What’s wrong with my generation?

I was born in 1997; the 11th of June to be precise. I would describe ‘my generation’ as those born in the late 90s/early 2000s. Generation Z. A generation raised on the internet, who invented selfies and thrive on internet memes, and interact with people on Whatsapp and Tinder more than in real life. A generation who have become so liberal we don’t know how many genders there are anymore. A generation rid with mental health problems to the point where everyone has a friend who self harms or a friend of a friend who does it. A generation where teenagers stab each other over being born in a different postcode. A generation where teenagers raising children barely garners a shrug.

I don’t know what has happened to us. I don’t know why we’re so broken. Anxiety and depression sweep us to the point where it’s more common to suffer from mental illnesses than it is not. Sitting alone in our bedrooms for days on end gazing at our laptop screens, scrolling through our Twitter feeds and Facebook feeds lost in a digital reality. Silently screaming as we drag knives across our arms and starve ourselves. Perhaps social media is partly to blame for this surge in mental health issues. The next person you speak to probably tried to kill themselves, or they know someone who did or knows someone who knows someone. And if they didn’t try to they were certainly thinking about it.

The internet has made us more connected, but simultaneously more isolated. How many times do you find yourself sitting amongst friends and watching them all staring at their phones? It’s a mindless ritual. They nod, listening, but their mind is somewhere else. Checking Facebook; Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp or whatever else. Vine after senseless vine is posted on Facebook, with people tagging me in nonsense I don’t care about. A 15 second video of some kid saying something supposedly hilarious has me sitting there thinking why do I give a fuck? And those same ‘quotes’ shared by person after person about relationships, life, being depressed and ‘we all know that one friend who…’ Yeah. We get it. God, enough already. But even I’m guilty as charged.

It’s no wonder this Tumblr SJW bullshit has been born out of this mess. Kids are now so bored and looking for attention that they’ve started claiming they’re cats and werewolves; guys are girls and girls are kangaroos. Once if you were a man you were respected; now you’re hated, and god forbid if you happen to be white. But we’ve got enough young people who have never heard of Simone De Beaviour or Emeline Pankurst to claim that we must fight for justice by crushing the goddamn patriarchy that oppresses us all. Wouldn’t that just solve all our problems? If only the patriarchy was dead, everyone would be fine. Being anti-patriarchy is in fashion nowadays.

And now that men are evil and there are a million genders, having a romantic relationship is practically impossible. If it wasn’t for Tinder we’d probably all have to resort to bestiality. Girls are whiny and narcissistic, guys are either too scared of chicks or manipulative and only after one night stands. But maybe that’s always been there and some things never change. I know more people my age that are single and have never been in a relationship (or one that meant anything) than those that have. And the ones that have had to sift through the crappy ones. Man, to think that in the 1950s people were getting married when they were twenty one; now if you’re twenty one you probably don’t have a girlfriend, but you’ll have an eating disorder and an addiction to GTA. Or maybe you do have a girlfriend, but she probably has a drug problem and is clinging to you out of co-dependency. And you probably barely acknowledge her half the time cos she’s drunk or high, but at least she lets you play video games in peace. (The reason for that being that she’s passed out on the floor and was cutting her veins again. Shit, is that blood?)

Something has happened to us lot in the developed world, where information technology can be handed to us at the blink of an eye. We might have access to more information but we’re certainly not getting smarter, and we’re not happier either. Are we to continue like this, going further into a state of existential crises and misery? Or will the time come when enough is enough, and enough kids have lain down in their bathtubs and bled to death?

I believe what we need to do is simply love each other a bit more, care for one another and look out for each other. As long as we look out for our friends and loved ones, and don’t isolate ourselves from the ones that try to help us, we’ll be ok.