences in
approaching or viewing the world. I found out there was a term for this phenomenon: the Strawberry Generation,
used to refer to people born after the 1990s. Like strawberries, they are easy to bruise, and, therefore,
incompetent when facing social pressures and struggles with tribulations. I wanted to find out more about how
people often perceive us, what made us this way, and how our approach to mentality can be improved.

Product Goal
My product goal is to create a TikTok page to showcase the knowledge I gained. It will explore how and why
older generations believe Gen Z is "weak," whether there is any validity to the stigma, what Gen Z does better
than other generations, and what we can improve on.

Initially, I wanted to create a blog because I wanted to improve my writing skills. However, I changed my
product goal to creating a TikTok account because it is more relevant to my target audience, the people in Gen Z.
With TikTok as a platform, I can learn to make a variety of
engaging content in a media type that I am not familiar with,
while also incorporating one of my original learning goals to
improve my writing skills with articles that I can write on the
captions. Using TikTok as a platform means I will be able to
measure my project’s success more easily than if I were to
create a blog. I will measure my success through likes,
followers, comments, and views. I chose to use TikTok
rather than other social media platforms such as Instagram
because 62% of my target audience (Gen Z) use TikTok and
people spend 197.8 million hours a day on TikTok compared
to 17.6 million hours on Instagram reels. (Hryziuk)

Fig. 1: Graph of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok User Growth

according to Business of Apps (Iqbal)

Fig. 2: Product Success Criteria

ACCESS FM Product Specification Method of Testing
Aesthetic -
I will use blue and red colors as
well as a mixture of serif and
sans serif typeface for a
mismatched design theme of the
page.
Customer -
The target audience for my
content is Generation Z because
it is the primary generation
associated with the strawberry
mentality.
Safety -
My account will promote a safe and positive online environment for the in the posts
and healthy online environment audience so that they will be comfortable
Materials -
I will post interviews, memes,
survey results, articles, and
testimonials as content
This success criterion is to ensure that the Screenshots of colors
TikTok account's visual elements and and fonts used
overall design are appealing to Gen Z Survey (user rating) and
users in order to gain and keep user feedback on the visual
interest. To achieve this, I will maintain a appeal
cohesive and visually pleasing profile,
keeping a profile picture, banner, and
video thumbnails consistent with the
brand identity. I chose to use red because
it will remind the audience of
strawberries, signifying the strawberry
generation, which is the main focus of
my TikTok videos. Red also happens to
be a color commonly associated with
courage and passion. I also chose the
color blue because it evokes emotions of
serenity and reliability. I wanted to create
a mix-and-match brand identity because
the strawberry generation is known for
being messy, yet romanticizing simple
activities such as journaling or
scrapbooking. I aimed for my video
designs to resemble scrapbooking to
kindle a feeling of relatability.
This success criteria is to ensure that my My TikTok account will
content reaches the Gen Z audience, and have at least 50
they find it valuable and engaging. I will followers
monitor and maintain a high engagement Interactions with the
rate (likes, comments, shares) on videos, posts and account
with a target of at least 10%, and I will
conduct audience surveys to measure
satisfaction and gather feedback for
content improvement.
This success criteria is to ensure a safe Comments can be seen
voicing their ideas and opinions on my
account’s topic. I will monitor and
moderate comments and interactions to
prevent harassment or harmful behavior,
and there will be zero tolerance for hate
speech or harmful content, resulting in
the removal of offensive comments or
users.
This success criterion is to ensure that the Survey
material I post is interesting to the
audience and also original (coming from
myself or using my own resources to
conduct research) so that I will avoid
copyright or licensing issues.
 Function - This success criterion is to ensure that the Expert appraisal
To inform the audience on the TikTok account effectively fulfills its Survey
mentality of Gen Z and how purpose of informing Gen Z about the
their environments have strawberry generation. I will achieve this
affected them. by maintaining a consistent posting
schedule and ensuring that new content is
regularly available to the audience.

Quantity -
I will post a 30-second to
3-minute video at least twice a
week, eventually posting at
least 10 posts by December
27th, 2023.
This success criterion is to ensure that the Post can be seen from
information is compact enough to my TikTok account
provide to the target audience without
compromising their attention span, which
is known to be low as they are easily
distracted. I will achieve this by keeping
the video concise yet informative and
including detailed information in the
captions rather than in the video.

Fig. 3: Action Plan Timeline

Date Task To-do Success Criteria Progress

Familiarize

Third Brainstorm ● Make a mind map of Function Done

week of ○ Topics I am interested
Apr in learning
○ Products I can make
to develop those
interests
● From there, narrow it
down to the most feasible
option.

Third Goal setting ● Develop All Done, but I

week of ○ Product goal changed my
Aug ○ Learning goal product goal in
○ (based on the Sep because I
brainstorming) thought about it
and discussed
with others how
my past product
goal would be
irrelevant and
would not reach
my target
audience.

Plan

Third Research ● Create a research plan Function and Done

week of ○ Outline how to Material
Sep approach the topic
○ What to highlight in
content
○ What sources will be
used
○ People to interview
■ Invite and ask for
availability
■ Plan the questions
to be asked during
the interview
○ Information acquired
from sources (written
during the research
stage)

Fourth TikTok ● Make an editorial plan Material Done, but it was

week of (outline of content) constantly edited
Sep ○ Calendar (when to depending on
release what content) requirements or
○ Mini script or general changes.
flow of the post
○ Discussion topic
○ Caption
○ Format framework
○ Type of content
○ Sources used

Second Brand Identity Develop a brand identity Customer and Done

week of according to the interests of the aesthetics
Oct target audience (gen z)

Research

19/9/23 Interview Professional marketer who uses Aesthetics Done

TikTok to promote their
products to find out what
makes a successful and
engaging post.

First TikTok How to use TikTok and how to Aesthetics, size, Done
week of make a popular and and customer
Oct informative account.

Third Survey and On Gen Z and how other Materials and Done, but I
week of Interview generations react when function decided that
Nov interacting or working with rather than
Gen Z interviewing for
working in
general, I took the
opportunity
during Hawks
Cup to interview
 student-athletes
on how they cope
with loss.

Fourth Interview Psychologist or any expert that Materials Done, but was
week of studies the impact of the delayed due to
Oct environment on the differences in
development of mentality. schedule with the
interviewee

Create

Mid Sep Account Create an account Customer Done

Second Posts At least once a week Materials, safety, Done

week of ● Memes and function
Oct to ● Interviews
third ● Self-recording
week of ● Articles in the captions
Jan Talks about mentality
● What is it
● How it differs for each
generation
● What affects it
● Identifying weaknesses
● What we can do on our
own to improve it
Monitoring the interactions
with the posts

Evaluate

Second Survey ● Create a survey for Aesthetic, Done

week of feedback from function, and
Jan audience material
● Distribute the form to
followers
● Analyze data from
survey

Second Review and Checklist of each success All Done

week of analyze the criteria, which ones were
Jan success of the achieved and which ones need
product to be done.

Report

29/9/23 Submission Submit Criteria A: Planning All Done

27/11/23 Submission Submit Criteria B: Product All Done

12/1/24 Submission Submit Criteria C: Reflection All Done

29/1/24 Submission Submit Final Report. All Done

Criterion B: Applying Skills

Learning Goal
To achieve my learning goal of learning more about my generation’s mentality, I used and developed my
research skills. Information literacy skills are crucial for understanding and analyzing various perspectives,
including those of the "strawberry generation." To gain insight into the mentality of the strawberry generation, I
started by defining my information needs and making a research plan to have a surface-level understanding of the
topic I will be exploring with my account. I accessed information to be informed and with the intent to inform
others. To create my content, I had to find information from various types of reliable media and cross-referenced
information to ensure its validity. Owing to the fact that I had to post an array of content, I had to explore
multiple different perspectives and perceptions of the strawberry generation. I did this by utilizing primary
sources and interviewing them to gain insight into differing perspectives. By employing these information
literacy skills within the research framework, I was able to develop a comprehensive and well-informed
understanding of the strawberry generation's mentality.
 Fig. 4: Research Plan

Fig. 5: Interview with Koko Soeprapto, a

psychologist, teacher, and parent

Product Goal
I developed my creative thinking skills to generate content that is aesthetically pleasing and entertaining yet
educational for my target audience. To help me begin thinking of possible content ideas, I interviewed and had
discussions with Audita Atmagdila, a social media consultant, and Farchan Noor Rachman, an established
vlogger, about the types of content that TikTok users typically interact with. Since I was not familiar with TikTok
as a social media platform (I was only ever allowed access to Instagram), I learned that TikTok was a more
light-hearted and raw platform for content creation compared to platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. With
their help, I was able to brainstorm ideas for the type of content I could make that would be interesting on
TikTok. For the TikTok videos’ brand identity and design aesthetic of the TikTok videos, I had to transfer and
apply my knowledge of designing on Canva to create products that aligned with my scrapbooking
mix-and-match brand identity. Lastly, I practiced flexible thinking by assuming the perspectives of both the
strawberry generation and the generations prior to understanding the plausibility of their claims about the
younger generation. I challenged my own views of the strawberry generation because it was exactly what I
wanted my audience to do to overcome the stigma of the younger generations being perceived as weak.

Criterion C: Reflecting
When I first started this personal project, I knew nothing about the strawberry generation, perceptions about
them, and their causes, except my personal experience as a member of said generation. Over the course of this
project, I learned many things, from the basics of the strawberry generation to more complex information, like
how our society and environment impact our mindset, which interested me the most. Initially, I started by
researching and understanding the reason for the negative implications of the term “strawberry generation.” The
term uses the strawberry fruit to illustrate the beauty of the young generation’s exterior, but it turns out that the
beauty is only on the outside. In contrast, the fruit will be easily destroyed with a little pressure. My interviews
taught me the scary truth about growing up in today’s world that led to this mentality in the strawberry
generation. Although most of us view reality and fact as objective structures, due to the abundance of
information at our disposal, members of the younger generation have the tendency to handpick information based
on what they believe to be true while disregarding information that may challenge their beliefs. Hence, even truth
can become a subjective thing. Due to the fact that children and teenagers are still underdeveloped, they are
easily influenced by the information they receive and the opinions of the people around them. Generally, Gen Z
has been raised in a relatively good environment compared to previous generations. Still, because of the comfort
of their environments, they are weak to pressure and difficulties, causing them to be easily frustrated at many
things. Because things come very easily for the new generation compared to older generations, so they often
develop a sense of entitlement for things they are not entitled to. Despite the stigma that the young generation is
weak, all of the members of the strawberry generation I have asked have different responses to my prompts,
which means that a singular mindset should not be used to define one generation. It all comes down to how a
person was raised.

The learner profile I predominantly used throughout the course of this project that helped support me in
achieving my goals was open-minded. To be able to change my perceptions of the stigmas surrounding my
generation, I had to keep my mind and opinions open to knowledge and experiences that allowed me to gain a
comprehensive and unbiased understanding of why these stigmas exist. To change other people’s perceptions, I
had to learn about the different perceptions. In the process, I learned how to accept the criticism of my generation
while also, as a member of the Strawberry Generation, understanding the perspectives of my peers on how adults
view them. My open-mindedness has always been one of my strengths as I am typically very open and accepting
of others’ opinions and ideas, trying to understand and coming to a compromise. Another strength that helped me
execute my vision for this project was my ability to adapt to unexpected situations or circumstances. My ability
to adapt and reflect helped me improve my content so that I could boost my posts from a view count of 137 to a
high of 851. I learned to cater to my target audience’s preferred method of absorbing information, focusing on
visual-heavy content. However, a weakness that hindered me from completing my project faster was my time
management. As a consequence of my failure to take my outside activities into consideration, I set unrealistic
timelines and personal due dates that I could not reach on time.

Fig. 6: My Product and The Process

Editorial plan
 Research plan

Interviews with a vlogger and a psychologist

Editing and compiling the videos

 My Product
PP Exhibition

Fig. 7: My Product Evaluation

Success Criteria Product Evaluation Evidence

Aesthetic - From the screenshots of my Screenshots

Met account’s page, it is evident that the
I will use blue and main color schemes are shades of
red colors as well as blue and red. Despite my lack of
a mixture of serif design experience, my strength when
and sans serif choosing the design identity is how
typeface for a adaptable it can be. Depending on
mismatched design the type of content and how formal
theme of the page. the designs are, the font typefaces
are either serif, sans serif, or
scrapbook. For the more
sophisticated and educational
content, the fonts used are serif,
while the captions of most of the
videos and the more light-hearted
content use sans serif. Scrapbook
letters are used to call attention to
titles. Therefore, this success criteria
has been achieved.
 Survey

Customer - I was able to reach my audience as Interactions with the posts and account
Met well as my target of 50 followers. A
The target audience strength of mine that helped me
for my content is achieve this criterion was
Generation Z researching and choosing a social
because it is the media platform where I had the
primary generation chance to create content that would
associated with the resonate with the main demographic.
strawberry mentality. Especially with TikTok, a large
percentage (60%) of its user
demographic is a member of
Generation Z, which allowed me to
create content that catered more
towards their humor and interest.
Despite the achievement of this goal,
I quickly learned that creating
engaging educational content is
much harder than it seems, even on a
platform where it is relatively easier
to go viral due to the algorithm.
However, I have determined that this
success criteria has been achieved.

Safety - All of the comments I monitored on

Met my posts were kind and respectful.
My account will Therefore, this success criteria has
promote a safe and been achieved.
healthy online
environment

Materials - During the course of my content Survey

Mostly met creation journey in this personal
I will post project, I was able to create a variety
interviews, memes, of content, including most of the
survey results, materials that I stated in the original
articles, and success criteria. My strengths in
testimonials as using connections that I had helped
content. me post content such as interviews
with a psychologist and a vlogger. I
also posted memes about
affirmations or mental health, articles
about my personal experience,
testimonials from my friends, and
carousels to attract more attention to
the information. However, I did not
conduct any surveys with my TikTok
audience because I did not think I
had enough attention or followers for
people to complete it of their own
accord. Thus, I did not post any
survey results. Therefore, I mostly
achieved this success criteria.

Function - Based on the information I publish in Expert appraisal

Met my content, the results of the expert According to the established vlogger I consulted
To inform the appraisal, and the survey I with, the information that I posted was very
audience on the conducted, the information I post is relevant to my topic and allowed him to learn
mentality of Gen Z mostly relevant to my topic. A more about the strawberry generation.
and how their strength that has immensely helped
environments have me in completing this section of the Survey
affected them. success criteria is keeping an open
mind. Because of this, I was able to
be more receptive towards
information or bias that I may be
subject to. Therefore this success
criteria has been achieved.

Quantity - All of my video posts are between Survey

Partially met the duration range of 30 seconds to 3
I will post a minutes. However, I did not post at
30-second to least twice a week due to my
3-minute video at less-than-optimal time–management.
least twice a week, To compensate for not adhering to
 eventually posting at my schedule, I posted more content
least 10 posts by than I had initially planned, ending
December 27th, up with 26 posts by the time of my
2023. report submission. Therefore, this
success criterion was partly
achieved.

Overall Evaluation

Taking everything into account, I believe I met my success criteria with a couple of complications regarding the
quantity and material of my content. Regarding my learning and product goal, I think I was able to optimally use
this project as an opportunity to learn about a topic and create a product that is meaningful to me. My personal
project helped me learn a lot about the different perceptions of the strawberry generation. By extension, my
personal project also helped me learn or improve new things in two main aspects: technical and personal. On a
technical level, I learned about the differences in types of content between certain types of social media, and I
learned how to create content on several different levels. I learned how to brainstorm content ideas, create
editorial plans, collect material, interview experts, camera work, edit videos, and publish content according to my
target audience. On a personal level, I was able to develop my skills and broaden my perspectives while stepping
outside of my comfort zone. Since I had limited access to social media before this project, I learned a lot about
how content impacts our worldviews. Due to this project, I reflected on my upbringing and realized that I am
very fortunate to have parents who raised me well in this world where parenting is challenging. Because of how
my parents raised me, I could look critically at how I perceived mentality; hence, I felt the need to improve mine.
The topic of my personal project is relevant to my life because, in this project, I explored the mentalities of the
type of people I will be working with for the rest of my life. By knowing, exploring, and understanding how the
people of my generation often think, I can work and collaborate with them better. As I learn about how our
previous generations and environments shaped our way of thinking, I also become more aware of how I think.
By becoming more aware of how I think, I can continue improving and honing my mindset and thought
processing while my brain’s prefrontal cortex is still malleable. This way, I will be able to develop a good
mentality for the future and become a responsible, functioning adult in society.
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