For the average youth, being part of the Gen Z population of Nigeria means they are part of the generation that came into being when technological development unfurled its wings in Nigeria.
However, that is but a mere fraction of the events that occurred in our lives as kids, some of which are mentioned below.
1.The Feeling of Genius When We Were Able To Understand Our Parents’ phones better than them:
Perhaps there’s a scientific explanation for why we, little children ranging from five to eleven years were able to understand our parents’ phones and how they worked much better than our parents themselves, but can’t we all agree that knowing the locations of certain applications and how to operate the phones in general gave us some form of pride?
2) Nickelodeon and Disney Delulu:
Many a time, most of us imagined ourselves somehow appearing on the cast of series like Henry Danger, The Thundermans, e.t.c or even dating one of the Disney or Nickelodeon stars.
Some of us even knew all the opening songs by heart, going as far as having a book that had the lyrics. It was such a flex!
3) Playing the invincible ‘Bounce’ game:
We had the ‘Snake‘ game, yes, but the MVPs know what we’re talking about. It involved a ball. A very, very, annoying ball.
All we wanted was for that stupid ball to go to the side after we moved it up. It was simple. We’d press up and press right almost immediately, but guess what? The ball was a weapon fashioned against us!
To everyone who went beyond Level 4 and kept going, we present a digital award of patience and excellence, because wurttt?
4) Wanting to act like the American kids we saw on Television
Thinking about how we were going to scream at our parents in frustration, dreaming of going to a friend’s place for a sleepover (at eight years old, mind you), planning to run away from home because we felt our parents were doing the most and didn’t let us breef…these were normal thought processes in the life of the average Gen Z.
Two Words: Vivid Imagination.
Perhaps we just randomly forgot that we had African parents. Then again, perhaps we didn’t. We most likely just wanted to experience what we saw them experiencing on television, because it always felt like we weren’t enjoying life. Also, since we didn’t exactly separate the real world from the imagined movies at the time, that was inevitable.
One must give honour to whom honour is due though, so for those whose parents let them sleep over at their friends’ houses before the age of fourteen just for the fun of it, respect.
5) Imagining a world full of robots doing our every work:
It was quite simple. Robots would wake us, transport us to the bathroom, cook our meals, feed us, pour the information from our books into our heads like our brains were trash cans for knowledge…even pick beans for us before it was cooked- obviously not by us.
The movies, once again. We dare say they influenced most of us to the point where we saw ourselves doing almost nothing while the bots worked their lubricating oils off. That way, we would no longer have to suffer under our parents’ ever ready belts and footwear for not clearing. To our little minds, life would be so sweet.
And while we don’t have everything we imagined, we have ChatGPT now. Dreams do come true, eh?
6) The Blackberry Haze.
If we recall clearly, this was the beginning of Nigeria’s transition from darkness to light (from button phones to smart phones). That cute black phone with the little rolly centre button.
At a point, some of our parents and relatives abandoned the Nokia torchlight phones for that guy. Of course, as children most of us just used it because of the main control button Overall, it was a really beautiful model that most Gen Z individuals had the pleasure of using.
7) Childhood games.
Looking back and listening to some of the verses in the songs we had for these games of ours, one would have no choice but to wonder what was really going through our heads when those songs were formed.
Because why on Mother Earth did Cinderella get dressed to kiss a man and end up kissing a snake accidentally? Make it make sense!
Or should we talk about the games whose proper lyrics were lost in time? Or the games that had multiple versions, like, “From the East to the West to the North and South”?
To be honest, some of those games need to go and rest due to the damage we’ve done to them.
Oh, and for all the people who were never caught during the freezing event of that song that has “Mummy in the kitchen cooking rice”, we hail oh. Number one Chameleons!
8) Hopping On what seemed like the Latest fashion trend, but for kids.
Where are the ladies whose entire school kit was smothered in Barbie pink?
Back then, there were levels to this school bag and lunch bag of a thing, along with our school shoes. If your parents didn’t really care about primary school fashion, then you most likely ended up with a dull black bag that, for some of us, was a hand-me-down from our elder siblings. It was only the lunch box that some parents ended up buying afresh, and as expected, it would be black.
However, for those whose parents indulged them or just wished to give us something different, there were a variety of options to choose from. Ben 10, Barbie, Sofia the First, Power Rangers– if you could name it, chances were some small bag store would have it in stock. They even had the bags with wheels, so that as we entered school, we felt like rich kids rolling them around.
If we’re to talk about shoes, then there are certain groups of people we wish to doff our hats to. First off, we have girls who wore koin-koin shoes. Those ones were a menace to society, and they knew it. Constantly walking up and down so everyone just knew they had small heels.
Secondly, we are in awe of those girls whose strapped shoes were ever shiny. Some of us knew the secret from the onset, but that doesn’t mean we still weren’t jealous.
Finally, we must give respect to the boys who didn’t come to play. The Timberland Men and Co. How y’all managed to pull that is beyond us, but welldone. The heavy duty shoes that some of you used to step on our feet during assembly will forever be etched in our memory.
9) The Feeling of Envy when we watched our mates get phones early.
This one is for just a fraction of us whose parents were really strict with device usage as Nigeria finally joined others in technological development.
Imagine begging our parents day and night for Tecno or Infinix, even going as far as giving informal PowerPoint presentation- only to get back and see our mates bringing their smartphones to class or during special parties.
Or having to constantly creep around in the night to pick our parents’ phones before go to WhatsApp or Instagram because that was the only safe period. And pretending to sleep as soon as we heard footsteps.
The good old days, wouldn’t we agree?
10) Tea and bread every weekday before we left for school.
We didn’t even bother to ask what was for breakfast anymore. The loaf of bread had already been purchased the night before, or at least it was about to be.
In our childhood, most of our major foodstuff weren’t too expensive, which gave us the opportunity to enjoy varieties of bread types without any fear of breaking the bank. Thus, we had tea and bread every morning, and on the days when we were able so, some of us added butter, magarine or eggs to the mix.
Well, apparently the carbohydrate content was good for us as kids, so I guess it wasn’t bad to have us eat the same thing every morning for five days a week during every single school period. But it doesn’t negate the fact that some of us have gotten addicted to bread due to this.
Change your ways, fellow addicts. Change your ways.
Out of this list, how many were you able to relate to? Leave in the comment section below.
Leave a Comment