Youth anger: a global future?

On August 5, 2024, Mike Burgess, the head of ASIO, stated that “lone wolf” youths, driven by the toxic influence of online rage and hatred, emerged as the most pressing threat to national security. Based on this assessment, ASIO escalated the terror alert from “possible” to “probable,” reflecting concerns over the proliferation of a diverse range of extremist ideologies and the willingness to resort to violence in an escalation of their causes.

Never has a young generation been so individually isolated in a globalised world, seamlessly exposed to unfiltered, unsolicited, and harmful content in a virtual space, and collectively disheartened and frustrated as they are today. An angrier generation is emerging, where the distinction between real and virtual is increasingly blurred.

It is crucial to recognise that youth possess an abundance of physical, mental, and social energy. When harnessed and directed in a positive direction, this energy has the potential to catalyse significant social and cultural progress. Left unguided, neglected or blocked, it can manifest as self-doubt, self-pity, and self-sabotage, or worse, as anger, frustration, and violence.

Observing the current world, we may see these two key trends in youth movements. For example, the recent youth protests, which grew from online condemnations of tax increases into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul, are gradually scouring their success in Kenya. They forced the embattled President of Kenya, William Ruto, into a major government restructuring. This sentiment is rapidly inspiring other African youth, ie, Nigerian youth, to organise nationwide protests in major cities over the high living costs, food shortages, and corruption.

In Bangladesh, the anti-government and pro-democracy student movement has successfully ousted the sitting Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, plunging their country into deep uncertainty. This country has been volatile, being at the mercy of environmental disasters and human rights violations, including the economic exploitation of workers and high levels of unemployment.

In China, a new young generation silently participates in the “Lying Flat” (躺平) movement, rejecting societal pressures and refusing to engage in the never-ending rat race in which they feel trapped. Instead of being on the offensive like the above examples, this movement is on the defensive, showing a subtle form of passive aggression akin to Taoist inactivity and non-engagement, the inverted version of youth anger.

In a highly polarised world where the income gap between rich and poor widens, young people are desperate to find a foothold and survive. Adding salt to their wound, the rise of AI as a new and unprecedented digital revolution threatens to replace many sectors where human intelligence, ingenuity and expertise dominate, and employment is promised. Historian Yuval Noah Harari predicts the AI revolution will give rise to a new, unworking and hence “useless” class, much like how mass industrialisation brought about the working class. This tendency, threatening the environment of meaningful work and economic security, could further exacerbate the anger and frustration among the youth.

More importantly, young people gradually find themselves in a highly uncertain, disoriented, and aimless world, forcing them to accept a fractured reality they have taken for granted. Previously, we were accustomed to thinking about life cycles linearly with progressive promises, almost universally accepted and predictable—birth, education, job, marriage, family, retirement, and death, seemingly the replication of divine linearity from creation to salvation. One stage would lead to the next if sufficient effort and rational decisions were made.

However, now, apart from birth and death, all others are thrown into deep uncertainty, and there is no linearity around the life stages, only chaotic spirals with none of their efforts promising anything further. Societal changes have significantly altered the traditional trajectory of life for young people. Education, even a good one, is no longer a guarantor of suitable and well-paid employment. Employment, even a secure higher salary job, is no longer a guarantor of owning a good house and providing a good education for future generations. Amidst such uncertainties, marriages are delayed or opted out, and having children is no longer a priority or even an option for many young people around the world.

Incremental disintegration of family values, thanks to the influences of radical feminism, wokeism, gender ideology and toxic masculinity, young people prefer to be single, childless and self-sufficient as a growing trend in many Western and Eastern countries.

Additionally, the growing housing crisis in the West, characterised by skyrocketing property prices and an undersupply of affordable housing, is forcing young people to reconsider marriage and parenting plans seriously. This crisis, particularly acute in urban areas, is making it increasingly difficult for young people to envision and create a stable and secure future, potentially leading to significant depopulation in the long term.

Traditionally based on knowledge memorisation, education is gradually challenged by the formidable dominance of AI capability. AI has already suppressed human intelligence in tasks like strategy games, planning, diagnosing diseases, and language translation.

Although we do not know when and how we will eventually be replaced (or not replaced) by AI, we are deeply anxious about this uncertain future. This anxiety affects young people more, forcing them to reconsider the meaning of their endeavours to create their future, unsure of how much of this future will be alienated, taken from them, or dominated by ever-sophisticated machines, robots, and ChatGPTs.

In a survey conducted by Mission Australia in 2023, three key challenges young Australians face were identified: school (49%), mental health (24%), and relationships (21%). All these challenges point to the struggles of Australian youth, exasperating their frustration, stress, and, above all, anger.

This anger can be amplified when the young generation sees that society is not giving enough attention to their struggles and plight. This anger may also make them consider they are neglected, misjudged and undervalued, without understanding it is not because society is necessarily or inherently heartless and indifferent but because it is clueless and, more importantly, offers no easy solutions for the challenges they are facing are too complex, mutative, and complicated to deal with. In such a clueless world, young people may gradually lose their freedom, becoming less confident to define their lives and decide their future. The loss of freedom means losing control over one’s life, generating anger and tending to augment over time with the absence of solutions, a natural response to this loss.

Youth anger at home and internationally is real and daunting, especially when youth feel trapped and see no future. This anger seeks an outlet, such as validation, to express their dignity, values, and, crucially, the meaning of their existence.

As history teaches us, youth anger reveals an unhealthy society, injustices and constraints that must be fixed or dismantled. However, in the current situation, the tension is building between youth struggling to forge a strong sense of identity, purpose, and belonging and society with no solutions for their struggles. If this tension continues, it will yield more social isolation and failure for youth, turning them into self-sabotaging and self-depriving activities or rebellious behaviour against social institutions, rules, and norms.

When young people realise that governments, political institutions, and politicians do not have a solution, they begin to perceive them as a cause for their problems. They start to take justice into their own hands and try resolving their issues by themselves. The tension between them and governments will intensify as we witness more protests, movements, and even revolutions to change the status quo.

An angrier generation are the angels of a more rebellious world. If this anger is not recognised, validated, and negotiated as early as possible, the result will be much more severe when amplified online globally.

When youth have no hope, no future is created, but the present is destroyed.