I read a recent article by Professor Patrick McGorry about the decline in young people’s mental health.
The easy path is to blame social media. Governments, parents and educators are quick to point the finger at Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
While there’s no doubt these platforms can add pressure, the story is bigger than that.
What if the real drivers are far more fundamental?
Every person is born with a set of core needs. We want to survive and feel safe. We long for love and belonging. We need to feel a sense of power, achievement and self-worth.
We want freedom to choose our own direction.
And we need fun — the joy of laughter, play and learning. When these needs are met in healthy ways, our wellbeing flourishes.
When they are blocked, distress follows.
Let’s look at the world our young people are stepping into.
The first need – survival – is under direct pressure.
Housing insecurity has become a defining feature of life for many. Rents are high, ownership seems impossible, and leases are short.
When you don’t know if you can cover next week’s rent, or whether you’ll be asked to move on, the body and mind remain in a constant state of stress.
Secure shelter is the most basic building block of wellbeing, and yet it is crumbling for a generation.
Love and belonging are not guaranteed either. Social media can connect, but it can also isolate.
Many young people report feeling dismissed or ignored by previous generations.
When their worries about climate change or the future are brushed off, they hear a painful message: “Your fears don’t matter,” nothing erodes belonging faster than being unheard.
The need for power, not control over others, but the personal power that comes from competence and contribution, is also under pressure.
Young people were told that education was the ticket to a good future. Many now hold degrees or postgraduate qualifications, yet find themselves in insecure jobs, weighed down by debt and fearing that artificial intelligence will erase their career paths before they begin.
How can they feel capable and valued when the goalposts keep shifting?
Freedom is another challenge.
Previous generations could expect a path toward independence, finish school, work for a few years, buy a house, raise a family.
For today’s young people that is a mirage, their choices seem limited and futures fragile. A sense of being trapped or controlled is deeply corrosive to mental wellbeing.
Fun is threatened, when life feels precarious, opportunities for joy, lightness and personal growth shrink and anxiety can overwhelm happiness.
Media coverage of climate change, war and crime throws a shadow that hangs over ordinary pleasures, replacing delight with dread.
So perhaps the crisis isn’t really about phones in pockets.
Perhaps it’s about unmet needs on a much larger scale. Housing that is insecure. Work that feels unstable.
A planet that appears damaged beyond repair. When these deep structures shift against us, no app or ban can fix it.
The path forward may not be simple, but it is clear. If we want young people to thrive, we must create a society where their basic human needs can be met with safety, dignity and hope.
