A group of students working on a white board.
Members of Gen Z (those who are 13 to 28) are going through an unprecedented mental health crisis. Forty-two percent of Gen Zers have been diagnosed with a mental health condition, with depression and anxiety leading the list. Over 70% feel stressed about work, money, or the future. And, as the most digitally connected generation, loneliness is at an all-time high.
Many Gen Zers say that social media plays a significant role in their mental health problems, whether that’s being emotionally manipulated by big-tech algorithms or by feeling depressed after comparing themselves with their friends and influencers pretending they live a perfect life.
This mental health crisis has created a world where self-help and therapy speak have become everyday jargon, and young people are an open audience to the world of self-help influencers, happiness hacks, and dopamine detox rituals. However, what if all of this could easily be solved by something relatively as simple as having a purpose in life?
How does a sense of purpose lead to happiness?
Cornell psychologist Anthony Burrow studied how his Gen Z students reacted to being given purpose and found that it drastically improved their happiness. The Contribution Project started in 2019 when Burrow gave students $400 “no strings” contributions to “pursue what matters most,” whether that meant helping themselves, their communities, or family members.
Burrow and his team measured the Gen Zers who received the $400 versus those who didn’t, and shared their results with The Washington Post. Those who received the $400 were able to contribute, scoring much higher than those who did not on sense of belonging, latent well-being, sense of purpose, and feeling useful. These positive feelings lasted for up to eight weeks after they received the contribution.
Over the past six years, more than 1,200 students have received the contributions, and the results strongly support the idea that having a sense of purpose is closely linked to happiness.
“Invite people to think about a contribution they want to make and help them [to] make that contribution, and that person may walk around with greater purpose than if they hadn’t done that,” Burrow told The Washington Post.
Burrow was also happy to find that 95% of the students used their contribution to benefit others.
Gen Zers are having a hard time finding meaning in life
It makes sense that having a sense of purpose could make a big difference in a young person’s life. Traditionally, college is when many people begin building an identity and a sense of purpose, but a recent study found that among young people, meaning is hard to come by.
A recent study found that 58% of young adults said they experienced little to no purpose or meaning in their lives in the past month; half said that their mental health was negatively influenced by “not knowing what to do with my life.”
This comes at a time when many institutions where people found purpose and meaning are on the decline. The same study found those who reported not having felt a sense of purpose or meaning were twice as likely to have mental health challenges, predominantly anxiety and depression.
A young woman in distress. via Canva/Photos
At a time when so many are struggling with a lack of meaning in their lives, it’s not too surprising that giving them a small sense of purpose did wonders for their mental health. Technology may have solved boredom and given people access to an incredible amount of information, art, and content. But it’s time to look a bit harder at what it doesn’t provide and see how we can bring a sense of purpose to people’s lives.