To say that the next generation is primarily screwed in terms of resilience

The thing is, you are assuming the future of workplaces is identical to current workplaces. We are having to adapt our practices for the new graduates because they don't have the same work ethic. I am very jealous of them. I feel tied to my job, constantly burning out from running a home, parenting, working full time, trying to give everyone 100% of me and still feeling like a failure. I think the new generation knows their worth. They know life is more than working and want people to adapt to them. I remain optimistic that the new generation will bring with them better employee rights, better work-life balance and more care and attention to MH.

The thing is, every generation thinks the generation below them is somehow inadequate. Yet the world keeps turning, older generations (the supposed superior ones) die out, and their values with them, and we continue to progress.

Well I can say in 18 years I can guarantee I have never had anyone film anything in my room. My school would absolutely not tolerate it. If children never experience the feeling of anxiety how on earth will they mange it as an adult? I had a job interview a while ago and I felt anxious, but this is a completely normal feeling that I coped with. Children need to learn how to manage in uncomfortable situations. That is just not real life.

The world has hugely changed since I was a teenager 20 years ago.

Climate change is here - not just an abstract concept and the worst is yet to come. That's terrifying for young people.

Wars, pandemics, Donald trump. 24/7 news coverage of it all

Social media and the Internet has changed how we communicate- more superficial communication, constant compaisons to hindreds of other people (a very edited version of them) less quality 1:1 time. Less need to interact with other humans, leave the comfort of home. Less downtime to sit and think and be bored.

Societies view of children. The community spirit isn't there. My eldest daughter is 9yo - at her age I had the freedom to go out on my bike for the day to he park, the shops, walking to school by myself. I would like to let my 9yo have this freedom but its not socially acceptable anymore, so we baby and overschedule kids.

We've lived through several financial crisis and now cost of living rocketing with wages stagnating. Life feels unaffordable. Both parents are require to work and are stressed out as a result. I had 8 emails from school today ( for 2 children) it seems to never end- as well as working full time in a stressful job. Im a carer for my parent too. There's no give in the system. Jobs ensure they get thier pound of flesh from you.

Slashing of public services across the board and the policies are hitting home - social services, surestart, nhs, education.

Secondaries schools seem cold and punative places these days. I went to a rough school but it was warm and welcoming. I deal with lots of schools with my job and they honestly seem so one Size fits all.

All of it takes it toll....

A part of an age group is not representative of an entire generation.

But older people complaining about the young is not exactly new either.

At least in the 70s if you worked hard- ish you could afford a home, a life, and family.

Unemployment was 4%, roughly the same as now. I was doing intermittent temp jobs, as couldn't find a permanent one. I did office and bar work, so usually had something and sometimes worked two jobs. I certainly wasn't pleading anxiety or similar to get out of work - I had rent to pay and food to buy! And, yes, the rent was on crappy rooms.

I'm not sure why you think growing up surrounded by actual bomb sites, not being able to swim in rivers or the sea due to pollution, breathing industrial chemicals and having terrorist bombs going off in pubs and train stations makes for an idyllic lifestyle.

You know who fixed all those things (more or less)? The people who grew up with them.

@campamshamalam is on the right lines I think. We adults are all having to do so much in our ordinary everyday lives. Working, children have to go to sports and dance in other places because the school no longer provides. Parking to deliver a child to dance class or gym more is difficult because of anti car policies from councils.
Pets are prioritised than they used to be, more pressure on time and finance. But difficult to refuse.

Yes the government has cut funding, but who among us can afford to pay more tax?
We want to manage our time better so that we spend time teaching our DC about being an adult but we are all so tired.

This! Thank Goodness for people like you.

OP what is behavioural education? Are you a psychologist? Never heard the term before.

There will be few jobs.if any.except for elite skills.when is the penny going to drop?

The thing that surprises me is their sense of helplessness, or even resentment. Young adults are the ones who will change the future - there seems to be little recognition of that, where fear and hard times galvanised previous generations. In less-well-off places, they still do!

I think this is rather unfair for older generations who have effed up the planet to say it’s the younger ones job to sort or all out. The truth is we are now pretty helpless to climate change. Obviously young people are going to feel resentful!
Now young people have not only the threat of nuclear war and the effects of climate change, but many more day to day problems. At least in the 70s if you worked hard- ish you could afford a home, a life, and family. Thats unattainable to so many people now, so in a way why would they bother? I know young people starting out careers on pretty decent salaries that are had to fight for the privilege of paying £1000 per month to rent one damp room. They can’t afford to live without top ups from mummy and daddy. It’s not surprising they don’t have great independence or resilience. And these are the ones that have managed to get through uni successfully.

Thank you for articulating this so well. As a teacher, I see this every day

Yes kids with Sen, ignore your distress, obedience is needed! Exactly

At times obedience is needed.

Teachers need to get off the 'resilience' band wagon. It's used as a word to abuse kids, usually with Sen now. Quite often used to mean 'obedience'

People's experience of Gen Z on here is really not my experience. I find they are on the whole polite, funny, sensible and extremely resilient and just get on with things without moaning. Unlike their (allegedly) elders and betters.

I follow several high-profile academic psychologists and campaigners who specialise in these sorts of trends. To paraphrase Jonathan Haidt's summary - we've over-protected young people in the real world, and underprotected them in the virtual (online) world

A big part of it also is that due to everyone having a recording device in their hand at all times there is no room for mistakes which I can imagine is making young people highly anxious. If they give something a go and "fail" then it's not only their peers that may laugh at them, but there's the chance it could be broadcast to the entire world.

I heard a story last week about a girl who had done something embarrassing and it was photographed and then sent on in a chain mail effect so that her cousins and friends from different towns all heard about it, it got passed on to her parents etc. It must feel like being on live tv all the time.

The thing that surprises me is their sense of helplessness, or even resentment. Young adults are the ones who will change the future - there seems to be little recognition of that, where fear and hard times galvanised previous generations. In less-well-off places, they still do!

Like a preponderance of MNers, I grew up under a very real fear of nuclear annihilation. I now disagree with my younger self's view on what to do about that, but I tried to make a difference. I was born into hardship and lived through serious economic depression (1970s) when there were far fewer support systems than now. Our attitude to challenging circumstances was "What can we/I do about this?"

There is currently a great deal of social cachet attached to "oppression" and vulnerability, with kids vying for positions of most oppressed and most vulnerable. I can't think of anything more likely to quash resilience. I keep hoping it's a fad that will die off, but it's been going on for so bloody long now that I worry it's more likely to kill the kids off 😢

Obligatory rider that the Gen Z kids in my family are extremely pro-active, resilient and realistically ambitious. They didn't grow up exclusively in the UK, though. It's possible that the chunk of their childhoods spent in SE Asia contributed to their work ethic.

As someone who has had stress, depression and suicidal ideation I can tell the difference between feeling a bit sad and depression, thank you very much.

Mental wellbeing is very much about being in tune with your emotions and whether they are realistic in the circumstances or if there is a pattern you need to be concerned about, just like a twinge in your knee that doesn't go away, and then suddenly you can't put weight on that foot. It's not black and white.

Humans evolve fairly slowly. Every generation faces disruptions and upheavals. But the digital world has ripped a lot of near-certainties into shreds. In all retrospect, the economic woes of the 1970s (as a teenager) didn't worry me as much as they did my parents who faced adult problems. All I had to do was study for my A levels by candlelight. But this generation seem uniquely and genuinely squelched by global digital media. Every job or internship is advertised to the whole world and contested by the whole world. There's not much camaraderie left.

My DD is 17 and has a part time job in a shop. She is usually rotated every 1.5 hrs, till, stock, door and cleaning. She says the number of young staff who walk out or leave if they are asked to do something they don't like either that or they say they can;t do that particular part of the job as it makes their anxiety worse There is one aspect to her job she isn't keen on but she does it and doesn't complain. One girl will only do till another can't do the till because touching the money makes her anxious. Her boss thanks DD all the time for her flexibility and her ability to do everything she is asked to do without moaning or walking out. She says she has never seen anything like it before and this generation of young employees is getting worse.

How do you think the generations who were teens in the two WWs managed?

Suffered trauma but never talked about it and knocked ten bells out of their kids, who went on to be such shite parents in the 1970s that the government had to make dozens of public information films about telling your mum where you are going (if indeed she gave a shit) not playing on railway lines or climbing pylons.

I think @Hereyoume was right when she pointed out the the old adage

"Strong people create good times, good times create weak people, weak people create hard times, hard times create strong people".

Empires have grown up - and fallen ... as times get easier, people get softer, they then fail and are overcome. It's not just young people though - it's our whole society.

@Jc2001 Completely agree with you. It depresses me to read headlines from the Daily Mail calling young people "snowflakes" and completely minimising people's struggles but then again it's far easier to do that then actually find out what's really going on. My life was blighted for a long time by childhood bullying during the 1980s and there was no support for me whatsoever. Now in my son's school there are mentors(older kids there) who look out for the younger kids and anti-bullying classes are taught from a young age. When I go to help at my son's school I am so impressed with the courtesy of the kids there and how helpful they are to their peers. I think being in touch more with emotions in early years is a really positive thing and I think we should be proud of our younger generation rather than using these pejorative terms about them.

Thirdly when you look at the world today's teenagers are growing up into I'm not bloody surprised they're anxious. From climate change to war to an increasingly fucked economy, I'd be surprised if any but the most privileged viewed their future with any sort of comfort.

We were terrified of the hole in the ozone layer as kids. Didn't stop me going to school or reading aloud.

Most of the young people I work with now couldn't give a hoot about climate change to be honest. And war, well they just look at the shocking videos for a few seconds and scroll onto the next. They're not up worrying about it at night.