Anxieties of ‘Gen Z’ triggered by app use
EXCESSIVE use of social media and technology is heightening anxiety levels among Ireland’s ‘Generation Z’, experts have warned.
A recent study found that more than two thirds (70%) of 18 to 25year-olds felt they were under greater pressure than their parents to achieve academically and in their careers, meaning that they had less time to have fun.
Millennials have been described as ‘generation sensible’ for their focus on social issues, healthy living and for drinking less alcohol, but therapists in the UK said young people could miss out on a wealth of life experience due to their overly cautious attitude.
Responding to the by the British Journal of Sociology study, Dr Damien Lowry, a chartered member of the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) and board member of Social Anxiety Ireland, pointed out that previous generations did not have to deal with the twin pressures posed by modern technology and social media use.
Dr Lowry told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I don’t think people are more anxious now than they were before, but these are things that can subject younger people to additional pressures that didn’t exist in the years gone by.
‘What people post on social media is a choice’
‘It is our surroundings and our exposure to environments that have changed radically in recent decades and there are worries like the prospect of environmental catastrophe, the predictions of doom and gloom and geopolitical swings that are sometimes mindbending and difficult to reconcile.’
According to a recent study by fitness education company OriGym, one in six people under 25 said they do not want to be intimate with someone because of social media beauty standards.
Dr Lowry says the pressure to conform to social media appearance standards heaps enormous pressure on young people.
He said: ‘What it can risk doing is heightening the degree to which we judge ourselves and heightening the degree to which we’re comparing ourselves with others.
‘What you often find on social media platforms is that what people post is a conscious choice. They are broadcasting things that portray a very positive side of their life or lifestyle like holidays or achievements or, their best-looking picture selectively taken from a catalogue of many.’
Psychotherapist Stewart Geddes founder of the TheMoodLab.ie and author of The Professional Worrier, said the uncertainties of modern life – from the war in Ukraine to the housing crisis – can also impact on young people’s anxiety levels.
‘Worriers tend to think in “what ifs” and about the worst case scenario. So the more uncertainty they have in their life, like job prospects, the housing market and Covid-19, the more anxiety they have, and the more they try to fill that gap of not knowing what’s going to happen with overthinking.’
Mr Geddes also warned living a predominantly online social life can make matters worse.
He added: ‘The more we spend inside online and not meeting real people, and the more we compare ourselves with what we see on social media and then the more it becomes a narrative in our own head of why people don’t want to be with us or meet us.’
Founder of Anxiety Ireland, Michael Leddin said it is a tough time to be an 18 to 25-year-old.
He said: ‘We are meeting a lot of younger people who are struggling because they are stuck at their family home and they don’t know when independence is ever going to happen for them.
‘This can be a real drain of confidence and self-esteem.’
A spokesperson for the Health Service Executive said several services are available to young people, including the Text50808 service which provides crisis support through a text message ‘conversation’ with a trained and supervised volunteer.
In 2020, there were more than 33,000 text conversations recorded, which rose significantly to 53,628 last year, an average of 4,469 conversations per month.