Around 42% of Gen-Z kids have been diagnosed with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and ADHD. The main causes involve concerns around the economy and the environment.
I was prompted to write about Gen-Z. To delve in our way of being and ponder if our generation is overly sensitive or just very empathetic; highly aware or chronically online; intentional or just politically correct.
Who is Gen-Z
Let’s skip formalities - I’m not here to tell you what years Gen-Z was born. I want to know who Gen-Z is from all points of view. What do other generations think of us? What do we think of ourselves?
I opened the scholar version of that one famous search engine and typed “Gen-Z is”. Because I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going with this, I couldn’t find the words to complete my research, so, naturally, I took a look at the browser’s top recommendations, the most common researches from other users, and realized their opinions on my generation seemed a little bit too negative.
Gen-Z is… “lazy”, “too sensitive”, “extremely online”, “depressed” were some of the results that came up. And although I would generally agree with most of these accusations, I felt the urge to step up and defend my generation, because we can be all of these things, but they are, for sure, consequence of the environment we grew up in.
The Upbringing
To get an idea of why Gen-Z might be all of this and more, it is only fair we take a look at the general life events we’ve had to go through during the most important years of our lives.
We were the first digital native generation - born and raised with the internet by our side, just like any other good childhood friend. We are what they call iPad kids (although in reality we are way more than that: we were computer kids, mp3 kids, pc kids, blackberry kids, smartphone kids, then ipad kids and finally, today… chatgpt kids? One thing is for sure: we never were and never will be excel kids!)
Our lives were pretty neat! Then there was this weird thing around 2008 – they called it a Great Recession and the name even sounded promising. Sure, from then on we didn’t get as many gifts on Christmas night or on our birthdays, but that had to be because we were growing up, right? It was the least of our problems anyway (bigger ones would come later).
2019 rolls around and you’d think we were spending our teenage years getting rowdy, going out every now and then, having fun with our friends, doing what teenagers do. Well, you’re wrong. We were locked up at home because of a virus brought from China (who even allowed it to travel that far?). And you may argue everyone was locked up. Of course! But these were supposed to be our greatest years.
This could have been it, but while all of this was happening, there were also a housing and a climate crisis cooking up, right-wing movements rising all over the world, and a lack of well payed jobs that don’t require a doctorate and 7 years of experience for junior positions.
And they wonder why we’re “depressed”!
The Outcome
A survey conducted by Harmony Healthcare IT, a data management firm that works with health data, revealed that 42% of Gen-Z kids have been diagnosed with some sort of mental health issue, the most common being anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
The study also showed my generation’s main concerns revolve around the economy, the environment and uprising violence. In its prime, the pandemic was also a big trigger for these mental issues. Is this surprising at all?
However, the survey revealed we believe ourselves to be the generation which tries harder to address and take care of our mental health. One in five Gen-Zers is in therapy and about 60% take some sort of medication to manage mental health issues – we call it breaking generational trauma.
We’re accused by other generations of being “too sensitive”, but i’d argue we have reasons. You set us up for failure – nearly 90% of us feel this way and 75% believe we are at disadvantage compared to Millennials or Baby Boomers.
A Safe Space
Gen-Z ended up finding a safe place in their life-long companion – the internet. A place where we were able to momentarily escape the troubles the world presented us (and make jokes out of it), a place where we found others like us and formed communities. We learnt how to use it as a tool to stand up for those communities, which, outside, were somewhat looked down upon. It’s our only space, since all others seem to have been taken away from us.
And still, older generations are mad about it. You are mad it’s not your space too. So you resort to accusing us of being “lazy” and “too sensitive” and “extremely online”.
But what happens when we step in the real world and try to voice our opinions? What happens when we try to take our space in the workplace? What happens when we go out in the streets and protest? My generation is crying out for help and all you have to say is we are “too sensitive”. I agree we are and dare to say we have the right to it!
So I ask you: is Gen-Z actually “too sensitive” or just tired to be discredited and ignored?
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