Gen Z is facing early ‘mid-life crisis’ due to social media, US Surgeon General warns

Generation Z is facing a “midlife crisis,” partly due to their constant exposure to social media, America’s top doctor has warned.

Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States, was commenting on a global well-being survey that found that 15- to 24-year-olds are increasingly less happy than older generations.

Allowing children to use social media was tantamount to giving them drugs whose safety was not proven, he said, and the failure of governments to regulate these drugs was “insane.”

This year’s World Happiness Report, an annual barometer of well-being in 140 countries, has shown for more than a decade that young people are happier than their elders.

But in 2017, the situation changed in the United States – and in 2024, the decline in well-being of those under 30 pushed the United States out of the list of 20 happiest nations.

Although this is not yet the case in Western Europe, the gap has narrowed and the same “historic change” is expected to follow in a year or two.

It was once a well-established notion that “children start out happier before sliding down the U-curve to a mid-life crisis before recovering,” said Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, editor of the report. .

“The thought that children in some parts of the world are already experiencing the equivalent of a mid-life crisis demands immediate political action.”

THE report does not suggest the cause of this change, but Dr. Murthy blamed it in part on the considerable amount of time adolescents spend on social media.

He cited research that found that American teenagers spent an average of nearly five hours a day on social media and that a third stayed up until midnight on weeknights on devices.

Talk to The Guardianhe said he was still waiting for data to prove social media giants’ claims that their platforms were safe for children and teens.

He called for urgent legislation to reduce the harm caused to young people by social media, including by limiting or eliminating features such as like buttons and infinite scrolling.

Britons under 30 are in 32nd place in the ranking, behind countries like Moldova, Kosovo and even El Salvador, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

In comparison, Britons over 60 are among the top 20 happiest older generations in the world.