By David Ball, Senior Director, Well-Being Economy Group, SecondMuse
Elections have always been stressful. But the ongoing U.S. presidential race has been especially overwhelming for many teens and young adults. As members of the most plugged-in generation, they are the most exposed to the unprecedented barrage of information (and misinformation) circulating online — much of which is currently politically charged.
They are old enough to appreciate the gravity of what’s at stake, from the health of the planet and U.S. democracy to access to health care and civil rights. But they are young enough to lack the life experience that helps older adults process the information. This is especially true for the country’s youngest voters whose brains are just beginning to reach maturity and yet are logging more than four hours a day on social media, according to a recent Harris Poll survey.
This may help explain why nearly half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 reported feelings of depression or hopelessness in a recent election poll conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics. But, sadly, the experience of living through a stressful, high-stakes event is not unique to this generation at all.
Besides growing up amid COVID and the storming of the U.S. Capitol, young people in the U.S. have lived through more mass shootings, extreme weather events, and other crises amplified for them on social media than their parents or grandparents.
The silver lining to this grim reality is that today, youth advocates and the wider public are increasingly aware of the impact constant exposure to stressful information may have on young people — and solutions that can support their mental health.
Since 2018, when I helped launch Headstream, an innovation program powered by SecondMuse and supported by Pivotal Ventures, we’ve worked with over 150 young people and dozens of entrepreneurs to build products to support youth mental well-being, important progress has been made in our understanding of youth mental health. There’s more research today into the impact information overload may have on both adult and developing brains. There are more digital products designed to support and uplift teens. Thanks to the advocacy of young people themselves, policymakers have faced increased pressure to expand access to mental health resources — a focal point of this election. And while there is still a long road ahead, those of us focused on youth well-being have a much clearer picture today of what teens and young adults struggling to cope with an inundation of stressful information actually need.
As we approach yet another high-stakes moment, parents, teachers, community leaders, innovators, and other youth mental health advocates should take note of these resources and solutions shown to support youth mental well-being:
1. Third Spaces
Third spaces are easily accessible physical or virtual places where people can informally gather. The concept evolved from third places, a term sociologist Ray Oldenburg used in the pre-social media era to describe areas outside of home and work. He argued, and research has shown, that these common spaces, from park benches to neighborhood cafes, are important for psychological health.
With physical third spaces vanishing and people turning instead to their phones to socialize, unwind, and reflect on current events, digital products now play an exceedingly important role in fostering connections and helping people cope through difficult times. For Makayla Boney, a 19-year-old creative writing major at Old Dominion University who has worked with Headstream, TikTok, Instagram, and Discord are the places she turns to for entertainment, connection, and making sense of the presidential election. These platforms are where she says she learned about Project 2025, the rights-curbing policy blueprint linked to Donald Trump. But the platforms are also where she says she finds solace and community.
Other digital products, like video games and even podcasts, also play an important role in connecting young people, offering them resources and enabling them to escape to beautiful places. Astro Studios, a Gen Z podcast company we supported, does a bit of all of this by creating and sharing authentic and intimate audio stories that help young listeners feel “seen, understood and hopeful.”
But even members of this hyper-connected generation recognize that digital spaces alone can’t give them everything they need. Oscar Lopez, the 13th U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations and a member of our newest Headstream cohort, attributes the country’s loneliness epidemic, in part, to a lack of face-to-face socializing. He tries to counteract this trend by meeting regularly with friends and family, but worries that his younger siblings and their peers spend too much time exposed to intense topics online and need more access to physical communal spaces.
2. Access to Appropriate Resources
In addition to communal spaces, young people in the U.S. need better access to mental health services. For a country still in the depths of an ongoing youth mental health crisis, the need for universal access to traditional in-patient and outpatient mental health care cannot be overstated.
But other resources, like mental health apps, online services, and even social media platforms, deserve attention too. Youth are turning to these resources in droves for everything from help navigating a true crisis to quick answers to quick questions. According to a recent report by Hopelab and Common Sense Media, almost two-thirds of people between 14 and 22 have searched online for information about mental health, substance use, wellness, and other behavioral health topics. More than a quarter of those surveyed have attended online therapy, and more than half have used an app to support their well-being or mental health, with Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ youth turning to online resources more than others.
It’s important that young people have ample access to these kinds of resources too and that they are actually vetted and effective. Some examples of trusted online resources Headstream has supported include ThroughLine, which connects people to free crisis support in over 100 countries, AppaHealth, a mentorship app, and Peers.net, which offers young people peer support.
3. Opportunities to Exercise Agency
Another powerful antidote to hopelessness is the opportunity to exercise agency. This may help explain why Gen Z, a group that has faced so many challenges, has also been proactively reshaping the world. They have led advocacy on climate change, mobilized millions of people to end gun violence, made conversations about mental health mainstream, and voted in record numbers in 2020.
Finding more ways for teens and young adults to engage in issues they care about that will affect their future is fundamental to their well-being. It’s why at Headstream, we invite young people to advise on the design of technology that will be marketed to and used by people like them. It’s what the youth-led nonprofit Gen Z for Change has been doing so well this election season by leveraging the power of social media to educate young people about important issues and empowering them to drive change.
Young people need more opportunities like these to do more than passively scroll through stressful news and commentary. The more they can engage with others — online and offline — and work together toward the future they want, the healthier and happier this hard-hit but resilient generation will be.
Parents, educators, and community leaders must consider their role in creating a more connected and supportive environment for all young people. Confronted with today’s most urgent challenges, we have an opportunity to facilitate youth involvement in shaping their futures, to create more spaces for community, and to increase accessibility to mental healthcare. By cultivating safe, supportive environments for youth to engage with important issues, from climate change to mental health advocacy, we can drive positive change.
