Gen Z College Student Asks How To Make Friends With People In His ‘Antisocial And Cold’ Generation
He blames the pandemic for this isolating behavior. Others point to social media.
VH-studio | Shutterstock Many think of young people as being social, happy, and extroverted. However, it seems that the opposite may be true. Making friends seems to be getting more difficult, and for Gen Z college students, that certainly shouldn't be the case.
One Gen Z man said he finds his generation to be “antisocial and cold,” and he’s fed up with it.
The college student asked how to make friends when other Gen Zers don't seem interested.
“I’ve noticed that the younger members of Gen Z are very antisocial,” the 23-year-old college student wrote in a Reddit post. “For example, in my dorm, there is no noise, conversation, or almost any signs of life.”
Lysenko Andrii | Shutterstock
“We have some people who are more extroverted, but in general, it’s very depressing,” he added.
Unfortunately for him, this extends to his own dorm room.
“My roommate, who is 20, doesn’t say hello, goodbye, or anything when he’s in the room, and we go days and weeks without saying a word to each other,” he said. “I tried to see if he would talk more and make conversation, but I realized he really doesn’t care, so I also gave up on him and try to keep to myself.”
He insisted that things used to be different and that the pandemic is to blame.
“In my first year of undergrad, there were a lot of people at the door, socializing, talking, making noise, going to the cafeteria," he explained. "But now, like I said, there’s no sound. I don’t even see people outside the residence anymore. It’s like everyone has disappeared.”
In his opinion, the COVID-19 pandemic is at fault.
“I noticed that the world became like this after COVID,” he observed. “COVID really changed the way people interact. I remember before COVID, there were a lot of genuine, happy, extroverted, and friendly people. But now, nothing — completely cold and antisocial.”
Now, he’s left questioning how to find friends in such a hostile environment.
“How is a depressed guy, who doesn’t know how to make friends, going to find someone to kill the loneliness?” he asked. “I don’t see a way to make friends here, and it looks like this year will be another year of sadness and loneliness as always.”
According to experts, Gen Z is the loneliest generation.
It would be easy to assume that this man’s situation is isolated or personal, but experts argue that loneliness is somewhat of a norm for Gen Z.
The Director of Belonging at the University of Southern California, Cat Moore, told ABC 7, “Actually, it’s Gen Z. That’s the loneliest generation. With loneliness, you could be in Coachella, but still feel lonely because you’re not connected.”
Among the myriad reasons contributing to this feeling of loneliness, the internet is a large factor.
Research shows that young adults with high social media usage are more likely to be lonely than their peers who spend less time on social media.
The very thing that is meant to make people feel connected is part of the reason why they are struggling to come together organically. Ultimilty screen-to-screen interaction is not the same as face-to-face.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.