I know this 16 year old boy who is really smart, does tons of computer stuff, does music recording and production, works on his own car (partially because he doesn't have the money to pay anyone), has a part time job, hustles side jobs, and gets good grades. Father isn't in his life, either, and he takes pretty good care of his single mom.

His friends are less talented than him, but they have jobs and cars that they put work into, one puts effort into writing and performing music (that the other guy produces) on top of working, though his grades are trash because he doesn't care about school.

This is in California, too; probably a higher density of boys like that in red states. Gen Z isn't a complete loss, despite what many might think. The best people like us can do for them is be good examples and get involved in some lives of younger guys.