(LONG RANT ALERT)
Gen Z here. I saw this happening during my time in high school.
It's more than just being "programmed." It's a hatred for authority figures in general.
To elaborate: when I was in high school, Some of my so-called "peers" were shockingly rude and despised authority to the point that even the most patient teachers would explode every other week because they couldn't teach for more than five seconds without someone talking loudly over them or doing something distracting. They also had their own meaningless phrases they would repeat endlessly for no reason, not unlike this crap, and it was just as obnoxious as you'd probably think.
Later, I stumbled upon a few videos of teachers talking about how most of Gen Z and Alpha is basically unteachable because they are performing at horrifically low levels (e.g. seniors with a THIRD GRADE reading level) and exhibiting appallingly disrespectful behavior, including kids as young as 5 constantly abusing teachers and peers both verbally and physically. An extreme obsession with mobile devices has also been on the rise (I'm assuming you've heard of "iPad Kids" before) which will undoubtedly worsen this NPC epidemic we have going on in this country. The rise of ChatGPT (and AI in general) is also to blame, though I don't think I need to elaborate on that.
Right now, it's not fun to think about what it will be like when they grow up. Something needs to be done before it's too late.
