I've been hearing multiple commentaries on how older Gen Z and younger Gen Z have developed sharp distinctions over the past few years. Older Gen Z being closer to Millenials in terms of their leftward leaning, while younger Gen Z moving towards some form of cynicism and nihilism, "anti-woke" attitude, and especially males being caught in the manosphere and having a MAGA-curious nature.
I believe that generations are a thing because I believe we do get shaped by the cultural, social, and political environment that we are exposed to in our formative years. The standard line of demarkation between Millenials and Gen Z has generally been the level of tech integration they experienced as kids. Millenials remember flip phones and the birth of social media, while Gen Z was born into social media and smartphones. (Or as my son, a younger Millenial put it: Millenials still grew up with the sense of possibilities (= American Dream) and experienced having that rug being pulled from under their feet, while Gen Z grew up knowing right from the start that all the possibilities talk was just bull$hit.)
But I think history threw another differentiator along the way: Older Gen Z were already in the process of launching their lives when Covid happened, while younger Gen Z were still at school, still in the process of forming their social relations, so the pandemic had a much deeper impact on their emotional maturation than it did with Millenials and Older Gen Z. (Millenials, on the other hand, were in their formative years during 9/11 and the war on terrah + the invasion of Iraq that followed).
I don't have a name for it and I won't make one, but it's possible that we'll find out as time goes on, that Older and Younger Gen Z are actually two distinct generations, where the former tends to have more in common with Millenials and the latter with Gen Alpha.