The Most Addicted Generation In History, Sadly.

Research has shown solidly over the last number of years that Gen-Z is the most addicted generation in history; we are addicted to everything whether it be dopamine, caffeine rich energy drinks or pink strawberry, lemonade, kumquat flavoured Chinese chemical sticks, it is truly concerning.

I personally cannot say that I am on my high horse about this, in fact I'm more on a short donkey in this instance. There is hardly a teenager in the western world that isn't addicted to something. This could be something as simple as scrolling on Tiktok for 2 hours per day, an amount that definitely isn't extreme for my peers to reach.

While Tiktok scrolling isn't the most drastic addiction we Gen-Zers suffer from, it is still largely concerning. A scrolling addiction can lead later in teenage years to someone constantly searching and seeking for a high. That high could be from nicotine, caffeine or something worse.

Currently around 20% of teenagers vape or at least have tried it. These are often the sort of people you would least expect it from as well. Your mate who eats nothing but eggs and protein powder and who attends the gym 6 times a week could also be inhaling five hundred puffs of formaldehyde infused vapour per day as well.

While this may be a surprising situation for someone to be in, simultaneously caring so much about their health and body and coating their lungs with a blanket of chemicals seems like the pinnacle of hypocrisy. However once one scratches the surface around the causes of Gen-Z’s various addictions this combination becomes less strange and more understood.

You see, social media allows us to do an endless amount of comparison to one another. We see some body building maniac who doesn't work nine to five and has a home gym in their 9000 square foot glass mansion. We feel that we need to match their physique of having watermelon sized biceps and abs chiseled as if Donatello sculpted them himself.

Once we are exposed to the health craze world we feel incomplete, ‘gym bros’ online tell us the only way to complete us is to work out, not leaving the house unless its to go to the gym or to purchase protein powder.

When this lifestyle kicks in the only way to keep up with it is to rely on caffeine rich energy drinks. In fact it is impossible to survive without some sort of supplementary support from caffeine. However many of these drinks come with the rather unpleasant side effects of causing insomnia, premature heart attacks and muscle tremors. Many teenage gym goers report feeling mood swings and headaches if they don't get their daily four hundred milligrams of caffeine. These are the sort of withdrawal symptoms expected of hard drugs, not canned products available in corner shops up and down the country.

With the stress and depression that comes with this lifestyle my peers then look for another vice to deal with their emotions. Vapes fill this gap perfectly. They are sweet, flavourful and colourful, perfect to slip into the gaping void in a Gen-Zers life.

That is how someone enters the deep and inescapable pit of youth addiction. It is incredibly difficult to overcome. Especially since celebrity after celebrity comes out with their own can of caffeine calamity. It has become normalised for my peers to be addicted to something and this definitely is not talked about enough.

It could be said that previous generations experienced the same thing just with different substances, and while to an extent this is true, however Boomers in 1970 weren't dropping dead of heart failure or being hospitalised with incurable ‘popcorn’ lung, a devastating condition where the lungs become dry and crisp from excessive vaping. Their addictions like cigarettes were quietly nibbling away at their health, not like my generation’s addictions which are munching off health from what should be young and healthy bodies.