Young, but too alone

Their loneliness, after Covid, has worsened. You can see it, you can hear it, you can read it in the daily news. Half of the kids think that their parents don't understand them; ten out of a hundred, after their studies, end up in the "gray area" of NEETs. Thirty out of a hundred have problems with contact, they don't talk much, they wander alone. Too alone.

It happens at school, where the program is tough and those who are more fragile, sit down. And, often, they dive into their cell phones to look for a friendly face and write messages at any time. It's the alarm cry of Generation Z: "We no longer have real affection, only virtual contacts". Davide's story: "To avoid dying, I had to turn off my cell phone; the soccer fields saved me".
And from Seattle the class action of the public schools against Instagram and TikTok starts: "They poison the minds of our kids".
And then there's the news: the attacks are repeated. In Brescia, a sixteen-year-old is arrested for spreading panic in the streets of the city; in Naples, two knives are confiscated every day; drug use is increasing (the new one is called xylazine); in Padua, a girl throws herself from the second floor of her school; in Rozzano, she kills herself to steal her peer's headphones; in Senigallia, he shot himself at age 15. And the list goes on.

But what's going on? There's something new among teenagers: the awareness of discomfort. They are aware, in fact, of the psychological and emotional difficulties that the pandemic has exacerbated. School students (especially high school students) are asking for help from teachers and principals who are asking for listening services and tools.
Listening, indeed! The first response must be forged by parents, teachers, psychologists.

It is often said that Italy is a country of old people, and it is certainly true; but can we with white hair understand the universe of young people?
They live the contradictions and uncertainties of a system that didn't even exist when we were their age. It seems strange, but our youth was so different from theirs. Half of young people, between 18 and 25, said they suffered from anxiety and depression due to the pandemic. For the same reason, 62.1% changed their vision of the future.
These are just some of the data that emerged from the Generazione Post Pandemic report by Census. Another signal from the Internet Festival 2024 in Pisa: «Students are increasingly becoming accustomed to relationships via cell phone and the consumption of video games. At the root of this are the relationships destroyed by Covid, which need to be rebuilt to stop or curb wrong behaviors and risks».

Many likes, few friends: loneliness and boredom in the social media era.
And thank goodness the speakers are writing a new, revolutionary, profitable, engaging, courageous page like those of the "social saints" in the nineteenth century.

Gian Mario Ricciardi
NP November 2024