Over the summer, I was texting with a friend about life and the culture on campus. This friend and I often get into deep conversations about politics, philosophy, and the Hamilton community, and this time we discussed the social climate. We came to the conclusion that there is a pervasive sense of unhappiness and even nihilism in almost every young person at Hamilton College. We could think of only one student, a recent alumna and mutual friend of ours, who seemed to be free of such unhappiness. As our conversation petered out, I began to ponder: why are so many of my fellow members of Generation Z unhappy, nihilistic, if not downright self-hating? I thought that if I could put my thoughts into words, even if they might seem rambling and incoherent, I might better understand why. Furthermore, I realized that if I wrote this piece, then perhaps I could discredit that awful and hurtful insult, “snowflake,” that people on the right launch at members of Generation Z, and show that our unhappiness comes from a concrete place.

I am not a mental health expert, and have no degree or certification in any field related to mental health. I am merely sharing my perspective on what I’ve seen of Generation Z as one of its members, my firsthand experience of its unhappiness. We are members of it, and all my friends are. And let me add that writing for Enquiry does not mean I have some political or other identity, as some people have imagined. If I receive any harassing messages on social media or elsewhere, I will contact the appropriate channel or channels of authority. Donna Brazile’s tenure at Fox News did not make her a fascist, and J.D. Vance’s at CNN does not make him a communist, no matter what leftists or rightists on Twitter may say.

The origin of the unhappiness afflicting Generation Z can be boiled down to this: over the past twenty years, rapid technological advancement has destroyed the bonds of community to such a point that young people cannot hold onto a stable identity or place. This erosion of confidence and security has led to rampant unhappiness. Consider this allegory: A runner on a treadmill in the gym. All the runners before him have followed an old treadmill regimen, ordered by their trainers, of running at the same consistent pace. But this runner is new and has a new trainer, who modifies the pace, increasing it to maximum speed. At first he runs without difficulty, but the pace grows until he is struggling to keep up. He becomes exhausted and his legs begin to wobble, but he keeps running, trying to stay balanced by gripping the handlebars. Imagine it: sweat drips from your body and loosens your grip on the handlebars. You fall down, scraping your knees. After a few minutes resting, you begin to notice everyone else still working out, while your workout is incomplete. So you keep on running, and persist to the workout’s end, but you’re scratched-up and exhausted when you finish.

My point is that Generation Z grew up in an environment of such fast-paced technological and societal change and advancement that we have been unable to settle down and grow comfortable with the community or set of values we find ourselves in. In the second half of this piece, I will discuss it further.