Teens and young adults of Gen Z say they’re overwhelmed by the pressure to perform at school and on social media, where every success and failure is broadcast. They’re also incredibly lonely, with studies showing higher rates of loneliness reported among those born between 1997 and 2012 than other generations.
Hundreds of Gen Z’ers got temporary relief from those woes, March 2, as they engaged with peers in person at the second annual Gen Z Wellness Summit.
“We’ve had enormous strain on our communities, emotional stress on individuals and families, so it’s really critical that we stay connected,” Helena Hansen, MD, PhD, interim director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, said as she welcomed the summit’s nearly 900 attendees to the UCLA campus. “This is all about connection, and it starts with us being here together.”
That togetherness meant a lot to 15-year-old Samaya Posner, a freshman at Huntington Beach High School. She came to the event with her 13-year-old sister, Kailani, to be with other young people interested in improving their mental health.
“I’m hoping to learn that there are other kids who struggle,” Samaya said. “Sometimes it’s very isolating and you isolate yourself, because you see everybody else is perfect.”
Presented by the Friends of the Semel Institute, the free, daylong summit included motivational talks, hands-on activities, presentations by UCLA Health professors, lunch and even a little magic.
Magician and entrepreneur Harris III hosted the program. He talked about the power of wonder and imagination, performed a trick that involved an “invisible” deck of cards and escaped from a straitjacket as he discussed how we can become trapped in worries about others’ expectations.
“Worry is a misuse of imagination,” he said.
But worry was common among young attendees.
Pressure to perform
Teens said they feel significant pressure to perform well in school, years before applying for college.
“You want to succeed in your sport and in school, and whatever extracurriculars you do,” said Damari Matthews, 15, a sophomore at New Roads school in Santa Monica.
“Especially with social media,” added his classmate, Rumson Meyer, 15. “Seeing all these other kids who are doing so well in their sports and all that, you want to be to their level.”
Addison Carson and Addison Cooper, both 17 and members of the Friends of Semel Institute’s Teen Advisory Council that helped shape the wellness summit, said doing well in school and getting into college is fraught with pressure and expectation – which social media amplifies.
“Social media forces you to compare yourself to others,” Cooper said. “You’re constantly looking at like, what people are doing, what they're posting, where they are, who they're with.”
With so much time spent on social media – along with social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic – it’s hard for Gen Z to have face-to-face conversations, Carson said.
“There’s a very intense need for genuine human connection,” she said. “A big issue is that, since COVID, for our generation, we missed middle school, so a lot of people don’t know how to interact socially. So they’ve just gone to social media. That’s how they talk to people.”
Making authentic connections
The first activity at the wellness summit got everyone talking. Tables throughout the venue were covered with trinkets – mini-Rubik’s cubes, tiny teapots, bouncy balls, little toy dogs, small kaleidoscopes – and participants were invited to choose five items that felt meaningful. Then they shared with the people sitting next to them about what those items represented. The whole room was abuzz with conversation.
Jason Y. Lee, founder of Jubilee Media – which has 9.75 million followers on YouTube – also sparked conversation. He floated prompts to the group – such as “I am happy” or “Social media is a net positive for my generation” – and invited participants to respond by holding up cards that read “agree,” “strongly agree,” “disagree” and “strongly disagree.” He asked those with different options to discuss their responses.
The summit also featured a conversation between Dr. Hansen and singer-songwriter Em Beihold, who has 1.2 million followers on TikTok and another 500,000 on Instagram. Beihold, 26, discussed her experiences with depression before performing two songs.
After lunch, summit participants could choose from several breakout sessions, including “The Science of Making Friends,” led by Elizabeth Laugeson, PsyD, a clinical professor in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA; and “Food and Mood,” led by Arpana Church, PhD, who studies the gut microbiome at UCLA Health.
Altogether it was an inspiring day, said Vicky Goodman, president and founder of the Friends of the Semel Institute.
“We felt very gratified when a number of students shared that what they appreciated most was the opportunity to make authentic connections with each other,” she said, “and feel less alone with their mental health challenges.”
