As a society changes, so too does the mindset of the people within it. This is seen clearly in the change of each new generation, as they have learnt from the mistakes and triumphs of previous generations, and use this to change and base their lives on. The education around them adapts to these new changes, and shapes their children.
But with the increase in mental health warnings and anti-bullying campaigns, is our generation really being shaped to deal with the rest of the world?
I believe new generations are not taught to be prepared for what the world will throw at them. As an example, in my political science class, we were discussing our upcoming presentations for our research assignments. Our teaching assistant requested that we get any “graphic images” we may show in our presentations checked prior to putting them into our assignment. This is a ridiculous sign of how sheltered this generation is—we know violent things are happening around the world, but we turn a blind eye to the problems that are surrounding us. Not showing these images does not make them go away, and does not solve the problems that are causing them.
Bullying is a topic that has only been under scrutiny for the past 20 years. It is now viewed as a national epidemic, instead of as a common fact of life. The young generations are now beginning to expect that everyone in life will be nice to them, and if they are not then they are a bully. But that is not how it works in life. You will be put down by people for making a mistake at work, or for bumping into someone on the street. People will talk about you behind your back. You cannot change that. If anything, they should be taught to how ignore these comments. You can’t report your boss in the future for yelling at you, so learn how to take criticism.
Previous generations have been built and thrived upon the “tough love” method. People would discipline their child to a certain extent, be that by grounding them or by spanking them. But now, parents are arrested for spanking their children. The school system does not tell the students the difference between abuse and discipline, so they grow up with the belief that this is wrong, and their parents are not good people if they punish them.
Now, when things this generation doesn’t like occur, they don’t know how to handle it. They have been so sheltered from the sadness and violence of the world, that when they get a large dose of it, it leads people to develop mental illnesses.
Mental illnesses are very real, and many people are suffering from them. But statistics show that the rate of people who report suffering from depression have increased by six per cent over this year alone. These people’s claims aren’t false, but the sharp increase leads one to believe the recent generation cannot handle the pressure that society has put upon them—and this is probably because they were not trained to handle stress.
With lack of discipline and hypersensitivity towards subjects such as bullying, our generation is not being prepared for the “real world” we face. Is it true that millennials and Gen Zs are overly sensitive? Yes it is. But who can blame them when they grow up in an environment like ours?
