8mo ago

Gen Zedders might just be the most risk-averse generation on record

Young People Have a Weird New Approach to Relationships and Sex. No One—Not Even Them—Likes What’s Happening.

"In fact, Gen Z might just be the most risk-averse generation on record. Fewer Gen Zers got a driver’s license, drank alcohol, or had sex as teenagers than their parents did. The same young adults now report skyrocketing rates of anxiety and other mental illnesses, with some estimates finding that as many as 1 in 5 18-to-24-year-olds have been diagnosed with depression. Timidity—not to mention self-conscious neuroticism—is increasingly the norm.

"An ongoing study from Montclair State University argues that some of this risk aversion is due to the current political climate—or perhaps young people’s perception of it. “Gen Z’s mental health has deteriorated due to a worldview that the society and environment around them are crumbling,” writes justice studies professor Gabriel Rubin. “Rights are being taken away, the Earth is burning, maniacs could kill you with a gun, and viruses could shut down society again.”"

82 comments

18-to-24-year-olds
Weird grouping with Gen Z being 3 years older than the max
But the way they use the computer and internet shows they aren’t risk adverse, just different risks
The anxiety is probably because like millennials, they’ve been told the world is ending their whole lives and instead of doing anything about it we’ve just made the middle class poor
- Don't forget the rapid fire misinformation they are addicted too. Manipulation is off the charts
  
  People like Tate and Peterson have done immeasurable damage to Gen Z... Instagram was deeply damaging to women's mental health but the manosphere has done damage that will probably never be undone.
- Millennials were not told that. Millennials grew up on in the golden era and then it all fell apart on them when they became adults. They were raised on high hopes.
  
  I am a mid to early melenial. I was born in 1986. My first time concerned about the future was y2k. Yes, nothing ended up happening but it was a lot of doom and gloom(and long hours for the people preventing the doom and gloom becoming reality). I remember freshman year of hs when September 11th happened. Most of my friends graduated college in 2008-2009 during the financial collapse. We recover but significantly struggling more than expected and more than our parents. Now in the background there is still the Afghanistan and Iraq wars which seem to be at a stale mate.
  The you have the chronic issues... Aids appeared in the 80s, probably never to leave. Global warming... Need I say more?... The multiple diseases spreading like Sars.
  Then you have the crazies pushing that a apocalypse will occur in 2012.
  We get out of that all and enter into trump. Then covid 19 occurs. Now inflation.
  What do we have to look forward to? The housing bubble collapse. Increase global warming. Automation reshaping the job land scape. The loss of the ability to truly own something. The same wage as 30 years ago with prices exponentially growing.
  It was the golden age before mellenials... We just hung on through the downfall...
  Fuck now I'm depressed.........
  
  The US was fighting wars in the Middle East for the first 30 years of our lives, we watched the worst mass casualty event since pearl harbor on live tv, we lived through the worst economic crisis since the great depression, covid, tea party, trump, Katrina, isis, Putin, etc etc. When were these high hopes you speak of?
  
  Kyoto protocol was 1997, and that was just extending a climate treaty from 1992
  You’re thinking of boomers
Driving cost money (remeber used cars selling for more than new?). They use to get drivers license to hang out (and have sex) with their friends. Now everything moved online.
Alcohol decreases where marajuana is legalized, a safer alternative.
Women saw the right to an abortion disappear- and more than half of gen Z men support it. That plus sex ed leads to low levels of sex.
But, no, it is because all of Gen Z is "Timid".
- As a millennial, fuck this article and all of those like it. Now they're going after Gen Z with their Pro-Boomer attacks. My generation got fucked but Gen Z and Gen α are getting it even worse, without even getting the childhood benefits that we had.
  
  Boomers have stolen the futures from at least two generations, and if you include Gen X, that's three generations sacrificed on the altar of "Generation Me."
  And all the while they've been gaslighting us and spreading their ignorant nonsensical arguments as though they understand anything about anything. It's beyond frustrating.
- It does feel like an accusation, doesn't it?
  
  Why did they get the black eye I gave them with my status quo?
Turns out "you have no future and the planet is dying" is kinda shit for morale.
I hate these articles that try to paint entire generations of people with the same brush.
- I don't think any article about generations is doing that when they point out percentages vs other generations. Groups exist, generations are a thing. It's gonna be ok buddy.
- I think there are some things we need to learn about people that grew up on the unregulated internet. I normally hate generation generalizations but Millenials (at least us 80s kids) were the last people who got to grow up without the internet being omnipresent in our lives before we hit puberty.
  
  You make an excellent point.
  
  That's already a statement that doesn't apply to me and other "Gen Z" people I know. Which doesn't make it a false claim or an irrelevant point. The changes between milestones / turning points in the western world aren't irrelevant, but people often take them as isolated pieces of information and then value them too much. It's an important aspect about a human being, but it's only one of many uncountable aspects that is superficial on its own.
  Generational theory at best serves as a nice sentimental touch that encourages older rich people to feel less entitled and spoiled, because they "didn't have the iPhone when they were twelve" (a product that wasn't available when they were twelve).
- All the pussies from that generation are too scared to be older than about 25. They’re all too lazy to be born before around 2000-something.
- Undiagnosed gang represent
A bunch of them helped Trump get back in the WH. Not exactly risk-averse in my book.
- I'd prefer the risky sex and drinking to trump any day of the week.
  
  I feel like an old man at 37 being like back in my day we did coke and promiscuous sex and voted for Obama like a proper youth damnit!
This isn't just Gen Z. Yes, it's happening to them, but it's also happening to the rest of us. It's impacting low to middle income folks the most, because we can't afford the rising costs of, well, everything.
Job security is also extremely hard to find these days, and Healthcare costs have been getting worse ever since Obama left office.
People love to scapegoat the parents of the prior generation but I believe we're gonna find out the plastics or some other environmental toxin had a substantial impact and causal Relationship with this sort of thing.
- Yes, or it could be the incredibly obvious fact that it's a generation that grew up on media and technology that amplified fear and anger for profit and with corporate powers leveraging the most advanced technologies in the world to seek, compete for, gain, and hold attention as much as possible in almost every waking moment.
I can attest to this. My kids and nieces/nephews are all reaching high school and they are so chill compared to my generation. They're not interested in booze, sex, drugs or being out all night. They're happy at home gaming together online or coding or something. It's good really, we were not risk averse enough
What age is it okay to walk a couple miles from your house these days?
- 18, with a license to do so
Well if that's true, I sure hope they don't become leaders in creative industries. There's already a lack of risk taking in favor of bland bullshit that tries to have mass appeal.
- Sorry to say that from the Gen Z I know they're even more into big brands and "collabs". It's disheartening how much more deeply they've been sucked into the big corporate marketing machine.
  
  Oh, hell, and you'll be judged if you don't conform. No other shoes than Nike, no other phone brand than Apple, no other earphones than AirPods, hell, I even got made fun of for my choice of wireless carrier (I went for the cheapest - rather than one providing unlimited data for apps like TikTok and SnapChat plus 5GB for other traffic for €17/month until the EU banned that crap, I chose 300GB for €12/month. But, it was the cheapest, so...)
- There's a big difference between not wanting to be a (teenage) parent and not having any imagination?
I urge people to please read the article. When you read it properly, you can see that it mentions that Gen Z are emotionally risk averse but says nothing about their risk taking in other avenues like finance, entrepreneurship, career direction, etc.
In fact, the Forbes article clearly shows how Gen Z are taking more risks in entrepreneurship and work related activities.
- It seems like the generation may be more willing to take risks when safe at home behind a screen.
  
  safe at home behind a screen.
  You have to define safe here. Investing in starting a business, even one involving sitting behind a screen and writing code, involves a appreciable amount of risk of losing your money. In no way is that person in a position of safety.
  I would actually like to see if gen Z are more risk averse when it comes to participating in adventure sports - mountain climbing/rock climbing, skydiving, rafting in fast flowing water, etc
"Risk averse" = broke as fuck
So if you wanna know my personal story, I was given the feeling that even looking at a girl directly was sexual harassment, when I was 12 years old.
Now do 1+1 and figure out why Gen Z is "timid, self-conscious neurotic". And I say it again, human contact is essential for mental wellbeing, as humans are incredibly social creatures. Yes, contact without physical contact is not to be considered proper contact.
"Careless mans careful daughter."
See parents be dumb sometimes leads kids to not want to be like them.
Skyrocketing rates of anxiety.
I WONDER WHY THE FUCK THAT IS?
- Social media.
Maybe that's why so many American young people voted Red in this election.
- Keep them scared, keep them voting Republican.
- In normal circumstances I'd understand that, but describing Trump particularly as risk-averse is kind of an interesting take imo
- and here the rest of us thought the tumblr "guess i'm gonna die" memes were just silliness. guess they meant it, huh.
  
  As the saying goes, there's a grain of truth in every joke.
"Gen Zedders" triggers the fuck out of me.
- Oy mate. You 'right, then?
- Most people say “Zoomer/Zoomers” or just plain “Gen Z.” I thought you were talking about a hybrid generation at first!
I dunno, I worked with a Gen Z aged dude that thought blowing his life savings on a down payment for a new Camaro was a sound investment because it was going to be the last ICE Camaro ever made.
I wanted to go into the points that a new car depreciates the second it leaves the lot, the cost of upkeep between now and the years it would take for the car to POSSIBLY gain value, but I knew they wouldn't listen.
Last time I spoke with him before he was fired he was trying to decide whether it was a better idea to ship his collection of Pokemon cards to California to get professionally graded or to take the trip himself.
Dude definitely took risks. He definitely had some NFTs in his portfolio.
- Every generation has dipshits man. I know broke Millennials who even now try to hold onto BMWs they can't afford to maintain or fuel, just for the clout
Uh... sports gambling?
- Uh... what?
  
  This article is focused on traditional measures of risk (drinking and sex) and is ignoring novel forms of risk... Gen Z appears to be extremely active in the gambling markets (particularly sports and political) in a way that older folks simply haven't engaged in.
There's nothing like "Gen Z" or "Gen X". Stop this bullshit that's not more grounded than astrology. There's cultural development in society, but it's not restricted to an age cohort.
- Perhaps "young people are statistically risk averse. more so than people older than them" would be better.
Is this another one of those articles where gen-xers and boomers blame the kids for the inevitable downfall of "western civilization"?
- Hey, don’t lump gen X in with the boomers. We’re their original victims.
  
  Hurt people hurt people.
Forbes is just writing fan fiction for a certain demographic................
We don't need to take risks, our circumstances are taking all the risk for us.
That actually seems just true or perhaps it just lines up with my personality. Alghtough i wouldnt be so quick to put wars , plauges and other dangers as the actual cause. its probably the opposite and the relative lack of those combined with the social media either overblowing most stuff or completley opposite , ridiculuing the problem with no inbetweens makes pepole weary .
Hey look, it's a description of me! 🙃
Interesting. There is a strong correlation between social media use and mental illness. I wonder if maybe there is some link at play here.
Unlike Millennials, gen z had social media as soon as their parents let them. I wonder if the social pressure of trying to maintain a presence on socials might be influencing the risk aversion.
Uh didn't the majority of them just vote in a fascist to fuck up their economy and futures? Risk averse my ass.
- You think Trump is going to fuck things up. His voters presumably think he's going to fix things.
  
  Aww. One could almost pity them until they remember how screwed they made us all and decide on taking absolute pleasure in them finding out instead.
- No, not a majority, just like 40% of them.
  
  Are you saying 40% of ALL gen Z voted for Trump? Or is it 40% of the ones who did vote, vote for Trump?
If it's from MSU, it can safely be ignored.
Source: I went there. Gained nothing but a piece of paper. Lost time, money, and effort.
- Skill problem.
she cute

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