When I look back on my life as a child, I am amazed by just how embarrassing I was. I’m sure my parents and siblings were just “delighted” when I got into the ears of guests, strangers, and friends. I loved getting attention, and in a family of eleven, that was sometimes hard to get. I would do anything from making bold claims about my life, sharing personal information of others, or exaggerating even the smallest injury into a life-and-death situation. I distinctly recall one instance that especially is hard for me to think back to. After my mom gave birth to my younger sister, she developed a blood clot in her leg. The situation was actually quite serious and called for her to take it relatively easy. While she was not only recovering from birth but also from the blood clot, three ladies from a church we had formerly attended offered to come to our house and clean it for us. The offer was extremely generous and loving, but not necessarily the perspective I had at the time. In my mind, it was an intrusion of our space and a message to us children that we weren’t capable of keeping the house in order while our mom was inactive. Regardless, when they arrived that morning, they first stood in our kitchen around my mom hearing all about what was going on, looking at her leg, and praying for healing. On one hand, I was annoyed that they didn’t seem to care too much about us kids but on the other hand, I saw an opportunity for attention. So, I began to follow each of them around as they cleaned, telling them in great detail about all the injuries I had. I tried desperately to earn any amount of sympathy. Eventually one of them told me that they thought they should all pray for me too and at that moment I felt like I had achieved something. That feeling lasted only momentarily though because when my older siblings heard of what I had said, they quickly ushered me away with great embarrassment.
Thankfully, it’s been quite some time since this happened, and hopefully I’ve grown significantly since. However, there is still an underlying issue in the story that I can still relate to even today. That is the issue of importance. In fact, as I think back on my growing up years, the two biggest concerns I had then came down to a desire for safety and importance. While I consider myself to be a millennial, there are some interesting traits between both millennials and Gen Z.
In 2018, American Phycologist Jean Twenge wrote a book entitled iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us. The sub-title is definitely one of the longest I’ve ever seen, but Twenge makes a lot of interesting observations in the book. First, she makes the case that the Gen Z generation’s mantra is “Stay Safe”. For those wondering, Gen Z is generally described as people born between 2000 and 2012, although some people push the start of that age group back to 1996 or 1997. Gen Z is on record as the safest generation for reasons such as being in fewer car accidents and being less likely to binge drink. But alternatively, they are also less likely to move away from home, try something new, or engage with someone who has different opinions than them. This is a huge reason why we’ve seen the explosion of “Cancel Culture” in the high school and college system in recent years.
Building on that, there is a constant desire for financial security. Twenge points out in her book that the Gen Z generation is reaching for financial security more than any generation previously. 82% of Gen Z freshmen say their primary reason for going to college is to gain financial wealth. Fifty years ago, the primary reason was to be helpful, produce something meaningful, and make the world a better place. Another interesting element to this is the millennial generation also wanted wealth, but for them, it was because of the significance it would
provide them. They thought if they had money they would matter. Gen Z wants it because of the security it offers. If I have money, I will be okay is the mindset of Gen Z. All of that constant desire or need for security and safety has created a generation of anxiety and depression. Only 45% of Gen Z say they have good mental health. That compares to 56% of millennials and 70% of baby boomers. In addition, suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Gen Z. Between 2007 and 2017 the suicide rate among those ages ten and twenty-four increased by 56%. Since 2014, people who turned twenty to thirty-eight in 2019, have seen a 47% increase in major-depression diagnoses.
So, this all begs a question. Is the constant desire for safety and security really what’s driving anxiety, depression, and suicide? Or, is it something deeper? I would make the case that it is something deeper. It’s an underlying desire for purpose. Something that has long been missed, distorted, misunderstood, and confused. Over the course of going through higher education, working in the industry, and involvement with countless young adults, I have experienced firsthand just how prevalent this issue is. Purpose is creating more chaos than order, something that obviously is counterintuitive to helping anyone. Just fifty years ago, as mentioned, people were going to college to help other people. Even if they didn’t know how they would accomplish it, they knew what their goal was. Today, not only do young people not know how to accomplish their goals, they don’t even know what their goal is except that they need to be safe throughout the process. Obviously, if the world isn’t safe, isn’t providing us with inherent purpose, and lacks security, it needs to be changed. We have all seen the consequences of this as young people become disillusioned and disgruntled with the world around them and begin to become complainers and closed off. Entitlement, cancel culture, and intolerance are the main marks of Gen Z. That bitterness and despair which are birthed through frustration result in the historic depression and suicide numbers we see across the culture. There are
certainly other factors that go into these numbers, but I do suggest the premise of the statistics we see is due to high disappointment and disillusionment with expectations.
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