What’s Fueling Gen Z Anxiety?

The other day, I had an interesting and confirming experience talking to a Gen Z at the Geek Squad counter in a local store. He was a bit timid, on earphones listening to music while he “worked.” Since he was bored and no one else was at the counter waiting to be served, I engaged him in a conversation about his generation. I listed several things researchers have seen and he confirmed every one of them, telling me he was anxious and depressed.

Anxiety among Gen Z (ages 12-26) isn’t coming from a single source. It’s being fueled by a perfect storm of cultural, developmental, and neurological pressures. While anxiety has always been part of growing up, today’s environment amplifies it in ways previous generations didn’t experience.

The data reflects this shift. About 36% of young adults in the U.S. report experiencing anxiety, up from 15% in 2018. Nearly 43% report panic attacks, and emergency room visits for self-harm among girls ages 10–14 nearly tripled between 2010 and 2020.  And a 2023 Gallup/Statistics survey found around 47% of gen Z reported feelings of anxiety often or always. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified these trends, adding isolation, family stress, and lingering social anxiety to an already high-pressure landscape.

Here are 4 factors fueling Gen Z anxiety:

Overexposure and under protection:

One major factor is overexposure in the virtual world paired with under protection. Gen Z grew up online and has been immersed in social media, constant comparison, cyber conflict, and 24/7 access to distressing news. Yet they often do without the emotional scaffolding needed to process all this exposure. At the same time, many have been underexposed and overprotected in the physical world. Well-intentioned adults have reduced risk, discomfort, and independence – unintentionally limiting opportunities to build resilience, distress tolerance, and real-world problem-solving skills.

Decline of free play and social interactions:                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The decline of free play and face-to-face interaction has also taken a toll. Unstructured play and real-world social friction are how young people learn emotional regulation, negotiation, and confidence. Replacing those experiences with screens has left many feeling socially anxious and unsure how to handle conflict or difficult people.

Misuse of mental health labels:                                                                                                                                                                                                                            = Another contributor is the misuse of mental health labels. Normal developmental struggles—stress, sadness, self-doubt—are increasingly framed as disorders. While awareness matters, over pathologizing everyday distress can reinforce the belief that discomfort is dangerous or intolerable, rather than something to move through and learn from.

Demands from academics and jobs:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Gen Z also faces fast-paced academic and job demands, constant deadlines requiring sustained focus, exposure to trauma and family dysfunction, and ongoing global uncertainty from pandemics and climate change to gun violence. The nervous system rarely gets a break. This pace of performing and handling conflict that comes with engaging with people, can feel overwhelming.

To address these issues, many Gen Z adults cope in unconventional ways. They may use internet self-help content, listen to wellness influencers, turn to shopping or sports gambling for comfort or distraction, or avoid traditional work structures in favor of remote work. While these may provide short-term relief, they don’t build long-term emotional regulation or resilience.

When we look at long-term help,  the role of faith to give purpose and hope has been overlooked in recent years and absent from our national discourse. Yet, it is a powerful solution to protect people from being anxious. To be anxious for nothing requires total trust in God who has the world and our lives in His control.

The path forward is to teach skills to regulate the nervous system, tolerate distress, face fears, and think flexibly. Rebuilding real-world independence, community, faith-based practices, physical activity, and healthy cognitive and spiritual frameworks can help Gen Z move from anxious survival to resilient engagement.

Anxiety is a signal. The work is learning how to listen without letting it run the show.