The Young Love Recession

Is Gen Z Doing Anything Fun?

Faith Hill at The Atlantic came out with a really interesting article today. As a millennial, I am all too aware of how much the media loves to pick at everything a generation does and discuss it ad nauseam. But, sometimes they have a point, and when it comes to the first generation raised almost entirely by social media, Gen Z really is different.

TEENS ARE FORGOING A CLASSIC RITE OF PASSAGE is a clickbaity title but not wholly inaccurate. It turns out, along with not drinking, doing drugs, having fun, or being happy, Gen Z is also not dating in high school. The teens are having “situationships”, a word that did not exist when I was in high school, says grandma, they are occasionally going on dates, maybe, but they are skeptical that love is even a real thing, which is sad, and they are staying single, which is not.

I’m sure there will be a lot of pearl clutching about this article. JD Vance probably already has some insults ready. But, the evidence shows that young people can actually come out more positively on the other side and I think you know where I stand on this. I can only see it as a net positive that younger generations are learning to be independent and autonomous much earlier in life. Now, whether or not the same numbers are reflected in how many close friendships Gen Z is developing, I don’t know. I do hope that there is some kind of in person relationship building going on. But emphasizing those platonic relationships is so much healthier in the long run.

I was struck by this part:

Never before has The Atlantic made me want to jump up and down and shout “YES!”. This is the lesson that I have been wishing people would learn! Regardless of whether you do want to marry and have children at some point in life, it is ultimately much healthier and you are vastly more likely to have a successful long term relationship if you have a good relationship with yourself first. In high school, I never understood why all of the girls were so obsessed with dating rather than college. After all, the chances of those relationships working out were close to zero but focusing on their education would result in a lifetime of benefit. This, of course, was not a popular thing to say to 16 year old girls, but I was right.

A lot of things terrify me about Gen Z- their fascination with bad dance videos, their insistence that they invented things because they refuse to google the origin of “skorts”, their serious conviction that they should get raises at work to correspond with their escalating lifestyle choices (this is a real thing, believe me). But in so many ways, Gen Z is making the right choices, and choosing to be single during one of the most important developmental periods of their lives is about as right as they’ve ever been.

Good job, kids!

Kat