Literature’s Role in Fighting Gen Z’s Loneliness
By Alex Himebaugh
Depression is growing in Generation Z. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology found that depression rates of 12-17 year-olds increased from 8.7% to 13.2% between 2009 and 2017. One factor causing this is the teen’s tendency to replace in-person interactions with virtual ones, a habit only escalated by the pandemic. This replacement falls short of face-to-face interactions since people tend to be less transparent, especially on social media, going no deeper than the surface.
