This is unsurprising. There are no good prospects — war, climate change, a divided society — in all of this: You, a teen with a digital mirror, that keeps you updated on how much more you seem to suck than all the others you have to compare yourself against. Your parents who constantly tell you your generation has to fix and/or safe the planet, while you wonder if you will even be able to fix and/or safe yourself.
Meanwhile even people who you see as adults have given up of ever being able to retiring, but you know it is quite definitly going to get worse for you.
I often feel my development went... much different than most in my peer group due to my much earlier access to the Internet/on-line services and me being a "curious hacker" getting into places and reading things I definitely should not have at that age. Seeing how utterly incompetent "powerful" institutions were (combined with teenage arrogance) that I was raised to deeply respect is still something I have difficulty processing.
I can't imagine being bombarded not just with 100x more information about how the future is f*cked and how incompetent those running the show are, but also it being amped up to 11 by hucksters selling "engagement" and ads. The content is coming to you now.
I think a lot of early adulthood is just brazen naivety. For example, I'd never have started the company I did at 17 at age 37, there would be too many reasons I know it'd fail. If you lose that naivety too early, at least personally I would have utterly lost any motivation to "try" since the odds were so astronomically against me.
When a generation collectively believes they will have it worse than their parents I'm not entirely sure what to expect the outcomes to be.
I think it is our responsibility as older generations to show them that the world can be changed, even if it is just on a small scale. Too many people view everything around them (including themselves!) as immutable. What people are trying to do is getting a better spot on the sinking ship. Happyness defined as drowning just a little bit later than your neighbour (but focus, you could slip at any moment). The pumps that could easily keep the ship from sinking are mounted only by a few idealists, which are called names by those with the most fear in their eyes. Some, with their feet already in the water vehemently insist water is not real — their anger directed at those busy pumping the water. Those higher up the ship tell those stories, because they hope it will keep them dry till some divine help arrives. In the end, everybody dies, but those on top die a little bit later.
