Believing you can just sense things isn’t new.
Most people have had moments where they felt something was off, or had a strong feeling about how something would turn out. What’s different now is that younger people are talking about it more openly, and calling it something bigger.
A recent Talker Research poll suggests about a third of Gen Z think they have some kind of psychic ability. That doesn’t mean they think they can read minds or predict the future in a major way, necessarily. However, many seem to think they’re connected to something bigger than themselves. And hey, maybe they’re right!
It’s mostly about gut feeling, just described differently.
What a lot of people call being psychic is really just intuition. It’s noticing small things without thinking too hard about it, like someone’s tone, their body language, or how a situation feels. You don’t always realise you’re picking it up, but your brain is still taking it in.
Gen Z tends to describe that feeling in a stronger way. Instead of saying it’s instinct, they’re more likely to say they “just know” something, or that they’ve got a kind of sense others might not have. The feeling itself isn’t new, but the way it’s talked about is.
Growing up with uncertainty has made people trust themselves more.
A lot of this comes down to the kind of world Gen Z has grown up in. Things feel less predictable, whether it’s money, jobs, or just how quickly things change. When there’s no clear path, people start relying more on their own judgement.
That’s where gut feeling comes in. It gives you something to go on when there isn’t an obvious answer. Even if it’s not perfect, it feels better than guessing or waiting for someone else to tell you what to do.
Social media has made these ideas feel normal.
Source: Unsplash+ If you scroll through TikTok or Instagram, you’ll see loads of content about intuition, energy, or reading people. It’s not treated like something strange anymore, it’s just part of everyday content. When you see it often enough, it stops feeling unusual. Talking about instincts in a bigger way starts to feel normal, especially when lots of other people are saying the same thing.
A lot of it comes down to how your brain works.
That feeling of just knowing something usually isn’t random. Your brain is picking up on small details all the time, even when you’re not paying attention. It’s noticing patterns, changes in behaviour, and things that don’t quite line up. Because it happens so quickly, it can feel like it came out of nowhere. But most of the time, it’s just your brain putting pieces together in the background before you’ve had time to think it through properly.
People don’t feel the need to explain it perfectly.
Older generations often wanted a clear explanation for things. With Gen Z, there’s less pressure to prove exactly what something is. If it feels real, that’s often enough, which is why you’ll see people mixing ideas together, talking about instinct, energy, or something a bit deeper without worrying too much about where the line is.
It spreads because people relate to it.
When someone talks about having a strong feeling about something and getting it right, other people recognise that feeling straight away. Most people have had something similar happen at some point. Once enough people share those experiences, it starts to feel like there’s something to it, even if everyone explains it slightly differently.
It’s really about trying to make sense of things.
At the centre of it, this isn’t really about being psychic in the way people imagine. It’s about trying to understand situations that don’t come with clear answers. Trusting your instincts is one way of dealing with that. For Gen Z, that way of thinking feels more open and more normal than it used to. It’s less about proving something and more about going with what feels right in the moment.
It sticks because it feels familiar.
Source: Unsplash Most people have had that moment where something just clicks, or where they feel certain about something without knowing why. That’s what keeps the idea going. It doesn’t need to be proven in a big way. It just needs to match something people have already felt themselves, and once it does, it’s hard to ignore.
