Let’s talk about Generation Z (Gen Z). Gen Z is often defined as the generation born between 1997 and 2012. It is a generation that likes to pride itself on its moral outlook and its eagerness to change the world to combat what it perceives as the major world problems. Although this is certainly an admirable stance, to change the world, one must first become a stable and mentally and physically resilient person. This enables people to be able to influence their local environment, starting with their own family and community, and potentially learn how to deal with the complexity of higher-order problems. Although I wish this process had been successful for many in Gen Z, there seems to be a major roadblock: Gen Z does not, especially in comparison to previous generations, seem to be mentally resilient enough to make its dreams of saving the world come true. Gen Z is the generation with the poorest mental health to date, often called the ‘anxious generation’ with only 44 percent feeling prepared for the future. This raises the question: why is there such a big discrepancy between the moral will of Gen Z and its mental stability?

Has Society Forsaken Gen Z?

Before we dive into the problem of how Gen Z interacts with the environment, let’s briefly examine the heritage society has left to Gen Z. Gen Z has grown up in a time where the great euphoria of the 1990s has slowly turned into great pessimism and distrust only a few decades later. During this uncertainty, Western societies have unknowingly raised Gen Z as an experiment. First of all,

Gen Z has been left in an ‘emancipated’ state wherein the most crucial socially embedded structures, the family and community, have been eroded

and replaced by radical individualism, also called neo-individualism. It has left Gen Z to find its meaning, direction and purpose within itself as the traditional environment has failed to provide relevant answers, outsourcing them to impersonal technological instruments such as social media. It is important to view Gen Z’s failure to live up to its own standard from this perspective. While it is easy to place the responsibility on Gen Z, as a society, we also need to reflect on how we have failed them.

Gen Z’s Post-Romantic Self

Although society has indeed left Gen Z in a suboptimal situation, this does not absolve Gen Z of its own responsibility. Every generation has its challenges, and many generations have overcome these by transcending the shadow of their environment. Thus, let’s turn our attention to how Gen Z has dealt with its heritage. Gen Z has been desperately searching for a replacement for the void of meaning, direction, and purpose left by the loss of appeal of the institutions that once formed traditional civil society losing. In its place, Gen Z has adopted a neo-individualist mindset to reduce its existential and psychological tension. The ‘flavour’ which Gen Z has given to neo-individualism; I would call the post-romantic self.

The post-romantic individual tries to escape its deep experience of existential emptiness with a post-romantic ideal. By saving the world, one can lift oneself out of existential nihilism. One is able to prove to themselves that the world can change, as this also enables the post-romantic to believe in its own salvation of its meaninglessness. The post-romantic channels its feelings of despair to direct its feelings towards a romantic utopia. Yet, contrary to the romantics of the past, the post-romantic with its lack of a strong cultural foundation, is left with a caricature of the French Romantic period of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and clings to its ‘passionate mysticism’. This ‘mysticism’ has turned emotions into the primary transcendental focus and consists of three key features to deal with the world.

First, the post-romantic demands to be taken extremely seriously (derived from the French Romantic au sérieux) by its environment. As Gen Z has become alienated from itself, it has become fixated on being perceived as extraordinary by their surroundings to distract and fill the void of not being able to fulfil all its dreams and desires.

Second, when the post-romantic fails to be perceived as extraordinary, especially by older generations, as to be special means accomplishing special things,

Gen Z adopts a ‘morality of solitude’: to be special means to be misunderstood. Therefore, the more misunderstood one is, the more special they must be.

This promotes a victimhood-mentality in which one becomes increasingly unable to leave this destructive spiral as the investment in it grows over time. Additionally, it feeds an arrogance that one’s inner life is full of depth, while those of others are simplistic and ordinary. Thus, Gen Z becomes increasingly disconnected from a common reality.

Lastly, paradoxically to the morality of solitude, the post-romantic adopts ‘esthetical mysticism’. One tries to become ‘an artist of life’ to fill their nihilistic void. To do so, Gen Z puts art above and completely independent of the pursuit of the truth, beautiful, and good (art for art’s sake or l’art pour l’art). The subconscious fear that the emptiness cannot be filled in a meaningful way, tempts the postromantic to demonstrate to the world, and more importantly to himself that meaning does not exist. This would release the post-romantic of the responsibility and guilt to find such meaning. A most comical and tragic example is the banal ‘art’ that gets applauded when some ‘artist’ puts a banana with duct tape on a wall. When someone ate the banana, it was replaced with a new one, resulting in great applause, as if to say: Art is replaceable because it is meaningless.

A Way Forward: What Can Gen Z Do to Escape Its Post-Romantic Self?

As Gen Z knows, it is always easier to point out flaws than to propose a constructive solution. In my estimation, the way forward needs to consist of two things. First of all, while we need to be critical of the post-romantic tendencies of Gen Z, we need to understand that just as we get the leaders we deserve as a people, we also get the next generations we deserve, based on what nourishment we are able to give the next generation. As a society we have been unable to find an attractive and meaningful direction for Gen Z. Instead of only focusing on Gen Z’s flaws and how we as a society have become a victim of it, we should take responsibility for our role in shaping Gen Z.

Finally, asking Gen Z to abandon its post-romanticism without offering a good alternative is asking them to give up their only point of stability, no matter how destructive it is. To invite Gen Z to take responsibility over their own lives, is to be able to transcend our own shadow. Providing Gen Z with a meaningful life means living one ourselves. To invest in family and community. To have transcendence in abundance, instead of merely material goods. Where there is hope, instead of simple bashing those who are aimless or confused, Gen Z, like previous generations, can rise like a phoenix from its post-romantic ashes. If we are able to make this into a reality, Gen Z can become the generation who indeed changes the world. A generation that loses meaning and hope and then finds it again is a generation that will not quickly forget the importance of what it found. As they become entrusted with the sacred duty of raising the next generation, they will at least have the tools to do so in a way that restores a flourishing society.