Many of the problems Gen Z grapples with are unlike anything past gens had to navigate. Besides always having social media in their pockets and a historic global pandemic, they’re also entering adulthood during a period of major economic uncertainty. As a result, they’re facing job insecurity and rising housing costs, not to mention the looming impact of artificial intelligence at work. So, it’s easy to see why they’ve earned the reputation as the most “anxious generation.” They’ve been told to prepare for the future, but the future feels unpredictable. And while previous gens learned about the world’s problems through newspapers or TV broadcasts, Gen Z receives push notifications about crises as they happen. With so many overlapping challenges—economic, environmental, personal—it’s hard to know what the “biggest” problem is in Gen Z’s eyes. In YPulse’s yearly News Consumption and Trust survey, we ask 13-39-year-olds the biggest issue their generation faces—and why—as an open-end question, allowing them to name any issue.* This year, for teens and young adults, anxieties about...
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