The age-old reminder from the elders: This generation is soft! There’s a common assumption that since technology, government, and work have innovated so far, young adults have it easier than those who made their way to success with nothing but grit and hard work. But is that really true? Is our world of innovation making it easier to achieve financial success or harder to stay focused? These changes have created new kinds of obstacles for young people that are often overlooked by the previous generation. Despite what grandparents around the world love to argue, young Americans finding success in today’s landscape is becoming more unlikely with a multitude of factors like rising costs, a mental health epidemic, social media, COVID recovery, and debt.
The American promise was to work hard, follow the rules, earn your degree, and come out better off than your parents. Today’s youth aren’t exactly following that plan, with young adults making less than their parents and grandparents did at the same age. That’s even with college degrees and greater access to technology. This isn’t their fault, as wages aren’t keeping up with rising student debt, now at $1.7 trillion, or inflationary costs like housing.
Additionally, in 1970, 70% of workers had stable full-time jobs. Today, approximately 40% of young workers are employed in gig contracts or part-time positions. Because newer generations lack a strong interest in traditional employment, it’s harder for them to adapt to their environment. Economically, the situation is tough, as shown by the example of buying a house. In 1970, the median US household price was 2.5 times the median household income. Now, it’s 6 to 8 times the median income. However, the rise in prices and financial burden isn’t matched by higher incomes. Years of working after college, often with two incomes, no longer suffice to settle down. Expenses keep rising while wages remain stagnant, making the traditional 9-5 job less feasible for young people.
That being said, young people today aren’t oblivious to these realities. They’re facing the combined impact of job insecurity, societal pressure, social media, and even climate anxiety. When the years of academic work that then lead to a career path just aren’t supporting you as they should, it can have a direct negative impact on your mental health. Mental health and anxiety disorders are up 50% since the early 2000s. Loneliness and social anxiety are reported at significantly higher rates. People don’t just become more depressed out of the blue, especially with dopamine and comfort now at arm’s reach. But that’s just it.
The rise of the iPhone and social media is closely linked to mental health issues in young people, especially teen girls. The average teen spends 7-9 hours on a screen each day. With that much distraction and disconnection, sending the younger side of Gen Z into today’s world is almost asking for the chaos and disorder we’re seeing now. Although social media apps like Instagram aim to connect people, they seem to have the opposite effect. Our brains, on some level, can’t tell the difference between a screen and a real-life connection. Young people simply don’t feel the need to go out and socialize when they can see into a handheld window into everyone’s lives.
The design of these platforms is no accident, either. Social media companies have perfected the art of keeping users hooked with endless scrolling and highly personalized content. Teens report wanting to be off their phones more as it’s a cause for distraction and anxiety, but can’t because of how effectively these apps hijack quick and easy dopamine. Similar to a drug, where the addict feels they cannot feel good or be happy without that drug. The result is an epidemic of “brainrot,” where even short-form content feels exhausting, and young people struggle with fractured attention spans. With the world crashing down on them outside the house and a screen in the palm of their hand diverting their attention, kids simply can’t keep up.
In response to this crisis, some young men are turning to hyper-masculine “alpha” influencers who promise certainty in an uncertain world. Naturally, people don’t want to feel completely doomed, and social media personalities who are already rich are latching onto those feelings and selling courses and exploiting their attempts at “escaping the matrix”. Instead of fostering real resilience or community, it breeds misogyny, paranoia, and tribal thinking, offering young men a toxic refuge from challenges. This has only widened the existing gap between teen boys and girls who are dating less than in previous generations.
Still, there’s room for hope. Even though the internet is flooded with brainrot, more people are waking up to the fact that there’s a real content crisis going on. Young people are getting tired of the useless noise that is holding them back from tackling the economic and social crisis they will face in the future. Pages like SEI on Instagram are leaning into that idea, pushing to make content that’s useFUL and not useLESS. Addiction cannot be ameliorated so easily, but the shift towards technology being a tool and not a distraction is a necessary one.
To conclude, young people might not have it as easy as your grandparents say you do, as the economy, the government, and your phone are all forming problems unique to your generation. But by creating a culture that prioritizes focus, wellness, and discipline, young people’s success becomes more likely. The outside stressors young people face can’t be changed, but the approach to those problems can definitely be improved. This generation is not failing; it’s being failed by systems that no longer serve the world we live in. The promise of a better future feels out of reach, but it’s certainly not hopeless. It’s evolving. If young people are given the tools, space, and support to rebuild that promise on new terms, they may still create a future that’s not only livable but better than what came before.
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