20-somethings facing challenges
A recent article in the Guardian lamented a life that is not progressing as expected.
“I am 25 and a half, single, unable to pay my rent, and the closest thing I own to a car is a broken skateboard,” wrote Juliana Piskorz. “I’m in the throes of a quarter-life crisis.”
Ms. Piskorz, who said she suffers from anxiety attacks, said her experience of this crisis manifests itself by making her want to run away, start all over, or distract herself from reality.
She is not alone. According to LinkedIn, about three-quarters of people aged 25-33 share this kind of insecurity and doubt. Low self-esteem is an important culprit, according to James Arkell, MD, a psychiatrist affiliated with the Nightingale Hospital London. “Very often, 20-somethings I see here are beautiful, talented, and have the world on a plate, but they don’t like themselves and that’s got to be about society making them feel as if they have to keep up with these unrelenting standards.”
There are other reasons for millennial despair, Ms. Piskorz speculated.
“Our childhood visions for our lives ... are no longer realistic,” she wrote. “Due to unaffordable housing, less job security, and lower incomes, the traditional ‘markers’ of adulthood, such as owning a home, getting married, and having children, are being pushed back. This has left a vacuum between our teenage years and late 20s with many of us feeling we’re navigating a no man’s land with zero clue when we’ll reach the other side.”
Seeking optimism, Ms. Piskorz noted that, as a community, millennials share many positive characteristics that should serve them well.
“We are not afraid to talk about how we feel, although we should probably talk more,” she wrote. “We stand up for the causes that we think matter; we are not afraid to try new things, and we are not willing to live a life half lived.”
Apps monitor teen angst, depression
The smartphone, often seen as a tool that fuels angst, might be a resource that could identify teenagers in trouble.
According to an article in the Washington Post, research is underway on smartphone apps that can decipher the digital footprints left by users during their Internet ramblings.
“As teens scroll through Instagram or Snapchat, tap out texts, or watch YouTube videos, they also leave digital footprints that might offer clues to their psychological well-being,” wrote article author Lindsey Tanner, of the Associated Press. “Changes in typing speed, voice tone, word choice, and how often kids stay home could signal trouble.”
“We are tracking the equivalent of a heartbeat for the human brain,” said Alex Leow, MD, PhD, an app developer, and associate professor of psychiatry and bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The technology is not ready for deployment because of technical glitches and, more importantly, ethical issues concerning the recording and scrutiny of a user’s personal data being roadblocks. Still, with the permission of the user, mood-detecting apps might one day be a smartphone feature. “[Users] could withdraw permission at any time, said Nick B. Allen, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, Portland, who has helped create an app that is being tested on young people who have attempted suicide.
He said the biggest hurdle is figuring out “what’s the signal and what’s the noise – what is in this enormous amount of data that people accumulate on their phone that is indicative of a mental health crisis.”