NetWHATking, Scroll Pick, Balance Rest ... The 2026 trends picked by Gen Z

[Financial News] Gen Zers in their 20s identified lifestyle changes as this year's most important keywords, including building relationships around issues rather than people, immediately buying content they discover while scrolling, and using artificial intelligence (AI) to enable anyone to try creating content.
KT has published the '2026 Y Trend Book,' featuring changes in Gen Z consumption and lifestyle identified firsthand by university students. It organizes changes among Gen Z—from how they form relationships to consumption, rest, growth and content creation—into five keywords, and KT also reflects these changes in actual products and marketing.
KT said on the 7th that the trend book covers the five key trends presented last August at the 'Y Trend Conference' by 'Y Futurist,' a university student marketing supporters' group, together with the Daehaknaeil 20s Research Institute, as well as the process of identifying the trends and examples of how they were applied to actual business initiatives.
This year, 100 Y Futurists studied Gen Z lifestyles and consumer culture for about three months. After training in trend analysis, in-person workshops, team presentations, feedback from KT staff and online coaching, participants analyzed changes in relationships, communication, consumption, personal development, content and leisure. Five of the 14 teams made it to the final stage and presented business ideas at the Y Trend Conference.
The five key trends they selected for 2026 are: 'NetWHATking,' expanding relationships by sharing experiences around 'what' rather than 'who'; 'Scroll Pick,' where content discovered while scrolling leads to immediate consumption; 'Balance Rest,' seeking everyday balance through active recovery; 'Present-tense Momentum,' helping each other grow by sharing the process as it unfolds rather than the results; and 'Try-ator,' using AI to enable anyone to try creating content.
KT has also used ideas developed at the Y Trend Conference in actual products and marketing. In 2023, 'GET-saeng' and 'Jam-tech' were incorporated into plans for 'Y-ful Benefits' in the Y Box app and 'Y Pocha' for KT Membership. In 2024, 'ChinChin Form' led to the launch of the Weverse Choice plan.
'N-nolleo,' selected last year, was used for Y Box baseball and basketball ticket events and the YouTube collaboration campaign 'Show Off Your Taste'; 'Deutpolteu' was used in marketing for the iPhone 17.
The newly published '2026 Y Trend Book' includes definitions of the five key trends, real-world examples and insights drawn from the research process. The trend book and presentation videos by Y Futurists are also available on the KT Y website.
Kim Young-geol, managing director and head of Customer Business at KT's Customer Division, said, "We will continue to actively reflect customer voices and trend insights in our products and services, delivering differentiated customer experiences that Gen Z customers can feel."

[email protected] Choi Hye-rim Reporter