Why Aren’t Young People More Concerned About The Coronavirus?
Statistically, the younger you are, the less likely you are to be concerned about COVID-19.
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As the Coronavirus ravaged much of Europe and North America; killing thousands in it’s spread, actress Vanessa Hudgens made the regrettable decision to take to Instagram live and declare the virus nbd, flippantly remarking, “even if everybody gets it, like yeah, people are going to die, which is terrible… but, like, inevitable?”
Of course, people were outraged by the High School Musical star’s comment — in an unprecedented time like this, people are desperately seeking a return to normalcy and nothing quite says that like engaging in an all too familiar social media pile-on — . But, as to the extent that Hudgens is giving rise to careless attitudes to the global pandemic, she is much more a symptom than a cause.
Indeed, Hudgens’ widely condemned remarks reflect a wider lax attitude towards COVID-19 among Millennials and Gen-Z, even if the comments made by the 31-year-old were coarser than those most people her age would be willing to publicly express.
Hudgens is one of a large number of young people who have failed to internalise the serious, dire warnings issued about the Coronavirus, with an NPR/Marist poll showing members of the Gen-Z and Millennial generation to be 11 and 13 percentage points less likely to be concerned about the virus compared to members of the Baby Boomer and Silent Generation respectively.
Those who have told us time after time that the end of the world as we know it is coming have become the group equivalent of the boy who cried wolf.
For those who have developed an understandable, even if unreasonable, scepticism towards polling data over the last few years, you don’t need to look far to see examples of this generational divide playing out. Just this week footage emerged of packed beaches across America as students sought to celebrate spring break, with one student telling NBC News, “If I get Corona, I get Corona. At the end of the day I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.” While another dismissively remarked, “I’m worried for the older people, but not for me.”
Remarks such as these reflect, at least partially, the viewpoint of the unconcerned 37% of under 39’s, whose attitudes towards the pandemic range from careless to heartless to nihilistic. But such insouciance is at least somewhat surprising from a generation know for it’s prevalence of anxiety disorders. Especially considering the many major crises younger generations haven’t experienced, which their older counterparts have and can therefore use to contextualise (and reassure themselves about) the ongoing crisis.
[In the modern age,] young people have become acutely aware of the misery and misfortune of people across the world in an intense personal way that in the past would’ve been reserved only for people’s nearest and dearest.
When looking at why young people are considerably more relaxed about COVID-19 than older generations, there is, of course, a simple explanation; the older you are the more likely you are to becoming critically ill or die from the virus — indeed, few young people seriously think the pandemic constitutes any serious threat to their personal well-being (Despite 40% of those hopitalized in the US being aged 20–54).
This is what Hudgen’s comments reflect. While, the most widely reported part of her live-stream was the “yeah, people are going to die” comment, perhaps most significant was it’s precursor, (“Even if everybody gets it…”). What this shows is a distinctly Millennial mindset to the Coronavirus; not just are young people less concerned about the pandemic, the entire framework from which they judge it is different.
Hudgen’s comments are a far cry from the screams of fake news and “hoax” that came from the likes of Trump and his favourite Fox News personalities just weeks ago. Instead the actress’s comments reflect a belief that yes, this virus will spread like wildfire and yes, people will die, but also, yes, we are over-reacting.
This difference in attitude between young people who are unconcerned and the smaller number of older people who are unconcerned should be alarming to officials trying to reduce infections, because while an attitude of ‘this is a hoax’ can be disproved simply by watching the events of the last few days unfold, an attitude of “people are going to die…but…” can’t be so simply eradicated. The reason being, that such an attitude takes into account the fact that millions may die across the world, but still responds with a metaphorical shrug of the shoulders.
[Young people] are dealing with a lurking, perpetual feeling of unease resulting from always feeling on the edge of multiple crises at any given moment.
At this point, I should probably point out that young people’s attitudes towards the virus and it’s human toll aren’t quite as bloodless as the previous paragraph makes them sound. Despite the worsening of generational relationships between the young and the old in recent years, most young people don’t harbour a burning feeling of hatred towards ‘Boomers’ (despite what many op-eds and think-pieces would have you believe). Instead the nonchalant outlook of many younger people towards Coronavirus simply reflects what it’s like to grow up in a time that, instead of being defined by a few history-defining crises, is defined by never fully experiencing a crisis, but always feeling on the imminent edge of a disaster.
With the exception of the Financial Crisis — which many Millennials and Gen-Z members were too young to fully understand at the time it happened — young people haven’t seen through many major crises in their lifetimes. Instead, they have dealt with a lurking, perpetual feeling of unease resulting from always feeling on the edge of multiple crises at any given moment.
Coming of age in a post-9/11 and post-financial crash world has meant for so many being haunted by the spectre of terrorism, being told that there are just 12 years to save the world (and that no-one’s doing anything to stop that) and being constantly warned that various election results (i.e. Trump’s election and Brexit in the UK) will lead to society backsliding into a post-democracy, authoritarian dystopia reminiscent of something out of the Handmaid’s Tale or 1984 (take your pick).
The activist youth is being let down by their own peers, whose apathy is dwindling their political force as a demographic.
Meanwhile, through social media ‘awareness’ campaigns and distressing advert appeals, young people have been forced to grapple with the plight of global suffering; becoming acutely aware of the misery and misfortune of people across the world in an intense personal way that in the past would’ve been reserved only for people’s nearest and dearest.
By no coincidence, all of this has coincided with a passionate, loud youth movement on issues ranging from climate change and gun control to socialism and women’s rights. Yet at the same time, the activist youth is being let down by their own peers, whose apathy is dwindling their political force as a demographic; making it seem, at times, that the backlash to young activists is louder and more powerful than the activist’s movements themselves.
For many, the impact of all of this has been to foster a deeply cynical and jaded outlook — occasionally, even bordering on the nihilistic — and, the regular exposure to misery and suffering (combined with a sense of powerlessness) has inevitably caused many to become numb and withdrawn, as a feeling of being too small to meaningfully change the world takes hold.
The disaffected Coronavirus response among a large number of Millennials/Gen-Z members, therefore, is the natural (though, wrongheaded) response to being told that the world is on the brink of a crisis and you are powerless to solve it. Those who have told us time after time that the end of the world as we know it is coming, who have promised us that ‘this one thing’ will be what changes the world forever (whatever that ‘one thing’ may be) have become the group equivalent of the boy who cried wolf and in doing so, they have helped render this genuine crisis as just another mass hysteria in the eyes of so many young people who have grown up in a time of perpetual unease.
