Gen Z will be the loneliest generation in human history.
But to understand why, you can’t just look at TikTok.
You have to go way further back.
Let’s start in the 1970s:
Life in the 70s was built on proximity.
1. You borrowed sugar from your neighbors.
2. You played outside until dark.
3. You knew every kid on your street.
4. If you fucked up at school, 5 adults knew before you got home.
5. Family dinners were mandatory.
6. Church on Sundays.
This gave people something most of us don’t even realize we’re missing:
A built-in sense of belonging.
And slowly (without realizing it), we let that slip.
Then came the internet.
If you were born in the 90s or early 2000s, you remember the fusion.
You had AOL and flip phones. But also real life.
You went outside. You fell off your bike and got up without anyone filming it.
You memorized dance routines in your living room to high school musical.
You didn’t give a shit about going viral. You were just an innocent kid.
There was a version of life that existed without being documented.
But if you were born after 2005??
You didn’t grow up knocking on your neighbors to hang out.
You grew up refreshing for likes. Filming yourself.
Dancing on TikTok in a bathing suit before you even understood what your body was.
Your parents gave you an iPad before you could form full sentences.
Screens at the dinner table. YouTube to calm you down.
They weren’t trying to be bad parents. They were just figuring it out.
But now we’re here. And everything feels a little hollow.
And no one knows how to slow it down.
Then came COVID. Everything just stopped.
School.
Friendships.
Sports.
Sleepovers.
First jobs.
First kisses.
All the stuff that teaches you how to be a person. Gone.
And suddenly we were all alone. In our rooms. Staring at screens.
I remember it too. The only mirror I had was the front camera. I was depressed. Deeply.
So we had to learn how to watch ourselves perform.
How to manipulate attention and community.
And now, most of us are still doing it.
You’re looking at a generation that’s really good at expression but completely lost when it comes to connection.
And no. It’s not because they’re obsessed with fame. It’s deeper than that.
Most of them aren’t trying to be influencers. They’re just trying to feel relevant.
Because when you grow up without privacy, being watched becomes normal. It becomes the baseline.
And when no one’s watching you, then you start to wonder if you even exist.
So community has to be online.
That’s why loneliness doesn’t look like what it used to.
It’s not just being alone in your room anymore.
It’s being on FaceTime while scrolling TikTok, texting 5 people, half-laughing at a meme and still feeling like you’re irrelevant.
You’re overstimulated but empty.
You’re visible all day long but no one actually gets you.
And now we’re layering AI on top of all that.
Like that’s gonna help.
You’re being told your skills will be automated.
Your voice can be cloned. Your personality, simulated.
So what’s left?! Wtf do we do?
Become known. Get relevant. Build a following.
Proving you’re the one version of something that can’t be replaced.
It’s exhausting. It never ends.
And somehow, we’ve all just agreed this is the game now.
We’re becoming people who don’t know how to introduce ourselves.
Who are scared of silence.
Who panic when things don’t have an audience.
Who think every thought and every moment has to be shared to mean something.
And if you’re 21, 28, 35, 54?! This still affects you.
Not only are you struggling with the same issues, but:
1. You’re dating these people.
2. You’re hiring them.
3. You’re mentoring them.
4. You’re building with them.
5. You might be raising them.
So now what?
This thread isn’t about hating the internet.
Or pretending we should all log off and go live in the woods.
It’s not even about telling kids to go touch grass.
I actually think it’s more important than ever to be online. To build visibility and influence (the right way).
Because the future’s only getting louder and if you don’t exist online, you basically don’t exist at all.
But here’s what no one really says:
You can be visible and still feel depressed.
You can build a brand and have no idea who you are.
You can be “someone” online and still feel like no one when you’re alone.
I’ve suffered through all of these. And that’s what this is about.
Because if you don’t know who you are when no one’s watching,
the internet will decide for you.
And once it does, good luck getting yourself back.
If this clicked, it’s not because it was new.
It’s because you’ve been thinking it, just hadn’t seen it said out loud.
My newsletter is where that happens more often.
Gen Z will be the loneliest generation in human history.
That’s why loneliness doesn’t look like what it used to. It’s not just being alone in your room anymore. It’s being on FaceTime while scrolling TikTok, texting 5 people, half-laughing at a meme and still feeling like you’re irrelevant.
You’re overstimulated but empty. You’re visible all day long but no one actually gets you.
And now we’re layering AI on top of all that. Like that’s gonna help.
You’re being told your skills will be automated.
Your voice can be cloned. Your personality, simulated.
So what’s left?! Wtf do we do?
