Gen Z: Sadder, Sleepless, and Stuck on Smartphones

 For decades, researchers agreed on one thing: life follows a “U-curve of happiness.” You start out fairly happy in your 20s, spiral into midlife gloom around 40–50, then cheer up again as retirement cocktails approach.

But new research says: nope, scratch that. For Gen Z, the curve isn’t a “U” anymore—it’s a ski slope straight down.

The Findings

A massive study spanning 10 million Americans and 40,000 UK families shows Gen Z are experiencing record levels of despair, anxiety, and general mental misery. In fact, today’s 19-year-olds are more stressed than their 49-year-old parents. Ouch.

And it’s not just “kids being more open about mental health.” Hard data—like rising suicide rates and substance abuse—backs it up.

The Prime Suspect: Smartphones

Researchers are pointing their fingers at the glowing rectangle glued to everyone’s hand. Why?

  • 📱 Social Media Olympics: Constantly comparing yourself to filtered perfection makes real life feel… disappointing.

  • 🌙 Blue Light Insomnia: Scrolling at midnight wrecks your sleep, which wrecks your mood.

  • 🎢 Dopamine Rollercoaster: Likes and notifications keep your brain hooked like a slot machine.

  • 😬 FOMO 24/7: You never put the phone down, because what if you miss something?

Basically, Gen Z got the dopamine, but lost the serotonin.

Not Just Phones

Of course, it’s not all TikTok’s fault. Childhood trauma, unemployment, financial stress, and watching your parents’ marriage implode don’t exactly help either.

In the past, having a steady job was a mental health safety net. Today, it’s more like juggling three side hustles and still not affording rent.

So What Now?

Some experts want phones banned from schools. Others say we need bigger fixes: better jobs, stronger communities, healthier offline hobbies.

As one researcher put it: “There’s no silver bullet for this crisis.”

Translation: No single app update will fix Gen Z’s collective mood crash. But maybe fewer doomscrolling nights and more actual dancing, hiking, and awkward real-life flirting could help.

We’re learning about Gen Z’s unhappiness… by reading it on our phones.

Comment

Comments

Post a Comment

Viewed in recent months

Why Copying Silicon Valley Always Fails?

 Every country wants its own Silicon Valley. They build technology parks. They offer tax incentives. They announce national startup programs. And almost all of them fail. Because Silicon Valley was never a blueprint. It was an accident of history. Silicon Valley didn’t start with startups. It started with war and universities . During World War II and the Cold War, the U.S. government poured massive funding into Stanford and nearby labs for radar, electronics, and defense research. That money created engineers, not entrepreneurs. Companies like HP came first. Startups came later. When people try to copy Silicon Valley, they usually copy the wrong part: the buildings, not the ecosystem. Look at the real ingredients. Silicon Valley works because capital accepts failure . In the U.S., venture capital assumes most startups will die. That’s why Google, Airbnb, and Tesla were allowed to lose money for years. Try copying that in countries where one failure ruins your reputation, a...
Read more

Why Startups Are More Likely to Succeed in Developed Countries?

 People love to believe startups succeed because founders are smarter. But reality is much simpler. Startups succeed more often in developed countries because the system is designed to absorb failure . Take the United States. Google didn’t start as a company. It started as a failed search experiment at Stanford. Amazon lost money for years. Tesla nearly went bankrupt multiple times. In the U.S., bankruptcy laws protect founders, venture capital expects losses, and failure becomes experience—not a life sentence. That single fact changes behavior. When failing doesn’t destroy you, you take real risks. Now look at Israel. Companies like Check Point and Mobileye didn’t come from garages or hype. They came from military units solving real cybersecurity and computer-vision problems under pressure. The Israeli government funded early R&D, private investors took over later, and failed founders recycled into new startups. Failure there is fast—and reusable. Then there’...
Read more

I Made My Best Money Doing Nothing — and Lost It Trying to Be Smart

  The Uncomfortable Truth About Investing There’s a popular belief that smart people make better investors. In my experience, that belief is not just wrong — it’s dangerous. Over the years, I’ve made money in the most boring way possible. And I’ve also lost money in the most “intelligent,” well-explained, and exciting ways imaginable. The contrast between those two experiences taught me more about investing than any book, course, or market commentary ever could. This is not a story about genius or failure. It’s a story about discipline, ego, and the lies we tell ourselves . 1. The Boring Decision That Actually Worked In 2020, I started buying gold. There was no grand strategy. No complex macro model. Just a simple observation: massive money printing, rising uncertainty, global instability. Gold felt… boring. And that was exactly the point. I didn’t trade it. I didn’t watch the price every day. I didn’t try to time the market. I just bought it — and held it. Year...
Read more

Why Schools Teach Knowledge and Skills -Not Character and Ethics

 Modern schools are very good at teaching knowledge and skills . Math. Coding. Engineering. Business strategies. But when it comes to character and ethics , they mostly stay silent. That’s not a mistake. It’s a structural choice. Schools teach what can be standardized . You can test math. You can grade coding. You can certify technical skills. But character? How do you test honesty? How do you score courage? How do you grade responsibility when no one is watching? You can’t. So education systems focus on what’s measurable—and ignore what’s essential. There’s also a deeper reason. Teaching ethics is dangerous. Real ethics requires: Debate Moral disagreement Questioning authority Talking about power, responsibility, and consequences Most systems don’t want that. It’s much safer to teach how to solve problems than when you shouldn’t solve them . That’s why schools produce people who are: Technically competent Highly skilled Emotionally an...
Read more

The Middle-Income Trap: How Countries Grow Fast, Then Go Nowhere

 Around the world, many countries share the same story. They grow fast. They escape poverty. They industrialize. And then… they stop. Not because of war. Not because of disaster. But because growth quietly runs out of fuel. This is called the middle-income trap . What “Getting Stuck” Actually Looks Like Let’s make this concrete. Take Thailand . Around the year 2000 , Thailand’s GDP per capita was roughly $4,000 (PPP-adjusted). At that time, expectations were high. Thailand was called “the next Asian tiger.” Fast forward more than 20 years . Today, Thailand’s GDP per capita is still hovering around $7,000–8,000 in nominal terms. That’s progress — but painfully slow. Two decades of factories, exports, and globalization for a gain that richer countries achieve in just a few years. That’s what the middle-income trap looks like: not collapse — stagnation . Malaysia: Better, But Still Stuck Malaysia did slightly better. In the early 2000s, Malaysia’s income per...
Read more

Extinct — The Animals the World Will Never See Again

 At some point in the future, there will be animals that humans talk about the way we talk about dragons. Not because they were mythical. But because they no longer exist. Extinction is often imagined as something ancient — dinosaurs, ice ages, natural disasters. But the truth is much closer, much quieter, and much more recent. Many species didn’t disappear because the planet rejected them. They disappeared because humans arrived. The Dodo is the most famous example. It lived on Mauritius, an isolated island with no predators. For thousands of years, the Dodo had no reason to fear anything. It didn’t need to fly. It didn’t need to run. When sailors landed in the late 1600s, the Dodo didn’t flee. It walked up to them. Humans hunted it for food, but that alone wasn’t enough to wipe it out. The real damage came from rats, pigs, and dogs that humans brought along. They destroyed nests and eggs. Within less than a century, the Dodo was gone. It didn’t lose a battle. ...
Read more

Bonsai Is No Longer Just a Tree

Bonsai is often misunderstood. People think it’s about making trees small. About control. About decoration. That’s outdated. Modern bonsai is about time, scars, and survival . Take the famous Yamaki Pine . It’s over 400 years old . It survived storms, neglect — and even the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The tree looked calm. Untouched. For decades, no one knew its story. Today, it stands in the U.S. National Bonsai Museum not as a plant, but as a living witness to history. That’s not decoration. That’s storytelling. Or look at Kimura Masahiko’s bonsai . His trees don’t look “perfect.” They look ancient . Deadwood is exposed. Trunks are twisted, broken, scarred. Why? Because in nature, trees don’t grow straight and clean. They survive. Kimura changed bonsai forever by treating damage not as a flaw, but as beauty. Modern bonsai artists don’t ask: “Is this tree pretty?” They ask: “What has this tree been through?” A hollow trunk might show light...
Read more

10 Incredible Bridges That Are More Than Just Crossings

 A bridge is supposed to connect two sides. But some bridges do more than that. They carry history, culture, engineering — and sometimes, emotion. Here are ten extraordinary bridges from around the world. Number one — Stari Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Built in the 16th century entirely from stone, Stari Most once connected two cultures, two religions, two worlds. Destroyed during war… and rebuilt again, this bridge became a symbol of something powerful: humans can rebuild what conflict destroys. Number two — The Double Decker Living Root Bridge, India. No steel. No concrete. This bridge is grown from living tree roots. For decades, villagers guided roots across the river until nature itself became architecture. This is not construction. This is patience turned into structure. Number three — Victoria Falls Bridge, Zimbabwe. Standing here is not just crossing a river — it’s facing one of the most powerful waterfalls on Earth. Mist fills the air. Thunder echo...
Read more

Why East Asians Seem So Good at Math

Ever notice how people say East Asians are “naturally” good at math? That sounds like a compliment. But it’s actually wrong. Because this has almost nothing to do with genetics. It starts with language . In Chinese, eleven is literally “ten-one.” Twelve is “ten-two.” The math is built into the words. Explain that to an English-speaking kid trying to memorize “eleven” and “twelve.” Next comes culture . In many East Asian societies, being bad at math isn’t a talent issue—it’s a practice issue. Fail a test? You don’t quit. You do more problems. That mindset alone changes everything. Then there’s history . For over a thousand years, exams decided who escaped poverty and who didn’t. Education wasn’t optional—it was survival. That pressure got passed down, generation after generation. And here’s the part people miss. East Asian schools don’t teach math as inspiration. They teach it as training . Repetition. Drills. Mastery. It’s not glamorous. But it works. Add survivorship bia...
Read more

Why Smart People Stay Single Longer?

 It sounds strange, but research shows that smart people are more likely to stay single longer . A long-term study by the University of Zurich followed over 17,000 people in the UK and Germany from their teenage years into their late twenties. The result was surprising: The higher the education level, the later people start romantic relationships. And the pattern is even stronger among men. So why does this happen? First, high standards . Highly intelligent people tend to look for partners who match them intellectually. That immediately shrinks the dating pool. For members of Mensa — the top 2% IQ group — this preference is especially strong. Many simply refuse to settle for someone they can’t deeply connect with. Second, over-optimization . Smart people are used to analyzing, comparing, and waiting for the “best option.” But relationships don’t work like exams or investments. The more you optimize, the longer you wait — and the easier it is to miss real opportunitie...
Read more