Last month, I was giving a written online interview when I came across this beautiful question, “What would you talk about if you had a mic in front of a million listeners?”. To answer this question, a text box of a maximum word limit of 200 words was definitely not enough. Before I could think of something else, I heard my mother in her most intimidating tone say, “Are you ever off that thing?”. So here I am, a month later, ready to answer that question, not in terms of solving world hunger or promoting nuclear disarmament but in a certain way which will make the interviewer thankful for the fact that I never submitted the interview file.
A million people are more than enough to occupy the Autzen Stadium twice – that is definitely more than the number of people I’ve met in my life, counting together the assumed number of those strange relatives who gape right into our soul and have the audacity to ask if we still remember them, knowing the fact that the last time we saw them was probably when we thought swallowing a watermelon seed could plough a tree in our stomach.
It’s hard to choose between an issue or a passion to talk about with an audience composing majorly of the Generation Z (born between1997-2012) , Generation X (1965–1980) and the Millennials ( 1981-1996). Never in a million years would I miss the perfect tick of the clock to spark a new battle-fire about the million dollar question, “Is the new generation really drowning in depression or is Gen Z cappin’?”
I’ll begin with a question –“How many of you have or had depression?”. The less number of calloused and wrinkled hands and the innumerable juvenile hands raised won’t surprise me. Neither will the way a mother in the front-rows would glare at her son as if yelling “Do we torture you?!” for raising his hand. The dramatic raise in the suicide rate scale says a lot and so does the change in rate of people diagnosed with depression from the 90s to the 2000s. From 2000 through 2016, the age-adjusted suicide rate increased 30%, from 10.4 per 100,000 standard population to 13.5. The number of depression cases worldwide increased from 172 million in 1990 to 258 million in 2017, that is, +49.86%. Oh and a matter of fact – depression was considered as a rare condition back in the 80s and now, we the Gen Z, are honored to be referred to as the most depressed generation. Gen X and Millennials, on the other hand, are called the happiest generations. The question is, what caused the dramatic difference in the mental health of two consecutive generations? How correct are our parents when they say –“It’s the damn phone!”? Are they really right and we only showcase our denial because we do not like their tone? Or are they being unsympathetic?
With our generation, the world developed and the usage of internet became prevalent. I’m not going to talk like a typical parent, of course, internet is quiet useful – but it was the negativity and the unmatched positivity it bought that caused all of this.
I’ll being with spotting evidences by starting with the point of view of the people who see the increasing number of teenagers claiming to be depressed as a mass influence effect and a mere justification behind their theory of Gen Z being soft. I’d look around to get a glance of some Josh in the mid-rows taking a selfie, most probably to post, that’ll get me a perfect example of how some teenagers see depression as a trend. As awful as it sounds, it is pretty correct. We post everything and it gets likes except for our feelings that couldn’t be captured. Asking for pity still gets the sympathy clout. And so, that explains how the number of people claiming to have depression exceeds the strength diagnosed (and also how smudged eyeliner and a sad caption can get you likes).
Enduring the spine-chilling gaze of some influencer, I’ll highlight the fact that how social media even made depression a trend, making teenagers believe being depressed very common. This lead to the emergence of the two possible consequences-
- Some teenagers thought that being depressed could help them get the sympathy that they’ve been longing for.
- They failed in understanding the differentiation between sadness and depression.
Let’s be real. Assumingly, not more than 10% of the people claiming to be depressed could be malingering. Then what about the remaining 90%? Are the five key factors that do the spade work for depressive disorder a by-product of social media influence?
The first key factor that causes a deterioration of mental health is the forced detachment from desires. Social media showcased the beauty of pursuing one’s talents which motivated many teenagers to try and escape the matrix. Abracadabra! School’s blunder in developing the fault-fear and ‘do-as-you’re-told’ skills clashed with the real world that a dreamer had to face. Parents’ obsession with academic performance played a huge role in detaching an artist from their art, letting them be a part of the rat race that they despised.
The second key factor is comparison. Internet spot-lighted success stories about young millionaires who would show off the most successful chapters of their life on social media. Filters and photoshopping gained ground. Young people began to compare the strugglesome starting chapters of their life to someone else's happily ever after chapters that they show on social media. Looking at someone's picture which must've took an hour to Photoshop started making people insecure about their own realities. This marked the emergence of self-comparison which was followed by the feeling of unsatisfaction with oneself.
The third key factor that can deteriorate one's mental health is the feeling like an outcast and being unaccepted by the people you're surrounded with. This factor has subparts. The first subpart is related to sexuality, which has basically caused an inconvenience due to the differences in opinions of the two successive generation. The rapidly growing internet started promoting the gender-free love that made the teenagers explore their choices and it ridiculously clashed with the beliefs of majority of the Gen X parents. If my imaginary speech would take place on a summer evening and I'd spot a person wearing an oversized hoodie, it'll remind me of nothing but the second subpart, which is related to appearance. The toxic side of social media never normalized the normal things. Stomach roles when someone sits down, acne, hyperpigmentation, unfiltered pictures, a body-type besides hourglass or ripped category now became characteristics that made people dysmorphic.
The fourth factor is loneliness. It's eerie to accept how loneliness in the world increased as the communication facilities improved. As technology increased the pace of communicating with someone, it also led to an inversely proportional change in the stregth of connections. The warmth of an awaited handwritten letter or the thrill of a pinky promised call on the family telephone was now replaced by the effortless texting system. Connecting with someone that you're thinking of, is the game of a simple click on the send button now. Communication is so easy that people take it for granted. Why today when it's possible tomorrow?
If in my crowd of a million, I spot a group of friends posing every five minutes for a group selfie, followed by a wave of silence between them, it would remind me of the other huge reason behind this new generation loneliness. We often look at people posting the happiest moments of their life, showing off their friendships on camera and it makes us feel if we are missing out on all the fun when the people of our age are maintaining friendships and living their best life. We fail to consider the fact that we only see what people want us to see.
The fifth key factor behind increasing depression between teenagers is the inaccessibility to therapy. Most of the teenagers fail to receive proper therapy due to the ignorance and denial of their parents towards their mental health. Along with the choices and embracement of veiled truths came restrictions and the disagreement of the Gen X parents. That explains the overused-yell phrase, ‘It’s all because of that damn phone!’. For the parents that saw depression as a rare condition in their times, therapy seemed like a huge deal. Many old-schooled parents see the deteriorated mental health of their child as a huge question mark on their parenting. Thus, in order to keep their own sanity intact, they tend to overlook their child's mental health.
Since my stutters will consume most of my time, it’ll soon be time for me to answer the most controversial question- Is it because of the damn phone? I’d rather believe that all of this is because of the way we perceive things that are being shown to us and in what depth we analyze a scenario before letting it affect us. We need to sprint far away from the point of vulnerability that our generation is currently at.
Speeches are supposed to have a conclusion, mine would end in a request instead. Introduction of mental-health-related classes in schools for teenagers to eradicate malingering and letting them develop peaceful relations with their mental health and also for parents, to educate them about the reality of what’s not physical health, is the closest we can do to erase the so-called generation gap. Therapy should be made more accessible and inexpensive. Getting rid of the lack of connection between teenagers and their caretakers is the only convenient way of escaping the loop of two generations rubbing their beliefs on one another. And that’s where my speech will end. Either possibility of me being submerged in rotten tomatoes or deafened by the applause will explain the future of the upcoming generation - The Gen Alpha.