Hey everyone, thanks so much for watching :) This topic means a lot to me and it’s something I've wanted to explore for a really long time. Please keep in mind that I’m not a formally-trained philosophy scholar, so I’m aware there may be gaps or oversimplifications in how I define and explain these philosophical concepts. This video is specifically for those of us who, like myself, don’t necessarily have a formal background in philosophy. It aims to be an easy-to-digest, subjective take on Gen Z for those who might not be familiar with these topics. So to all the Lyotard, Derrida, and Baudrillard buffs out there, thank you for your patience! If you have your own insights to contribute to the discussion, please share them below! I’m all ears for correction and constructive criticism. Thanks again for being here :)

This video avoids discussing the elephant in the room, increasing poverty. Young people are stuck in debt, on low salaries which do not allow them to purchase a humble home and sniffing flowers and meditation will do nothing to solve their economic woes. In fact, it does the opposite, it encourages them to accept the status quo without complaining or demanding a fairer economic system from our government, banks and corporations. The 'just meditate and you'll be fine' is simply not fine. Gen Z and everyone who cares about them will need to demand better from our leaders. Encouraging young people to do nothing to improve their economic situation is actually a way of mentally neutering them.

the world rly did end in 2012

Well, the depressing thing isn't wishing for all the things others have in the internet. It's depressing to just wish for what your parents had and being unable to reach that, despite trying harder than they ever had to.

I think the hopelessness comes from the expectation bar being raised every year with each generation. I mean the capability of technology keeps getting higher but it hasn't exactly led to the betterment of the average person's life. In fact, the more technology progresses, the middle and lower classes are expected to do more with even less. A normal person wouldn't be able to handle all that, when all they want to do is to live a happy life.

when I was younger I thought "of course I'm going to have kids", but now the implications of having kids means I will be a labor slave for the rest of my life.

I love that phrase… “I don’t have a dream job, I don’t dream of labor”

I'm a millennial. I've been disabled my entire life. The smart phone didn't cause me to give up. The fact that those in authority around the world have proven themselves incompetent and show that they do not care for those around them has caused me to give up on society.

I was born in 2003. Growing up I never had the things other kids had growing up around me. Such as a phone or new game consoles, until I got my first job in my first year of high school. So I definitely always felt left out just from that alone. I was born into severe poverty with parents who spent their days smoking weed and overall not really caring much about parenting me and teaching me valuable lessons on how to really be a man. I had to teach myself these skills. This was especially true after my sister was born. I'm about to turn 21. With no motivation, role models, inspiration, or any hope for a good future since I can remember, it's really difficult to keep working just to pay rent and bills. It feels like I'm letting myself suffer just to prolong my suffering further. I don't really know what to do or who to talk to. I made a small friend group in high school and we were really close for a long time. But this last year especially I've really just shut myself away from everyone due to my mental health not allowing me to socialize the way I used to be able to. I go to work, come home, and never socialize with anyone. I was always the one who had to send the first message like "Hey, we should hang out today / tomorrow." But if I am not the one who is making the plans, they refuse to reach out to me even once after months of not speaking. Some people will think: "Well you just got to be the one to start the conversation." I understand that, but it would be nice to just one time to get a "hello" or something purely out of their willingness to engage in conversation with me, because we're "friends". But I suppose even that's too much to ask from them. Bit of a rant here. I'm really sorry for all the complaining. I just needed to get this out.

What also happened in 2012 is the price of housing and rent skyrocketed. If you can't move out, or get your own place your life gets put on hold until you can get a job or a partner that can financially contribute. Now throw in employment issues and low wages and you've screwed over multiple generations of people who don't already own a home.

“Learned helplessness” I got that from my bosses and supervisors. They repeatedly made my feel useless, broke anti harassment policies targeting me with whatever I did, and eventually drove me to suicidal ideation. I went to HR; they did nothing; so I quit. Now, while I feel a bit better, I find social media is drawing me back into this cycle of not knowing what I want to do. Hell; I go out for a walk and I can hardly find anyone who isn’t glued to their phones. Technology has connected us yet in many ways driven us farther apart than ever before.

Quietly? QUIETLY!? I shouted it from the rooftops and gave my family a doctoral dissertation on why I gave up. And not ONE of them even REMOTELY tried to understand it.

The lengths people will go to not say "it's the economy" is amazing.

The job that fires you that same moment upon the notice, doesn't deserves loyalty.

Mankind has starved his soul while fattening his ego.

I'm 16 and over the course of a couple of years I have realized how badly the world is plunging into overstimulation and depression. All people do is numb themselves and anger is a symptom of all of that. All I do is try my best to keep my mental health in shape.

Very illuminating narration for a 70 years old father (me) who has a gen z son. Now I think I understand much about my son: his mood, introvertness, his behavior, don't care for or any hankering for consumer goods, very little interest in girls.... Thank you.

I’m 15 and I can definitely tell that the people who use their phone more seem to be sadder and tend to not talk to others in my school, a lot of those people I know used to be talkative and full of life.

That the Walton family foundation produced the study is irony of the purest form.

im 16 and i noticed how much sadder people were when i moved out of my city into its suburb. people tended to spend more time inside and on their phone and its honestly rubbed off on me

I was forced to get a smart phone a couple years ago when my flip phone went belly up. I leave it home.

"It's difficult to identify any big social change," love. The economy. The fact that most people who are employed aren't earning a livable wage and probably have to take some form of abuse to even earn that amount of money. It's the rampant exploitation of individuals and the constant devaluing of human life that has left people despondent. We live in an age of despots who present themselves under the guise of fairly elected democratic governments. The statistic of unemployment going down but the increase of mental stress and despondency is linked because every day people are expected to go make someone else rich while they barely get by, if even that. The statistic that should be tracked isn't unemployment, it should be gainful employment that provides a livable wage. You'll see that number shift drastically and have the correlating data to support why there is an epidemic of loneliness and suicune. The main difference between Millennials and the earlier generations is that Millennials were fed the promise that through hard work they could succeed, even though most of the 'successful' individuals do little to no work and have done so for years or decades. The difference between Millennials and Gen Z/Alpha is that Gen Z and Alpha see through the bullshit that was fed to Millennials. They're despondent because they know it's not going to get any better, and they can barely live as it is now.

In terms of the smartphone issue - I think you're almost entirely correct. I'm 31 years old and I remember a time before smartphones, but that doesn't meant a time before the internet... I think the problem is internet addiction, and what the smartphone did was it made you connected to the internet 100% of the time (except for when you're sleeping), whereas it used to be that you had to be at home in order to access the internet on your desktop PC / home laptop, and when you weren't at home - you'd be outside spending time with your friends, and everyone would talk to each other without distracting themselves with their phones, because mobile phones were still "ordinary".

It's as if we have been conditioned to have feelings about everything, we shouldn't. You don't need to have feelings about every single little thing. Emotional overload.

I have come to 2 realizations in life that now give me more joy than ever imaginable. Just to cut it short, get rid of ALL of your expectations for everything. The soda will taste slightly different tomorrow than it does today. Live in the moment, do not regret anything from the past but grow from everything, take something good from everything and never fear the future. Until you know you failed the exam, don't worry about the hypothetical IF. I truly believe, if you can get to such a state where the expectation for everything is so low or nonexistant, that no matter the outcome it can only be good, or at least not as bad if you were let down.

This feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness is exactly why I refuse to watch or read any kind of news. What's important to me and my life will reach me through friends and family, the rest doesn't bother me. It's mainly negative events that I can't influence either way and keep me in this spiraling mindset of "everything is getting worse". I need something positve to keep my will to life. I may be ignorant, but at least I'm happy.

I'm over 50 and having worked in marketing management I can assure you #2 is completely true. 98% of all corporations are in business for one reason only: To make as much money as possible for the CEO, top shareholders, and other executives. Workers don't matter at all. This can be an illusion to some workers because they may like their direct manager, they may even meet the CEO and find that person friendly, but this does not change the fact that greed rules all. Employes exist to have labor extracted from and will be discarded when no longer needed. You are also correct on #3. You have almost no power. At least not in a political-economic sense.

I'm a GenX single dad with a GenZ teenage son. I feel so bad for my son's generation. He is becoming all the negative things you mentioned. He was such a happy child up until 12 y/o. Then I got him an XBox and a cell phone and everything changed.

"We can be like Sisyphus, and change things within our reach to create meaning" (loose quote because I am bad at transcribing) I'm pretty sure Sisiyphus rolling a boulder up a hill with no hope of ever finishing it was a divine punishment for him transgressing constantly against the gods. If a situation that is explicitly designed to induce frustration and hopelessness seems hopeful to you, I dunno.

Considering we mostly joked around and trash talked at base camp, THIS was the last thing expected you to create. And yet you've created a masterpiece. Good work ding ding!

being super stressed just to be a little less poor... or just stepping back, having your time, and not feeding a broken corrupt system.

To all the people saying it's smartphones that caused this, haven't been paying attention.

Me: "Wealth distribution is at an all time high, housing is practically unaffordable, the job market is atrocious, I'm one missed paycheck and surprise expense away from being homeless, and instead of the taxes I pay going towards anything to actually help mitigate literally any of these issues, they go towards endless wars overseas so that billionaires can profit off of slave labor and exploitation." Ameer: "Have you tried not caring?"

This popped up in my recommendations. This was well articulated in conveying what must be a largely murky, undefined mess to untangle! This needs more views!

"why is gen z giving up???" "NO MATTER HOW MANY HOURS I PUT IN I CANT EVEN PROVIDE MYSELF AND MYSELF ALONE WITH THE MOST BAREBONES NECESSITIES" "it must be the smartphones"

I want to say thank you for this video. I was born in the 80s and the first 20 years of my life were amazing, I had friends, I dated, I was treated like a human at my job, and the best part, nobody really cared about politics on either side unless they were older or involved in politics. Race relations were at an all time high after 9/11 when it felt like there was a boogeyman to rally against and internet 1.0 introduced us new cultures. Then I watched every point you made in this video happen in real time. It was really slow, starting with my friends drifting away to either become attached to devices or develop anxiety so bad they didn't want to do anything outside of work (which I get). Then suddenly I wasn't just competing with people within driving distance for jobs, I was competing with people from other states. Then people in other countries. People decided that having disposable online friends was better than the hassle of having friends they had to meet up with, because meeting up was too much work and they couldn't just drop conversations like you can over text. Women suddenly had the attention of hundreds of men and men stopped treating women as "someone to bring home to mom." Then the focus on politics pretty much alienated people from 50%+ of the population and taught them to hate, treat others as subhuman, and completely lose any semblance of empathy, respect for opposing opinions, and focus on things that literally do not matter. We can never get back in the jar. We can't close Pandora's box. Even the inventors of half the technology we're bound to today have come out to apologize, including the inventor of the smartphone. Good luck future generations, you're gonna need it...

I'm sad to know it's not just me that gave up

All the things I’ve been thinking about too, pretty interesting how these feelings seem to be mutually felt across a whole generation. Love these explainer videos!!

I'm almost 50 now, proud Gen X guy who decades ago said screw the system and don't label me. I spent my life trying to understand people through observation and music, trying to understand them. About 7 years ago I got divorced and started digging into Philosophy and Psychology, of anything to help understand myself. I now age two Gen Z kids, one still in middle school and I'm close enough to their friends to see how they view life. It's saddening and concerning. This was a great video, for so many reasons, and honestly you should have at least 10x the subscribers that you do. Thank you for posting this up.

I can definitely believe this. When i was around 11-17 I grew up in a girls grouphome which is far different from the boys . We were not allowed outside, internet , anything that can connect to the internet , any music that wasnt godly or instrumental , any clothing that isn't godly. To say the less it was strict and it was an awful way to grow up. There was so much conflict at the house. When I would go to school I felt lost I felt more comfortable hanging out with my teachers and couldn't understand anyone's clothing trends or social media . Everyone was so different from me and it made me feel depressed because I couldn't connect. With all of that I don't have a positive outlook on the future I have had front row seats to how awful the US government can be and even then I can tell you I haven't seen it all . Did you know all those unhomed kids are stock piled at certain location . Hundreds upon thousands of kids are group together in trios in office cubicles and basically forgotten its not a lie. I got to spend some time there and the amount of luggage and trash bags filled with kids belongings is sickening . They have a gated parking lot so no one can see .The one in arizona is at least 10 stories tall with almost every floor filled. I am hopeless for the future even unfortunately more scared for my daughter. I believe there is nothing but destruction and control in the future. Sorry about the word vomit ...

'post-modernism' found the people unprepared for the 'burden' of being free to choose. unfortunately the collapsed/sabotaged education and the greedy consumerist society did not help a bit.

As a 41 year old who still doesn't own a smart phone, I can tell you with 100% certainty that those things make people less happy. I spent my late 20's feeling like my friends were abandoning me for their new phones -- they were interrupting dates, taking precedence over conversation, keeping people up late and making them forget to look at people and smile as they passed on the street. People stopped asking one another for directions or the time, which was actually a surprisingly easy way to make friends sometimes. I wasn't alone in my dismay either -- there used to be an etiquette where if your technology got in the way of human interaction it was considered rude. I now live next to a college campus, and probably 75% of the students walking around are staring at screens as they walk around -- not the trees, not the sky, not one another -- even when they are walking side-by-side with friends. No one is interacting. In the early 2000's, when I was in college, walking with a friend who was completely ignoring you would've been heart-breaking, confusing, infuriating. Subconsciously, I think it still feels that way, we've just made it normal.

The Smart phone was just a gate to more information, and when you learn more about how things operate in life, you get depressed.

It's the end result of 3 generations of telling kids "You can be anything you want to be, you just have to dream it" and telling them they're all winners.

It's hard to put into words how I appreciate how well-written this is. There are a lot of videos that are just talking heads for 20 minutes about this kind of topic, but you actually researched and wrote about it, and edited it well. I'm a 2000 kid, and growing up in the world since then I've lived a lot of what you've described. I'm not sure we're "quietly giving up" like the title suggests, but we are realizing how dysfunctional these ways of living are. Our generation will age, we'll get more power as the old people die, and then change will come. Slowly, almost unnoticeably. But surely. It has to. Good video

We need a revolution of political, economic and philosophical thinking and organising worldwide.

Your end conclusion 'find a way to change yourself' is no different to the conformity and obedience speeches that seem insightful but are really just telling people to accept the futility of their complaints and 'find Zen' so that you don't notice the bad things. People aren't more depressed "because of phones"; they're depressed because they can now **see** how the world's systems prevent any meaningful improvement in people's lives. They're depressed because they saw a moment of real potential change, i.e. work from anywhere during the pandemic, gradually pulled back again by employers who want the world to return to the same obedient and monotonous frame it was before. And here you are telling people, "don't try to improve anything significant; just find one thing you think you can improve for yourself and that will be enough.' The world doesn't need people to be placid in the acceptance of their fate in the status quo. What smartphones have really given us is the on-demand ability for mass communication. We need to be **encouraging** people to resist the things they find oppressive, so that others know they are not alone - because only together do we have a chance of making people listen.

"The fact that something will end is not a case to say that it does not have meaning. Because things have meaning while they are here. So be here… now." That's the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.

WOW WHAT A VIDEO!! Love seeing all the work, effort, and passion behind this. :) THE EDITING, THE SOUND DESIGN, THE BEAUTIFUL SHOTS! I totally agree that with so much going on in the world, we tend to forget that there's also beauty and meaning if we let ourselves see it! It's the yin and the yang. And also to let go of the things we can't control. Only then can we focus on the doable and make a positive change within ourselves and the world.

Any time someone says, "so and so is THE go to expert" alarm bells should start going off.

there's a good scene in "Man of Steel" where a young Superman is overwhelmed by his powers because his senses are all turned up to 11, and he has yet to control them. His earth mom's solution at the time was for him to "make the world small". This is the same advice I give to my teenage girls. Make the world small to what's directly in front of them, and tune out the rest. Naturally, putting your phone down greatly helps in that regard.

Great video. Voltaire also said "We should cultivate our garden" meaning we should focus on things under our control.

I don't remember ever agreeing with wage labor, imperialism and a world dominated by capital in general.

really fantastic work man :) I used to feel so heavily obligated to feel a type of suffering, or express it, because it was so prevalent through social media. but like you said, worrying accomplishes so little, and learning to let that concern secede has done my mental so well. love love the sound design in this too, great track picks, really supported the tone. also! don't know if that was an intended match-cut at the end between you at the lake/you at the train, but sooooo sick haha cheers!

The biggest issues plaguing my generation as a Gen Z fellow... 1. Careers - Just look at the job market, its growing in competition without stopping and even if people say there are more qualified jobs than employees, the amount of people getting into those jobs is low - Certain roles are faltering, lots of them are either being underpaid or overworked or being wiped out by automation/AI - Unemployment is still a major concern and most people don't end up keeping their first job for like 40 years 2. Relationships - Social media has skewed standards so bad that potential partners either seem too perfect or people are too nervous to even give dating a chance - Add to that the amount of us that have mental issues and those of us that are not fit for a relationship due to our mental state, either you get a bunch of lonely people or people that are in toxic and doomed-to-fail relationships that further the cycle of steering away from love - Too many people have been ingrained to look for expectations over the basic necessities and people have stopped making compromises, which just leads to more misery, life is all about compromises and learning to grow with someone who might not be a perfect match or soulmate is a compromise too - Some people have even just retired to AI boyfriends/girlfriends or given up entirely on love so the amount of us that will raise a new generation is low 3. Economy - Incomes aren't increasing but the standard of living is, just look at the housing market and consumer goods prices and gas prices - So many people are in student debt and the federal government is doing nada to relieve that 4. Social media - I'm gonna include the Internet in this, but literally this is the worst thing Gen Z could have ever been exposed to - So many people have lost confidence, gained skewed perspectives of life and people, and become chronically addicted or attached to technology - This just boosts insecurity and does nothing to fix it, either the insecurity from attention-seeking by posting or the insecurity from seeing all these "rich and successful, happy" people who are insecure themselves and faking their lives on social media 5. Health - Now this is where most of us fall into alignment, especially with mental health - A ton of us have mental health issues stemming from betrayal, bullying, genetic conditions, etc. and even though there is mental health awareness, most of us have not found solutions or even accepted them - As for physical health, there are a lot of us that do minimal exercise, while others struggle with food and even sleep 6. Climate Change - Global warming is just ramping up and past generations have screwed us over completely, we will be left to deal with the aftermath of potentially 50% of all animal species going extinct, increasing natural disasters, food scarcity with so many people turning away from agriculture, etc. - And ofc pollution and littering are still going on, while carbon and other emissions are showing no slowing down 7. The future - Tbh at this point I'd be lucky to get into a stable relationship let alone get to the point of having kids, which would be another pain in the ass to even afford, why raise another human being if you can barely provide for yourself? That's just misery for everyone... - I have 0 faith in the job and housing markets, I'll be lucky to find income stability and a good place to stay - The world's already fucked over by past generations of people, so we are just adding to it 🤷

this video is basically "those dang kids playing with their phones all days" Forget rent/ house prices, forget prices going higher while wages stay the same, forget wars, forget climate change, forget the biggest inequality since ever. Those kids are not looking forward to the future because of phones.

I was sitting in a waitingroom with 6 other people today and everyone was watching their phone... The moment they sat down, the phone pops out and there's no more engagement with their surrounding. I love talking with strangers, I find it exciting. I did not always find it exciting, but had to learn it by feeling uncomfortable. I hope the new generation learns this as well.

I'm a millennial and I feel the exact same way, especially with what is going on in Gaza right now. I also feel worthless because everyone else is so much better at everything than I am. You nailed this video.

Capitalism has gone into hyperdrive in the last decade, greed has washed away any social contract and i have seen the resulting collective psychopathy become almost universal. Society needs a conscious and i have seen that conscious nearly completely disappear.

I love that you're bringing philosophy and Camus to this conversation. I'm a Xennial, I discovered his work in the 90's, but he's a 1940-50s man. He cornered this 'life is absurd' narrative in a way that's still relatable today (wether its the existential version or the 'I'm watching too much news' version, which also brought people down, in any era where you had news to spread), but he's of course not the first one to observe how life can seem meaningless (his solution is action and revolt...). This question is Humanity-Old (we all die and life can feel absurd...) and every generation deals with it in its own way. The fact that GenZ and younger Mills were left alone with social media at such a young & crucial age (while older generations were barely getting a grip of it themselves...) is what makes it unique here: sharing with the online world whatever it makes you feel like and whatever solution you come up with to fill the void. ie: the difference is Zs coping with the problem the same way as what causes it (in big part): more social media........ But I feel you guys. It's so hard to disconnect. And it's cruel because the gafas have invaded every -EVERY- area of life: work, play, community, commerce, relationships... and it blows everything in huge proportions, precisely because it's the addition of what most people feel, instead of creating a community discussion. And it makes us dissect every aspect of it in intricate ways, on multiple platforms, but not always with the best guidance. But the pre 2012 world left us alone too (Xennials like me often quote the late 90s Daria cartoon to summarize this, and 19th century Romantics certainly feel you), and every generation says the one before or after them, is stupid. As for layoffs of the 80's, some heavy industries suffered it as early as the beginning of the 70s (oil crisis no.1). The matter of power balance in the workplace is also age old. And as you said, although the world we live in provides for beautiful freedoms, the set of trials that we face today (revenue gaps of all kinds, eco-crisis, lodging crisis, political dishevelment, seemingly immoveable capital forces, etc) is uniquely gloomy... Meaning original solutions are in our hands (they cannot be in anyone elses's). I say 'we', because even though I'm not Z, my personal situation places me on your side. Let's also remember that revolutions and social turmoils historically happen when & BECAUSE social contract is broken by elites and authorities. It's been smelly for some time now..... Courage, people. Things have meaning because you give it to them.

Okay, this is truly phenomenal. Thank you a billion times for making such a beautiful, wise and inspiring video. Please never stop creating, Ameer ! ❤

Honestly a very underrated channel. Im glad i got recommended this, great job dude.

For the record, I'm not quietly giving up I'm making jokes about it every day

This video avoids discussing the elephant in the room-- the increasing state of poverty and personal debt. Most individuals today are stuck in debt, on low salaries which do not allow them to purchase a humble home; meditation and mindful dogma (although in vogue) will do nothing to solve our economic woes. In fact, it does the opposite, it encourages them to accept the status quo, rather than complaining or demanding a fairer economic system from our government, banks and corporations. The 'just meditate and you'll be fine' is only a method to cope in the present, not to enact change toward the future. Gen Z and everyone who cares about the future will need to demand better from our institutionalized powers. Encouraging young people to do nothing to improve their economic situation is effectively a way of mentally neutering them away from a solution -- Thus, the cycle of quiet quitting.

Well put together! This is so true. Cards are stacked against us. Housing is unaffordable and you'd be a fool to try and buy something if you could get rug pulled (i.e., layed off) in a moment's notice then can't make your mortgage then good luck finding a new job with your anxiety causing a nervous break down and then ultimately end up moving in with your parents or just saying your ultimate goodbye. Scary times.

I wasn't expecting this video to be so therapeutic. Thank you for letting us share this moment with you across time and space! :)

Is it just me that whenever a gen z says "it is what it is" i get mad?

I am GenX and I see no hope for the future.The way the worldwide economy is going, everyone is being laid off in every industry.

What you said in “Be here now” I believe is why for a group of millennials and Gen Z have stuck so doggedly to the idea and principle that Unus Annus laid out. That you can do anything, strive for anything, but even with that fire under, remember, nothing is forever, so this moment is so important, just as important as striving. That this came out only two days before the 3rd year anniversary of Unus Annus is… so fitting. The clock is ticking, but that is okay, it will always be ticking, and that doesn’t mean that we must fear it. Momento mori.

this is such an eloquent, well-executed video that speaks so precisely to the issues that i feel everyone our age and beyond is dealing with right now. amazing job, and thanks for phrasing these ideas so clearly

Great video, man! You're a great dude. Thanks for putting in the time to make this video.

This video dives deep into the struggles facing our generation with raw honesty and insight. It's a wake-up call to the challenges we face, but also a beacon of hope, reminding us that amidst the chaos, there's still meaning to be found. A must-watch for anyone grappling with their place in today's world

Thanks for adding the calming section at the end. I really needed it after thinking of the state of the world. But I'm surprised that climate change wasn't a major topic in this video. Did you just not want to be too depressing? Everyone I know is going through a lot of pain knowing that life will be really tough in a few decades. If we choose to have children, those children will probably have a really bad life and there's nothing we can do to change that. IME, this perspective is universal among my generational cohort. (I'm 26)

no one talks to each other anymore. whenever I go in public everyone keeps to themselves and pulls out their phone in any situation where a social interaction might happen. there is so much social anxiety and fear. deep down we crave human interaction but don't want to put in the effort to create those bonds.

I'm 44 and I have not dated once since 2012 and trying to get women to look in your general direction is an impossibility. A chad I never have been, but dating when I came of age in 1997 to 2012 I experienced a relatively decent degree of success with women and dating with a few dry spells, but all dating ended in 2012. If I had been born in 1999 rather than 1979, I believe I would still be a virgin at 44 in 2043. I can't even imagine how awful it must be for young men today; dating is a rite of passage for teens and the dating game is seriously screwed up for young women and teen girls and virtually nonexistent for young men and teenaged boys. The serious long term mental health and socialising consequences for both the individual and society are not truly going to be felt for some time.

I'm old and I get depressed thinking about the future too.

Gen-z got screwed, as a millennial I didn't think it was going to get worse than what happened to us. I'm sorry you guys, I really do feel bad for you.

This was incredibly well made! The quality is in line with Vox and Bloomberg Shorts, all while being way more grounded from a younger person's perspective. I can't wait for your inevitable success, keep making these sorts of vids!

Compared to when I was growing up, there was the rise of Facebook, social media, reliance on dating sites and not getting picked with dating and relationships becoming more non-traditional. Plus, there were more phones and computers instead of people going out. And these are some of the things the caused of depression, anti-social demeanor, lack of motivation, hopelessness and all kinds of other negative things that are STILL going on today!! And by the way, we now got A.I. So, get ready for more problems!!

this is such a beautiful video. felt like an open letter (a very well put video essay) to an entire generation. i hope that your warm message reaches the youth especially in these trying times. thank you ameer.

These '2012' teenagers were only toddlers old when 9/11 happened. Although they wouldn't remember the attacks, they were raised by people who suffered through the horrors and mental destruction of being a teenager during September 2001, when they were just trying to come into the world as a new adult, getting good jobs and starting families. We were mentally broken, but still required to raise our kids. This could very well be the reason the graphs suddenly trend upward, because those kids 'who ain't doing so good' as teenagers now were raised by a different kind of parent.

This video is so underrated and deserves more views of what it’s worth in explaining the most complex generation in human history.

Thank you for your calm positive and thoughtful approach. Its needed. We all learn in time to focus on the thing within our control and not to get weighed down with massive world issues we cannot control. Doing so will surely wear you down physically and mentally.

Extremely well made and beautiful video, great job Ameer!! As someone almost 30 now, I feel like I learned most of what you said the hard way with experience. The moment it all clicked for me is when I decided to change my life around by improving myself everyday and aiming to be better. It's the only way I was able to get myself out of depression. Nowadays I always get the pressure and anxiety of performing at the highest level for myself and for my personal growth, but it's what keeps me motivated at the same time. The only thing that changes with aging is that I'm able to set myself goals in the long term way more than I could before. Hope everyone that sees this know that you will eventually see light in this life, that one day it will make sense and that you will meet someone you love more than anything. I used to be extremely lonely, but it made me learn about myself. Be proud of yourself and every little things you're achieving that you never thought you would before. Like Ameer said in this video, focus on what you can change, at the end of the day you're just human and your only tools are your body and your mind.

I've learned that life has no meaning; that isn't necessarily a bad thing. All it means is that the life you have, right now, is your opportunity to give meaning to your own life. That doesn't mean you have to find a meaning, find a purpose, etc. I think that it just means you have to personally learn how to value your own life. I've realized that nothing truly matters, and despite it sounding so depressing, it was actually freeing. It felt like rather than having to devote myself to what seemed important, I got to choose what I thought was important or what mattered to me. I don't really know how to explain it but it really makes life easier. I like to use the analogy of an empty canvas. A white empty canvas has no value, no meaningful art on it, nothing; but the purpose of this canvas is for the artist to paint it, to make something out of nothing. Us humans are meant to paint a path for ourselves, and just like painting/art, we're all going to have tough times, heavy struggles, easy times, and happy moment. It saddens me that people just give up. They say life is either too hard, there is no point, or that we're all going to die anyway. What a waste of a life. We were all born into this world to give purpose to our own life. It's the only opportunity we have to experience something. There was never a reason to live other than just to experience it fully, and embrace every moment whether good or bad. This might sound silly but I've learned this from many things. From my own experiences, family, friends, teachers, etc. Just like Ameer, I also enjoy nature. It makes me feel at peace, and reminds me to enjoy life properly by embracing it and living in the moment. Everyone's experiences are different but if I could recommend somethings to look into that have helped me, I'd give movies and songs. Everything Everywhere All At Once - A movie Porter Robinson (a musician) - Nurture Album or Worlds Album Soul - A Pixar movie

This is your best work so far man, holy crap what an incredible video

0:25 this is where my generation (born in 2010) crosses the line. if most of my generation is feeling this way, i totally understand what’s causing you to feel like you’re better off dead like climate change, today’s generation’s safety online, and other bad stuff, but none of us are better off dead. our lives have just begun meaning we have big opportunities to make this world a better place which will make you happy too. we can always be more productive to show action on what’s right for this place like protesting that teens should be able to speak up on what’s right and wrong. our lives may not last forever, but we should do the best we possibly can. giving up and being hopeless shows that we are weak and unable to fix things, but it shouldn’t be true at all. this planet depends on our abilities on how we can help it and we should be able to do that.

So young and yet so full of insight and wisdom. WTF? This is the best of KZfaq, where master communicators can reach a wide audience.

I've been there.... Seriously.... What I've learned? Working towards your dreams helps~ Being the change I wish to see in the world helps~ Seeking out things that bring me hope helps~ For each person these things are different. Self-actualization makes a huge difference in life. I learned this and now practice it daily while also coaching others on how to practice it themselves. For those who don't know who they are? I try to help them figure it out. These things helped me find hope in a better future, but I can still feel the weight of the chaos in the world.

Gen X here. Nice to hear your perspective. Thanks

Thank you so much for this video! I guess we all can see how social media builds the reality where you cannot just live your live and always have to have an opinion about everything and everyone. And otherwise you're "soulless", you're a monster, people are dying here, the city is burning there etc. But it's too much. So I hope we all care about ourselves more because the best we can do for ourselves - is just lice our lives and improve ourselves 🤍

Learning to not care was something Gen X mastered decades before smartphones became a thing. Maybe that's why I'm still at least partly sane.

Millenial here who grew up near a city but spend most weekends near the woods. The city is overwhelming, and no matter how hippie it sounds, nature does heal. I recently got into motor riding and it takes me into another world, one without social media, phones, distraction. Just you, the open air and a ride. It's liberating. So is sitting on a log near a lake. No distractions, just peace.

One of the best and most meaningful 20 minutes i’ve ever spent on youtube. Really really well done for putting all this together, and your thoughts, editing, music and everything!

To play devil's advocate, it's becoming abundantly clear that happiness from materialism, even on the middle class level, is a dead end.

Reading Epictetus gave me a lot of clarity: For he is right, do what you can to change your circumstamces, if not attempt to make the best of it. Epictetus was one of the most important Stoics, the core of stoicism being essentially what he said. He isn't saying "Oh, be cool with what you can't change." He is saying it is useless to worry or overthink because you are not able to change it.

Mom was always right. It is "that damn phone"

Raise wages, give us more cash idk....we can barely buy ourselves a used car thats pretty much it

This kid is so young. Slowly learning about the world it sounds

"Surprisingly it's not because Gen Z is more open about their mental health" is such a critical point and such a dig at... most people. I love it.