Amongst Polarisation and Divergence, Love will triumph over Hate
During the last couple of months there have been fascinating survey findings (from Gallup, Ipsos, and others) that show increasing differences between generations. Younger people are less happy and more likely to suffer mental health issues, plus there is a dramatic divergence between the sexes of Generation Z…
?
Generation X people like myself were born between 1965 and 1980, Millennials (Gen Y) between 1981 and 1996, and Gen Z between 1997 and 2012. Millennials are mostly in their thirties now (they were in their late teens and twenties when smart phones and social media were taking off), while Gen Z ages range from about 12 up to 27 years old at the moment. Gen Z are the youngest people in our workforce. The oldest members of Gen Z were 14-16 years old when smart phones and social media were proliferating… All Millennials were of voting age during 2016, when Trump was elected President and when the UK voted in favour of Brexit (very few of Gen Z were adults at this time). Millennials were in their twenties and thirties (early to mid-career), during the period from MeToo through to the focus on Black Lives Matter/Covid/DEI. Gen Z were mostly in school or higher education during this tumultuous period.
?
Here are some of the findings (references and links are below):
?
https://www.ft.com/content/29fd9b5c-2f35-41bf-9d4c-994db4e12998 “A new global gender divide is emerging”
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/03/14/making-sense-of-the-gulf-between-young-men-and-women “Making sense of the gulf between young men and women”
https://worldhappiness.report/ “World Happiness Report 2024”
?
Three months ago, Ipsos collected online survey data from about twenty thousand people across 31 countries: “Millennials and Gen Z less in favour of gender equality than older generations… Despite the stereotype of Millennials and Gen Z being “woke”, younger generations are more conservative on the issue of gender equality… Over half of Gen Z and Millennials think when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, thing have gone far enough in my country (57% Gen Z, 60%, Millennials) compared with two in five Baby boomers (43%)… This gender gap between male and female Gen Zs is greater on the issue of equality going so far it discriminates against men. Six in ten (60%) Gen Z men agree with this statement while four in ten (40%) of Gen Z women feel this way… Overall people tend not to have a preference about the gender of their political or business leaders – the majority of people say they would have no preference towards a man or a woman if given a choice (57% and 58% respectively).”
?
https://www.ipsos.com/en/millennials-and-gen-z-less-favour-gender-equality-older-generations “Millennials and Gen Z less in favour of gender equality than older generations”
领英推荐
?
I believe that younger people in the West have lost motivation because they feel less personal agency in their lives (Nick Cater writing for the Menzies Research Centre, says that we have discouraged personal responsibility). Climate Change is overwhelming (emissions continue to grow and the world gets hotter), the economy is rigged in favour of older and wealthier people (housing is ridiculously expensive while employees get used up by their bosses/shareholders), along with narratives about systemic racism/oppression/patriarchy. Young people have a sense of despair, and we have taught them to focus on negative emotions from a very young age (which is a risk and downside of Social and Emotional Learning)… Political polarisation went into overdrive in 2016. Loud voices from the extremes (particularly from the left extreme) were amplified by social media, and by traditional media… We as a society have been telling young people that the world is fucked and there’s nothing you can do about it. So we can hardly be surprised that they are unhappy, mentally unhealthy, and claiming victimhood points (in order to increase their “share of the pie”).
?
The prevalence of mental health issues “more than doubled between 2013 and 2021, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data. For males aged between 15 and 34, the proportion who reported feeling anxious or depressed increased from 7 per cent to 15 per cent. For females in the same age group it rose from 13 per cent to 29 per cent.” Nick Cater suggests that we should “tell Gen Z to pull themselves together and do what others have done before them: work hard and take risks with the confidence that they can right wrongs in an imperfect world”.
?
https://www.menziesrc.org/news-feed/generation-unwell “Generation Unwell”
?
“Cultural bias, the projection of a counsellor’s values and beliefs on their clients, is a common pitfall among psychiatrists. So, too, is confirmation bias, an unconscious preference to interpret information in a way that confirms pre-existing hypotheses and discounts evidence to the contrary.”
?
Abigail Shrier starts her book Bad Therapy with a paradox: “How does a generation that has received more psychological counselling than any in history turn out to be the loneliest, most anxious, depressed, helpless generation on record?” Nick Cater says that it’s “time to stand up to the tyranny of experts, wellness gurus and therapists responsible for the most unwell generation in recorded history.”
?
Boys and young men in the West have grown up in a feminised world, where Matriarchy has been in the ascendancy for decades. Their inherent masculinity has been stigmatised and ridiculed. We told them that they and their friends/fathers/brothers/uncles/grandfathers are “toxic”, that they are part of the problem. Boys and men are falling behind in education, with left-leaning university campuses that are dominated by young women (higher education levels were strongly associated with voting yes at the recent referendum)… It’s acceptable for a woman to push/hit a man or to verbally abuse him, but reverse the sexes and the heavy hand of the law will crush him… Starved of positive male role models, it should come as no surprise that Jordan Peterson is hugely popular (he offers explanation, is understanding of men, and provides a plan for improvement), there is a small movement called Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), and young men are attracted to conservative female influencers (it’s refreshing for them to hear women with similar values who are speaking common sense, instead of perpetuating the madness)…
?
I recently reviewed the remarkable book Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. It was printed in 2018, and was several years ahead of it’s time. The book focused on three “great untruths” that were widely believed by the students who were trying to shut down speech and prosecute dissent… In late 2020, Jon Haidt and Zach Goldberg observed a remarkable finding in data from Pew Research: young left-leaning women are far more likely to present mental health issues, compared to other cohorts. “They are so high that a majority of them said yes, they had been told that they have a mental health condition.”
?
https://www.afterbabel.com/p/mental-health-liberal-girls “Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest”
?
This insight was followed up by a 2022 paper from Gimbrone, Bates, Prins, & Keyes titled “The politics of depression: Diverging trends in internalizing symptoms among US adolescents by political beliefs.” Their analysis showed that it was progressive/left high school girls who first became depressed, during the half a dozen years after the uptake of smart phones and social media. There are huge gaps, with depression and anxiety being much more likely in: progressives rather than conservatives; girls/women rather than boys/men; and in young people rather than old people… Technology has been a vector for the harmful dissemination of messages/memes, which have vastly different impacts across different types of people.
?
My advice to young men and women is to pullback from the extremes, turn 180 degrees and seek to understand alternative perspectives. Don’t just swallow the cultural and political bullshit that is shovelled to us by people/businesses/universities/governments with a strong vested interest (to promote their own services and to sell more of their junk to us). Have a serious think about the purpose of your life and what you want to accomplish in the long-term. What is the importance of family, children, and relationships for you in comparison to career/money/status? Your current boss is highly unlikely to be at your bedside/funeral, in comparison to your relatives/family/lifelong friends… As a father to a son and daughter, I can tell you that they don’t care where I work or what my job title is. They would much prefer to have a dad who is a builder or a chef, than a desk-bound professional (board meetings are bloody boring for a six-year-old!). My big regret regarding family is not starting sooner. Being a parent to younger children is really physical and demanding, and the bodies of mums and dads in their twenties are much more robust/resilient than the bodies of mums and dads in their forties. Based women have a huge selection of centre-right and moderate marriage prospects, men who value traditions/biology and who desperately want to believe in the positives of fatherhood/marriage… Hope and love are stronger than hatred.
Non-Executive Director and advocate for positive social change
1 个月"A new study published in Psychological Science revealed that sex differences in intraindividual academic strengths—favoring girls in reading and boys in mathematics and science—are larger in more gender-equal and wealthier countries. Over the past decades, gender disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have persisted, even in countries with high levels of gender equality... Previous research has documented a “gender-equality paradox,” where sex differences in academic preferences and STEM participation are more pronounced in gender-equal countries. This paradox challenges the expectation that greater gender equality should reduce sex differences in occupational and educational choices... Interestingly, these sex differences were more pronounced in countries with higher levels of gender equality. In nations that scored higher on the GGGI, boys exhibited even stronger strengths in science relative to girls, while girls’ advantage in reading became more pronounced. This pattern held true across all five waves of PISA..." https://www.psypost.org/gender-equality-paradox-in-academic-strengths-persists-across-countries-and-time/
Non-Executive Director and advocate for positive social change
5 个月"In politics, we are seeing a gender gap amongst today’s youngest voters—aged 18 to 29—with young women being significantly more Democratic in their political leanings than young men. Young women have become significantly more liberal and embraced “anti-patriarchal” values over the last decade, while young men have stayed relatively the same. Young men increasingly feel as though they have been experiencing discrimination over the past four years... We may be in the opening stages of a social backlash to the progressive social movements of the past decades. When significant societal change occurs, some may feel left behind or cheated. Right now, young men fall into that camp." https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-growing-gender-gap-among-young-people/
LinkedIn Optimization Expert | Executive Resume Writer | Crafted 186+ ATS-Compatible Resumes for Clients Worldwide | Freelance Graphic Designer
7 个月David, your insights on the generational differences and societal challenges are thought-provoking. It's crucial to understand the complexities of these issues, especially regarding mental health and identity politics.
Non-Executive Director and advocate for positive social change
7 个月“A rapidly aging population, difficulties finding a job, and concerns about low pay are weighing on the minds of the country's young people. For some, that has led them to refuse to save for retirement entirely, according to an in-depth report in The New York Times. Tao Swift, an unemployed 30-year-old based in Chengdu, told The Times that he's uncertain there will be a pension fund by the time he retires.” https://www.businessinsider.com/china-millennials-genz-arent-saving-retirement-pension-concerns-nyt-2024-4
Non-Executive Director and advocate for positive social change
7 个月“We’re conditioned to compete academically and then are turned into a world of work where the reality is a painful shock to the system. Many are robbed of our highfalutin dreams fast. The lucky few will find genuinely fulfilling work with remuneration to match.“ https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/05/millennials-are-exhausted-by-working-more-for-less