Shadows in a Christmas Musical and Gen Z’s Turn Toward Humanity
The younger generation seeks meaning and God, stepping away from the Machine’s projections
During the holiday break, I saw a wonderful Christmas musical with my family. It was at a venue with a small, intimate, circular stage that the audience surrounded. At points, the actors walked into the audience up to a platform. Lights followed them, projecting their shadows on the wall, mimicking their subtle movements as they sang. At one point, instead of looking at the actors, I watched their shadows, their heads swaying, their mouths singing, professing joy, love of life and one another. Yet, I couldn’t really see their details.
I thought, “We are all shadows to one another.”
How often do we connect in real life? Out in the real world, do we see one another? The news media has all the incentive to depict the horrors of the world. The algorithm rewards spectacle, so the stories that rise to the top are national, global, and often sensational — starring presidents, politicians, and celebrities. We live in an age where everything is “breaking,” yet very little is truly seen. And your TV, device or social platform of choice will bring it to you and millions of others in an instant.
This ecosystem may put faces on content, but it does not provide a human connection.
What’s going on in my own state? What is happening in my city? How is my neighbor doing these days? That should be what I know the most about but it’s the least. I find myself not seeing those nearest to me. Instead, I know more about strangers far away. Those strangers become false reference points for even those around me. But they aren’t my neighbors. And I don’t take the time to know them.
Even my neighbors have become shadows to me.
I have written about the Machine as identified in Paul Kingsnorth’s excellent book, Against The Machine. The Machine is a series of visible and invisible levers that nudge society to disconnect from one another and centralizes power as much as possible. I suggest that the discourse in our world is a key part of that. The only hope in defeating it, according to Kingsnorth, is to step away from the Machine.
And, according to this article from AdAge, that’s just what Gen Z is doing.
Hallelujah!
The article, “Gen Z is moving to the ‘cozy web’—what brands should do about it,” by Emma Runevad, says that Gen Z has abandoned their social accounts, rejecting the impersonal, performance based reward system that social platforms have become. All the rage, all the dire warnings, the constant churn of horrible faces (using the worst photo possible), has pushed Gen Z away. Their social profiles are frozen in time.
What they did next is even more encouraging: they are seeking real, human relationships. They moved to smaller online spaces and niche newsletters to have real discussions. This new era, Runevad says, is called the cozy web. According to Maggie Appleton, the cozy web was coined by Venkatesh Rao and represents “the private, gatekeeper-bounded spaces of the internet.”
Runevad asserts that Gen Z is doing so because of loss of meaning. I agree. Though Gen Z spends over 8 hours a day online, they have found that they aren’t connected to anything. Runevad says they want information that helps them reflect and not react.
Gen Z isn’t just leaving platforms; they’re rejecting the Machine’s logic — the logic that turns people into content and neighbors into shadows.
Their search for meaning isn’t limited to digital spaces. It’s showing up in their spiritual lives as well.
Last year I wrote about the rise of Catholicism among Gen Z. I wrote:
Catholic leaders and new converts alike attribute this trend to a search for authenticity, moral order, and meaning following the pandemic, with at least three-quarters of new converts in some parishes being in their 20s or early 30s1.
Gen Z wants humanity and meaning, and in their search for a higher power, they are walking away from the Machine.
It’s no coincidence that the Catholic Church’s embrace of new media has reached these super users of technology. Using the Machine to fight the Machine is important, but it must be managed carefully. Technology does not replace real human connection.
But as technology improves, the Machine will adapt. It always does—and it always promises connection. As AI grows more lifelike, the Machine will offer replicas of connection that feel real but aren’t. Humanoids will be coming—mimicking, befriending and guiding us back to their makers for a profitable outcome.
Whatever comes our way, remember, we are in control of our own actions. So, if you find yourself amazed by technology that isolates you further, step away. That’s the Machine at work. God wants us to stay connected to one another, in order to love one another, in order to love Him.
It brings me hope, especially for my children, to see the younger generation choosing humanity. The shadows on the wall at that Christmas musical reminded me how easily we mistake silhouettes for people — how easily we settle for projections when what we need is presence. Gen Z is choosing to turn toward real faces, not the projected ones. They are stepping out of the shadows, toward one another and toward God. And that is a step in the right direction for every generation.
Peace.