Recent generations have less free time. They spend more time in school1 and have tighter schedules2 than previous generations at that age. Parents may think that young people are lazy, but this is not the case: they are burned out due to constant demands and work.
How does burnout happen?
The first symptom of burnout is emotional exhaustion.
Surveys since 2007 show that the new generation is more stressed than the older generation at their age4. Since the 1980s, the feeling of depression has also been growing among young people5. But burnout leads not only to stress, but also to depression and anxiety6.
The second symptom of burnout is cynicism and distrust of others.
The number of young people who consider people generally trustworthy is decreasing. For example, 50 years ago, 31.5% of people aged 18 to 25 trusted national opinion polls, and in 2018, their number dropped to 15.4%. Without trust, it is more difficult to cooperate and support democracy8.
At the same time, studies show that young people are more inclined to sympathize9 and cooperate10. It turns out that she simply does not think that others will respond in the same way.
The last symptom of burnout is thoughts about one's ineffectiveness.
American national studies have found that high school students most often see their plans as failures and success as unattainable. At the same time, research shows that young people have more diligence, intelligence and the ability to endure deprivation for the sake of a goal.
Causes of burnout
Burnout consists of two things - lack of energy and excessive demands. Requirements come from the person himself or from the circumstances. For example, the circumstance may be competition on the labor market, and the self-demand may be perfectionism or unrealistic goals.
Excessive demands force you to choose monetary goals, rather than ones that are personally important to a person. As a result, young people care more about earning and working, and worry does not let them go even during rest. And the more time anxiety takes up, the less time they have for restoring resources - recreation in nature, creativity and physical exercises18. Burnout occurs, which causes "allergy" to work, aggression, sadness and nervousness. It prevents you from achieving your goals.
The situation can be described as follows. Young people are now more capable, know how to focus on goals and cooperate. She tries to live up to expectations and works hard, and therefore feels tired and belittles her work, because the effort does not pay off. This leads to burnout - the body's reaction that forces you to take a break from work.
How to avoid burnout
It is necessary to reduce the demands on young people and not pressure them with expectations. On the other hand, they should be supported and helped to regain strength. Educational institutions, the labor sphere, and state policy should participate in this. The state can partially cover the costs that are increasingly spent on trying to succeed.
But burnout demoralizes, makes young people less able to change the system. In the end, it will be up to the older generation to change the system, and the youth will have to mark rest and recovery as an act of political struggle. With renewed strength, you can rethink the world and make it more comfortable. Recovery of strength is usually not expensive: communication with friends, cycling, hiking.
Unfortunately, we often do things that do not restore strength. This includes watching series, playing games, reading. After six months of such a "rest" burnout and setbacks appear.
It would be good to know from school how to restore strength, but we do not receive such knowledge. And besides recovery, we are not taught many other skills: how not to be self-critical, how not to procrastinate, how to form habits and stick to a regime.
Lack of basic knowledge is one of the problems in achieving happiness.
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