Gen Z is struggling

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Okay, I think that we have been cursed.

[00:00:05]I think the way that our society is right now is making it more common for people to feel opposed to doing things that require hard work or that are unenjoyable or that are like not an immediate source of dopamine if that makes sense. Like in particular, I'm thinking about like short-form content.

[00:00:29]You can pull out your phone and whip out Instagram reels at any point and you can keep swipe it like if you're watching a video and you're not interested within the first 30 seconds, you can go to the next thing. You know, basically control where your attention is going.

[00:00:45]So then when you're just in daily life where you can't really control where your attention is going at all times, you're bored. Everybody's bored. We're all bored. Life feels boring unless you're like doing something that provides immediate dopamine like drugs or freaking food or watching Instagram reels, having You know what I'm saying? Doing the dirty.

[00:01:11]>> [laughter] >> Doing the dirty.

[00:01:13]Um Sorry.

[00:01:16]I think we're just becoming a lot more intolerant to having to do things that we need to do on the daily but are not necessarily things that provide you with joy if that makes sense. Like for example, I've Okay, this is going to be like kind of gross and sound kind of gross. Like I make sure that I I smell good and that I have good hygiene and whatever when I'm around when I'm around other people.

[00:01:48]Oh my god, I'm so oversharing. Okay.

[00:01:51]I know that I This is something I've always struggled with. I have both ADHD and depression and the depression makes me not want to do anything at all. So, I know that that's part of the problem, but um the ADHD, I think, also amplifies me seeking stimulation and feeling because on the daily, I don't It's hard for me to find things that make me feel happy and make me feel something, anything, other than just not like I don't know. Like my brain's all over the [ __ ] place right now.

[00:02:28]As usual, that's not That's not different, but you got my point. Those things, I think, contribute already to my um adversity to taking a shower. Okay, this is my problem, right? So, I like to smell good. I like to be clean. I I like to feel clean. I can't be around other people unless I know that I am clean because then I start to feel insecure, and then it makes me more socially awkward because I also struggle with social anxiety.

[00:02:56]Um [ __ ] me. But, I hate taking showers. I procrastinate it so much, and I don't like I don't know why. Like, it's just you have to like get undressed, and then freaking turn the hot water on, and then you got to freaking scrub your body, and like wash your hair, and it's a whole process that I just hate. Like, there's nothing enjoyable about it.

[00:03:22]And I've noticed this getting worse in other parts of my life, too, where Like, in high school, I was so good in school. I I would just because that was my source of validation at the time. I think that's the only reason why I tried so hard in school.

[00:03:36]And also, the things that I was studying, like math, for example.

[00:03:41]I love math. I love physics. There was a variety in what I was learning, whereas now I am forced to pick one thing, and the the thing that I'm specializing in, obviously I want to be a cop, um and I enjoy what I'm in now a lot more than when I was in engineering. I did not like engineering at all. But I think because there was variety, my attention was dispersed and there was like this constant like if I'm sick of this one thing, then I can go to another. That's just like I don't know, that's how I am. I just like being able to choose where my attention goes. Back to the main point of this video. I feel like we're all just we're losing the capacity to do things that are hard or that feel hard. I don't know, there's people out there that are a lot stronger than I am and have a lot more discipline that I've seen on YouTube and stuff that come up cuz I I watch YouTube like all the time, every single day.

[00:04:47]Hours per day. And I'll see these like self-help videos of like people being like, "This is how I lost weight. This is how I got my life back together." And I'm like, "Okay, great for you. Good for you. I'm glad those things worked for you.

[00:05:02]But I guess I find myself comparing myself to those people and kind of judging myself for not being as capable as I once felt in high school when I was like able to study and just like be super disciplined every single day. But but there's a but.

[00:05:22]I was the most depressed that I have ever been in my entire life in high school.

[00:05:30]I think I was too cons- like constricted or restrictive with myself in everything. Like I wouldn't I just I I what my belief was is that well, these are the things that make me feel better about myself, so I need to maintain them in order to be happy.

[00:05:51]Girl, you wanted to freaking if you know what I'm saying. At least now I don't feel that way, and I'm a lot less like I'm still disciplined, and I have like right here for example, I'm not going to like show what the checklist is, but I have this This is so embarrassing. This is what works for me, okay? Don't judge me. I have a daily checklist of things that I want to get done every single day because I don't know, it helps me organize my thoughts and be productive with the way that my brain works. So, I do that, and I am disciplined. And the next thing that I have on this list is to take a shower, which is why I'm making this video >> [laughter] >> um because I just worked out, which is another thing on my list.

[00:06:38]But, I don't know, I was just thinking about how every single day it's like a struggle to get myself to do that and to do hard things, I guess, or things that feel hard for myself to do personally. I don't know what I'm even saying in this video, but I hope that it can help somebody else.

[00:07:00]I [yawns] wish that my brain worked better.

[00:07:05]Cuz I have I feel like I'm smart.

[00:07:10]That's what a stupid person would say.

[00:07:12]>> [laughter] >> I feel I feel like I'm smart, and I feel like I have the thoughts there. And I'm a really I'm really good at writing them out, but I can't like just organizing my brain and getting it to say the things and like I need to edit this video because what am I even saying right now?

[00:07:34]You get my point. Basically, I feel like we're all becoming intolerant to negative have and things that don't necessarily make you happy, but they're things that are necessarily or that are necessary to do in life. And also, the entire human experience is not supposed to Like you're not supposed to feel happy all the time. You're not supposed to Like it's It's just not possible. Like you're supposed to feel negative things or things are supposed to feel bad sometimes. That's just how our existence is. And I think with the way that is now, it's so easy to get like a quick hit of dopamine.

[00:08:18]But a lot of the time, the things that give you that hit or that quick hit of dopamine are bad for you in some way. I guess also like not only are they bad for you, but a lot of the time they're just not sustainable, if that makes sense. Like if I give an example I should give an example.

[00:08:36]Like um food.

[00:08:40]You can't just keep eating to cope with your problems because you'll get fat and die of a heart attack or some sort of clog in your arteries.

[00:08:51]>> [laughter] >> Like you can't just keep eating every time you feel bad because your health is going to be affected by that. Like your eventually, maybe not right now, maybe you can just keep eating like for a couple years, but by the time you're like 40 years old, I not even maybe even younger than that, you're going to be obese and you're probably going to you're going to pass away.

[00:09:17]Uh another example. Well, the way that scrolling on Instagram affects you.

[00:09:22]Obviously, like sometimes it's fine.

[00:09:23]Like just like give yourself the time to relax. That's the other thing, finding balance between working hard and giving yourself time to reset and giving yourself a break.

[00:09:35]If you are scrolling all the time, every single time that you feel bad, your body's going to associate that or your brain's going to associate that as like a coping mechanism or something that makes you feel better in times where you feel bad, so then it becomes like this addiction where you depend on scrolling as a form of coping with your emotions rather than actually feeling your emotions and actually like talking yourself through it and fixing the problem. It is crucial for you to experience your emotions and to learn from that experience because if you're relying on short-form content to cope with your emotions, whether you realize it or not, over time, your attention span is going to be [ __ ] dog [ __ ] Your capacity to enjoy other things that are not as stimulating as like short-form content is going to de- decrease substantially.

[00:10:34]I'm speaking from experience, if you couldn't tell. I feel that I've been yapping long enough. You get my point overall. Steps to take in the right direction after watching this video.

[00:10:47]Try to identify what your small or your short-term hits of dopamine are in your life right now and ask yourself what you could replace that with in order to feel happy or cope with whatever it is that you are currently trying to numb or I think a lot of it has to do with your lifestyle and the current um environment that you're living in as well. Like I think changing your environment, like for for example, like uh people who have like drug addictions, a lot of the time the lifestyle that you are living is causing you to rely on drugs to cope.

[00:11:37]For example, if you're living alone and the only thing that you have to feel happy is your drug of choice.

[00:11:48]Try getting in contact with your family or making more or trying to put yourself out there to make more friends um because the source of the problem is your loneliness, likely.

[00:12:02]So, it's about identifying what is causing you to choose these harmful behaviors that are helping you cope with your feelings.

[00:12:16]I don't know, whatever. You got my point. We're all losing our capacity to face negative things because it's so easy to access a quick hit of dopamine or like a quick hit of um just feeling better.

[00:12:33]So, and a lot of us have the misconception that you're supposed like not that you're supposed to feel happy, but a lot of us just want to feel happy all the time, right? Because happiness is good. It feels good.

[00:12:46]Any other emotion that is negative does not feel very good. So, I get it. I have been depressed for like years and years.

[00:12:56]Almost going to be Wait, oh my god. What year is it? 2026 2026. I get it because I have been struggling with depression for almost 10 years.

[00:13:09]Oh, we love this life that we've been given, but yeah, no, just find things that you're grateful for as well.

[00:13:16]Um I need to work on that.

[00:13:18]Thanks for watching. I love you all and I'm so grateful for your support and I will see you in the next video.

[00:13:26]Okay, bye.