Summary

Introduction

• Collective mental well-being determines the quality of our society, making poor mental well-being the most fundamental issue to solve.
• It is indisputable that we have failed to make progress in this area relative to the level of investment in existing mental well-being solutions.
• The problem disproportionately impacts young people, highlighting the true nature of the problem.

Exploration of the problem

• Digital environments present reward dynamics that young people cannot resist, making online behaviour more of a compulsion than a choice.
• Many issues around youth mental well-being can be attributed to the erosion of cognitive capabilities required to regulate digital behaviour and the resulting excessive time spent in simulated worlds at the expense of the real.

Disembodied | A generation pulled out of their bodies and into their heads.

• Despite their intellectual interest in physical health, Gen Z has some of the worst movement and nutrition practices, and health outcomes.
• Spending time digitally has decreased Gen-Z’s interoception (bodily awareness), decreasing their drive to address homeostatic needs through movement and nutrition, and directly impacting their mental wellbeing.

Lonely | Social apps without social connection.

• Gen-Z is a lonely generation despite being more connected. The features they engage with on social apps are now more akin to media consumption, leaving their true needs unfulfilled.
• Gen-Z is less likely to have intimate relationships. Dating apps don’t incentivise in-person connections, resulting in an atrophy of these social skills.

Aimless | Optionality and gamification online have confused and placated the pursuit of purpose.

• Digital environments have evolved Gen-Z’s view of careers, culture, and role models, making it very difficult for them to construct a productive vision for their lives and subsequently find purpose.
• It has become easier to find a simulacrum of purpose by engaging in gamified experiences online, this subjugates/placates our need to seek purpose in our real lives.

Self-orientated | Without a theory of self-transcendence, we can become selfish and narcissistic.

• Our culture has misunderstood and misrepresented the path toward human flourishing. We have identified self-esteem and self-actualisation as the peak. The expression of this belief in online trends has made us more narcissistic and unfulfilled.