Gen Z isn’t fragile but they’re growing up in crisis

Did Gen Z inherit a poison chalice? Picture: Supplied Read any expert commentary and Gen Zs are often described as anxious, fragile, and less resilient than the generations before them. But, has anyone paused to ask themselves whether all these issues simply say more about the world they are inheriting from older generations than about Gen Z?

What if their perceived fragility is in fact a nervous system responding to prolonged instability? It’s a curious generational dichotomy that begs unpacking. Jogini Packery, Head of Campus atSACAP (South African College of Applied Psychology)Johannesburg and a counselling psychologist, said the narrative needs recalibrating.

From a developmental psychology perspective, she said that what we are witnessing is not weakness but heightened stress responses unfolding within unusually unstable conditions. “Adolescence and early adulthood are naturally periods of emotional intensity, identity exploration and uncertainty,” she said. “What’s different today is that these developmental tasks are unfolding against constant economic insecurity, social instability and global crises that feel immediate and inescapable.” Emotional volatility in youth is nothing new.

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She said that every generation has wrestled with self-doubt, comparison and the pressure to find direction. “What has changed for Gen Z is the landscape in which those developmental tasks now play out,” Packery said. “Previous generations certainly faced hardship, including political upheaval, recession and violence, yet many still moved along relatively visible pathways into adulthood.

Education often led to work, and work, however imperfect, led to a degree of independence.” Today, Gen Zs are facing unstable job markets, rising living costs, more than a decade of persistent load shedding, climate anxiety, and rapid technological change. All while being measured against curated digital lives that never switch off. The pressure is not simply to survive but to perform, to demonstrate emotional intelligence, social relevance and economic productivity simultaneously.

“The pressure is not only to survive,” Packery said. “It is to perform emotionally, socially and economically at all times.”

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