In the last decade, we have incessantly been told that Gen Z—my generation—is more enlightened than others when it comes to the topic of mental health. The reason offered for this enlightenment is the gradual erasure of the stigma associated with talking about mental health. We have been told that older generations sometimes downplay the suffering of younger people because they grew up in a time when mental health was considered a taboo topic.
While there may be some truth in that assertion, there is one piece of the puzzle that is left out of the conversation. We should consider that when older generations fail to understand the mental anguish of today’s youth, they do so not because they have ‘internalised the stigma’ around mental health, but because they cannot relate.
Their technological and cultural setting of previous generations could not have been more different to the world in which we were raised, with no guidebook on how to navigate it. Today’s youth have been forced into a virtual society where we are nothing but profiled consumers on whom algorithms push everything, from the latest ‘micro-trend’ aesthetic to shape our identity, to polarising ideological content lacking in nuance.
Each part of the human experience has been commodified, from relationships to sexuality. Dating is based on flicking through a limitless stream of heavily curated profiles, whilst the first introduction to sexual intimacy is learnt from ‘actors’ on screen. It should greatly concern us that three out of four 16-to-21-year-olds were first exposed to pornography while in primary school.
It is not that older generations grew up in idealistic circumstances or were exempt from suffering; quite the contrary. The difference is that they actually lived life—not through a screen, and not in a way which merely gave them an illusion of connection.
Suffering from abundance & comfort
Today’s teenagers are more socially anxious than previous generations and hence, less likely to experience romance or other meaningful connections due to their abnormal risk aversion. Many youths settle for reaching out to their crush via DMs, in order to avoid the uncomfortable feelings that come with approaching someone in real life, let alone having to face the possibility of rejection. In fact, 45% of young men aged 18-25 report that they have never approached a woman in person.
By relentlessly trying to avoid discomfort or suffering, today’s youth are also missing out on experiencing the joys of life: romance and adventure. They fail to build the resilience and fortitude to deal with life’s hardships. To answer the question of why modern teenagers are suffering so tremendously, despite having remarkably more comfortable lives than the generations of the past, I should like to point to the famous and much-memed line by Michael Hopf that “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
Suffering cannot be escaped. The more one tries to avoid it at all costs, the more it will be amplified tenfold, since the muscle for dealing with it has not been sufficiently exercised. When we run from difficult situations and settle for virtual replacements, we cease to grow or develop our characters. We consequently rob ourselves of the satisfaction that comes from overcoming challenges and hardships.
In the digital marketplace, there are many stakeholders who seek to profit from the mental distress of young girls and boys. A constant stream of digital marketing (most often targeting young girls) confronts us with problems that, supposedly, can only be solved through buying a self-help app subscription, attending a therapy session, or taking a psychiatric drug.
It is deeply concerning that pharmaceutical companies like hers market psychotropic medicine such as escitalopram (known as Lexapro) on female-dominated social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, using trendy language and attractive aesthetics to lure vulnerable young girls into medication. It is even more worrisome that those companies pathologize normal emotions, such as being nervous before a test or a date, into a medically diagnosable condition, for which they conveniently sell the solution—a ‘solution’ easily obtained after a mere online consultation with one of their medical professionals.
Whilst there are some young people who may indeed require medical intervention, it is sinister to medicalise teenage angst and to pathologize every emotion, instead of truly analysing the root cause underlying this distress. These corporations do not care about children’s wellbeing—they are comfortably intending to profit from it.
Parental duty
As a member of the first generation to grow up surrounded by social media and smartphones, I fear for the children and teenagers of today. I know what dangers are lurking and waiting to prey upon them, and this will only be exacerbated in the wake of AI.
I appeal to all parents genuinely to take an interest in what your children are consuming online and to monitor their screen time carefully. Better yet, children under 16 do not even need social media, nor should they have a smartphone on them at all times. The costs of a phone-based upbringing outweigh any supposed benefits.
Let children play instead of staring into a tablet all day, like the so-called iPad kids do. Allow teenagers to explore their interests and skills, instead of ‘learning’ on TikTok about what mental illness they supposedly have. Let young people live life to the fullest extent.
The Silent Epidemic of the Digital Age
Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash
In the last decade, we have incessantly been told that Gen Z—my generation—is more enlightened than others when it comes to the topic of mental health. The reason offered for this enlightenment is the gradual erasure of the stigma associated with talking about mental health. We have been told that older generations sometimes downplay the suffering of younger people because they grew up in a time when mental health was considered a taboo topic.
While there may be some truth in that assertion, there is one piece of the puzzle that is left out of the conversation. We should consider that when older generations fail to understand the mental anguish of today’s youth, they do so not because they have ‘internalised the stigma’ around mental health, but because they cannot relate.
Their technological and cultural setting of previous generations could not have been more different to the world in which we were raised, with no guidebook on how to navigate it. Today’s youth have been forced into a virtual society where we are nothing but profiled consumers on whom algorithms push everything, from the latest ‘micro-trend’ aesthetic to shape our identity, to polarising ideological content lacking in nuance.
Each part of the human experience has been commodified, from relationships to sexuality. Dating is based on flicking through a limitless stream of heavily curated profiles, whilst the first introduction to sexual intimacy is learnt from ‘actors’ on screen. It should greatly concern us that three out of four 16-to-21-year-olds were first exposed to pornography while in primary school.
It is not that older generations grew up in idealistic circumstances or were exempt from suffering; quite the contrary. The difference is that they actually lived life—not through a screen, and not in a way which merely gave them an illusion of connection.
Suffering from abundance & comfort
Today’s teenagers are more socially anxious than previous generations and hence, less likely to experience romance or other meaningful connections due to their abnormal risk aversion. Many youths settle for reaching out to their crush via DMs, in order to avoid the uncomfortable feelings that come with approaching someone in real life, let alone having to face the possibility of rejection. In fact, 45% of young men aged 18-25 report that they have never approached a woman in person.
By relentlessly trying to avoid discomfort or suffering, today’s youth are also missing out on experiencing the joys of life: romance and adventure. They fail to build the resilience and fortitude to deal with life’s hardships. To answer the question of why modern teenagers are suffering so tremendously, despite having remarkably more comfortable lives than the generations of the past, I should like to point to the famous and much-memed line by Michael Hopf that “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
Suffering cannot be escaped. The more one tries to avoid it at all costs, the more it will be amplified tenfold, since the muscle for dealing with it has not been sufficiently exercised. When we run from difficult situations and settle for virtual replacements, we cease to grow or develop our characters. We consequently rob ourselves of the satisfaction that comes from overcoming challenges and hardships.
In the digital marketplace, there are many stakeholders who seek to profit from the mental distress of young girls and boys. A constant stream of digital marketing (most often targeting young girls) confronts us with problems that, supposedly, can only be solved through buying a self-help app subscription, attending a therapy session, or taking a psychiatric drug.
It is deeply concerning that pharmaceutical companies like hers market psychotropic medicine such as escitalopram (known as Lexapro) on female-dominated social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, using trendy language and attractive aesthetics to lure vulnerable young girls into medication. It is even more worrisome that those companies pathologize normal emotions, such as being nervous before a test or a date, into a medically diagnosable condition, for which they conveniently sell the solution—a ‘solution’ easily obtained after a mere online consultation with one of their medical professionals.
Whilst there are some young people who may indeed require medical intervention, it is sinister to medicalise teenage angst and to pathologize every emotion, instead of truly analysing the root cause underlying this distress. These corporations do not care about children’s wellbeing—they are comfortably intending to profit from it.
Parental duty
As a member of the first generation to grow up surrounded by social media and smartphones, I fear for the children and teenagers of today. I know what dangers are lurking and waiting to prey upon them, and this will only be exacerbated in the wake of AI.
I appeal to all parents genuinely to take an interest in what your children are consuming online and to monitor their screen time carefully. Better yet, children under 16 do not even need social media, nor should they have a smartphone on them at all times. The costs of a phone-based upbringing outweigh any supposed benefits.
Let children play instead of staring into a tablet all day, like the so-called iPad kids do. Allow teenagers to explore their interests and skills, instead of ‘learning’ on TikTok about what mental illness they supposedly have. Let young people live life to the fullest extent.
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