Digital Natives in a Multilingual Periphery: The Socio-Demographic Profile and Media Consumption Intensity of Generation Z in Uzbekistan

Abstract

Generation Z is frequently described as a single global cohort of "digital natives," yet its media consumption is shaped by national infrastructure, platform ecosystems, and language environments that differ sharply across countries. This study addresses that gap by examining the socio-demographic profile and digital media consumption intensity of Generation Z in Uzbekistan, a large, young, and multilingual national market that remains underrepresented in the international literature. Using national statistical data together with an original audience survey, the study documents device access, platform usage patterns, daily consumption duration, news-source hierarchies, and language behaviour among Uzbek Generation Z respondents. The results show a smartphone-centred, social-first media environment structured around near-universal Telegram use, comparatively low regular TikTok engagement relative to global benchmarks, a Telegram-channel-dominated news ecosystem, and a trilingual (Uzbek–Russian–English) reading repertoire despite Uzbek remaining the dominant language of everyday communication. The study also finds a persistent split between passive scrolling and active content creation, consistent with the uses-and-gratifications and participation-inequality literature. These findings indicate that Uzbekistan's Generation Z shares the general behavioural architecture of global "digital natives" while exhibiting nationally specific platform hierarchies and multilingual consumption patterns that should inform media, journalism, and media-literacy policy in the country.