The headmaster of one of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious private schools has blamed ‘mollycoddling’ and a ‘culture of safetyism’ for Gen Z’s anxiety problems.
Gen Z, also known as Zoomers, are children born between 1996 and 2010, although the exact dates are sometimes contested.
A third of 18-to-24-year-olds report having experienced a mental health problem, such as depression or anxiety, compared with only a quarter back in 2000.
Many Gen Z kids even lack the confidence to make a telephone call, with schools having to put on training sessions for pupils with ‘telephobia’.
Gareth Parker-Jones, of Rugby School in Warwickshire, believes pupils today are far too cossetted and should be allowed to have ‘adventures, the Telegraph reported.
He argued that suffocating parents create a climate of fear of the outside world while underequipping pupils to tackle dangers they may face online.
The educator, who heads the school established in 1567, said he recently attended a meeting of CEOs who had negative things to say about the work habits of their Gen Z employees – who complained that they were not ‘sufficiently robust’.
Mr Gareth Parker-Jones acknowledged the role phones, social media and screen time played in children’s deteriorating mental health – but said there was also a need to challenge the culture of safetyism that dominates young people’s lives in modern Britain.
Gareth Parker-Jones, of Rugby School in Warwickshire, believes pupils today are far too cossetted and should be allowed to have ‘adventures’
Gen Z is in the midst of an anxiety epidemic, with a third of 18- to 24-year-olds reporting having experienced a mental health problem, such as depression or anxiety, compared with only a quarter back in 2000
Nottingham College is running coaching sessions on phone confidence and etiquette for students who have telephobia. Liz Baxter, careers advisor, said young people ‘simply don’t have the confidence’ to use the telephone in a formal manner
He said: ‘The impact of ‘safetyism’ has received less attention but is equally important.
‘Many children born in this millennium have experienced a childhood where perceived risks in the real world have been greatly exaggerated, while the genuine risks of the online world have been ignored.’
This mix of influences has ‘produced children who have been mollycoddled and as a result, are reluctant to take part in adventurous play or to seize opportunities where an element of risk is involved’, he added.
Mr Parker-Jones, who has been headmaster at Rugby since 2020, painted boarding school as a solution for parents wanting to create less fragile children.
Rugby bans smart phones from the classroom and places strict limits of phone use outside of class, instead placing an emphasis on face-to-face interactions.
Mr Parker-Jones argued that students having fun and enjoying unregulated times together was also vital.
One of the repeated features of studies into Gen Z is how much time they spend alone – and are also far less likely to drink or do drugs that the previous handful of generations before them.
Mr Parker-Jones says that boarding school offers many students a way out of the cycle of anxiety they can feel trapped in by clingy parents and an atomised social life.
He said: ‘There is something magical in the way that 10 students who come together at the age of 13 learn, despite or perhaps because of the inevitable squabbles and conflicts – how to live together successfully in a community and absorb the vital life skills that transport them beyond the Gen Z stereotypes presented by my CEO friends.’
Fees at the prestigious school are more than £18,000 per term in January, so are only for parents with the deepest of pockets.
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Elsewhere, another set of new research shows the vast majority of Gen Z want to cover all areas of compatibility online before they consider meeting in person.
An overwhelming 90 per cent have quizzed a potential date about their family, political beliefs, financial situation or what they like in bed before agreeing to meet.
Their desire to probe intimate or previously taboo topics is in stark contrast to older Brits, with just six per cent of Gen X thinking it appropriate to bring these up ahead of a first date.
Indeed, just 13 per cent feel they should be discussed on the date itself either, according to the poll of 2,013 adults by dating app happn.
In a bid to ensure compatibility before meeting there are a host of aspects today’s 18-to-24-year-olds want to check they agree on.
More than half want to know about their potential date’s family background, 27 per cent hope to cover what a future life together would look like and 24 per cent openly discuss having a family.
