Eli Joseph, Ph.D., is an author, researcher, and academic who serves as an associate faculty at Columbia University, and instructor at New York University, UCLA, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth. He is also a business partner at ExamOne, a Quest Diagnostics Company.
Young people are experiencing a volatile reality of pressure, anxiety, burnout, and emotional distress. Despite being implored to be patient because they’ve “got a whole life ahead of them,” the overwhelming discomfort settles in as time waits for no one.
The mixture of conflicting instructions from parents, siblings, friends, teachers, and guidance counselors may have contributed to the exacerbation of the truth of contemporary existence: mistakenly projecting what life should hypothetically be, rather than highlighting the stark realities of life.
There is a misconception that many people experiencing a quarter-life crisis lack the capacity to handle stress in response to environmental influences compared to their predecessors. However, an introspective crisis is warranted given the modern troubles that threaten the feasibility of higher education, housing, employment, and building a family.
The collapse of college
Many high school graduates are given important life choices to make in the future. While some choose to attend an alternative trade school or forgo college altogether, most graduates opt to enroll in college in a bid for independence. Apparently, the cost of college and the accrual of student loan debt comes along with making such choices.
As the correlating relationship between the cost of a college education and the rise of loans continues to compound over time, almost half of humanities and arts majors were not thrilled with their decision after graduating, according to a Federal Reserve survey.
Although current and recent graduate students who selected STEM-related majors (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are much more likely to believe they made the right choice, young workers in these fields now bear the brunt of a major tech layoff that eliminated over 200,00o jobs in the span of one year.
Additionally, many recent graduates did not get the chance to have special experiences such as a traditional college experience, an internship opportunity, or a formal graduation. This pandemic has also developed a chain reaction of people battling long-term medical, psychological, and financial issues, which further halted the natural growth of young millennials and Gen Zers.
Arrested development due to housing and self-idealization
Alas, wages have not corresponded well with rise in the cost of living—particularly housing costs. As the housing market continues to add more wealth to the pockets of boomers, the trend amongst young millennials and Gen Zers living in multigenerational homes with their parents is growing—and impeding the progress of young Americans’ independent economic development.
Additionally, self-idealization has hampered the social development of Gen Zers and young millennials. Research conducted by Henry Wilmer and Jason Chein suggests that people who frequently post and check their social media accounts are less likely to delay gratification in favor of larger, later rewards.
Much of the content displayed on social media captures the grandeur of people’s lifestyle which consists of exotic vacations, lavish parties, and success stories.
The struggle to build a family
Long working hours, coupled with previous traumatic relationships, have led to low marriage rates. According to a study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, millennials work longer hours than previous generations. As a result of professional, social, financial, and biological implications, they trail previous generations at the same age when it comes to marriage rates, birth rates, and establishing a family unit.
Many critics point to the never-ending quest for self-love as one of the main driving factors that make people reluctant to start a family. Jeffrey Borenstein, the president of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, defines self-love as “a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth.”
While self-love motivates people to make healthy choices in their personal lives, more millennials and Gen Zers are now being forced to prioritize fertility treatments as an option to salvage the ability to procreate in the future.
Let’s hope they don’t fall behind in other areas of life as they grow older.
More must-read commentary published by Fortune:
- Jamie Dimon is right. The number of U.S. public companies is plummeting—and that’s bad news for the democratic component of the economy
- Trade and investment data in the last two years dispel the deglobalization and decoupling myths as U.S.-China competition ignites ‘reglobalization’
- Big Tech employees missed out on $5.1 billion in 401(k) gains over the last decade because of fossil fuels, new research finds
- ‘As quick as 5 minutes in California or as grueling as 11 hours in Texas’: Research reveals new post-Dobbs map of abortion access driving times
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
