Gen Zers are facing professional and financial pressures, high rates of loneliness and depression, and now fears of a relationship derailing their lives. According to a study from Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institute in Provo, Utah, and the nonprofit Institute for Family Studies, only about 1 in 3 young men and 1 in 5 young women between the ages of 22 and 35 said they were confident in their ability to approach a romantic interest.
The Impact of Social Media
The popularity of social media has turned rejection into a public spectacle, beyond one’s friend group, school, community, or neighborhood. This has led to a rise in risk aversion among Gen Zers, who are hesitant to take risks in their dating lives. Experts say that this fear of rejection and the pressure to present a perfect online image are contributing to the decline of meaningful relationships.
Dating and intimacy require taking some risks, which can be scary. However, the more Gen Zers cocoon themselves to ‘protect’ themselves from outside factors, the more they close themselves off to the possibility of connection – which is an antidote to the loneliness epidemic. As Richard Weissbourd, an American child and family psychologist and senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, notes, ‘We learn a ton about ourselves when we have romantic relationships, and I think learning to have a good relationship is a really important task.’
Expert Insights
Paul Eastwick, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and director of the attraction and relationships research laboratory, says that people have been facing the fear of rejection for millions of years. However, the rise of social media has amplified this fear, making it more difficult for young people to take risks in their dating lives. Gabriel Rubin, a professor of justice studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey, found that Gen Zers perceive more dangers in life than previous generations, which can lead to a lack of interaction and a diminished ability to form meaningful relationships.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
