Youth anger: a global future?

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.