IT was on a lads’ trip to Prague in 2019 that I first caught wind something had gone seriously wrong with my generation.
Here we were, in the European capital of boozing and stag dos, surrounded by clubs, beer halls, and partygoers from across the continent, for the big final blowout before uni.
Sydney Sweeney — while not completely sober — has said: ‘I just identify as just a water person’[/caption]
GenZers may not have any real ones but their obsession with the 90s sitcom Friends shows they crave normality and fun[/caption]
John Boyega is sadly glad not to be a party animal[/caption]
But the clock had barely hit midnight when we called it a night, because the rest of them wanted to be up fresh to hit a local GYM in the morning.
That’s when it struck me — my generation is screwed.
Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) are gripped by a trend more terrifying than any that has come before. It is now cool to be boring.
We’ve replaced drinking, clubs and socialising with staying in, obsessing over health, and scrolling through mindless rubbish on our phones for hours on end.
Hunkered down in the bunkers of normality, a few of us GenZers hold out against the onslaught of this puritan “lifestyle” that is attacking from all sides.
Sometimes it is enough to make me think I am the one going crazy.
But the sinister truth is that this celebration of soulless living is the very reason the most social-media obsessed generation is also the loneliest generation.
Is it any wonder that studies show one in five of 18 to 24-year-olds have either one or no close friends?
And is it really any surprise my generation is battling record-high levels of depression and anxiety?
The online world has taken over real life with tragic consequences.
But Gen Z, foolishly, are lapping it up and have made it their new normal.
It has been well-reported how much other people my age have fallen out of love with booze.
Judged by peers
Only yesterday it was revealed that nearly half of 18 to 34-year-olds have given up on alcohol entirely.
And thousands more have massively cut down.
Clubs and pubs around the country are bearing the brunt of Gen Z’s teetotalism.
We’re supposed to be down the local, hitting the dancefloor, and stumbling on to our beds after getting a taxi we don’t even remember paying for.
But now the industry is in crisis, with about 11 clubs around the country closing every month between December 2023 and June 2024, according to the Night Time Industries Association.
It must be said that many clubs deserve their fate, charging extortionate prices for drinks while it costs £20 for entry to a half-empty room with a “DJ” playing a remix of Sweet Caroline that would make even the deaf cover their ears.
But go on a night that is busy, and everyone around you will be standing still as a statue.
It is almost as if they are almost embarrassed to dance, too concerned about being judged by their peers for going against the flock.
They just don’t know how to loosen up, let go, and stop worrying about what other people think of them.
Molly-Mae Hague promotes clean-living and is perfectly dull in every way[/caption]
Coldplay are so green, so woke …so BORING![/caption]
Gen Z scroll on their phones at mindless rubbish for hours on end[/caption]
Ironically, everyone is too busy thinking about themselves to pay attention to anyone else.
Even when Gen Z go to the pub, they can’t help but turn it into some kind of trend — be that “Splitting the G” (downing a pint of Guinness until it hits the G printed on the glass) or setting up their phones to record themselves standing outside with a pint.
It’s just a bit of fun, they might say — but is it really that fun being so unable to live in the moment?
Much of Gen Z’s decision to turn their backs on partying comes from a new obsession with health.
It is always admirable to make an effort to go to the gym and “clean living”.
But the tragedy is that the cost for Gen Z is the ability to enjoy a normal social life.
11 clubs close every month… shunned by GenZers who don’t know how to let themselves go[/caption]
We are obsessed with self-love, at the expense of loving each other.
It is little surprise mine is so boring when the new generation of celebrities don’t know how to party themselves.
It is certainly not hard to find a sober star in Hollywood who has made it out the other side of the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll lifestyle.
But so many these days are not bothering to start one either.
Sydney Sweeney — while not completely sober — has said: “I just identify as just a water person.”
British actor John Boyega has spoken out about how he’s grateful not to be a party animal, and avoids alcohol.
‘Clean-living’
Perhaps leading the beige charge is Molly-Mae Hague, who promotes “clean-living” on social media and whose life appears to be neat, polished and meticulously arranged.
And Coldplay — so woke, so green and so beloved of GenZers — are so boring I can’t even be bothered to talk about them.
But at least these stars are getting out there and doing something with their lives, unlike the brain-rotted, phone-addicted GenZers.
Health chiefs and other modern-day puritans will no doubt be celebrating the demise of fun.
But this celebration will be misplaced, because it is a symptom showing that a fundamental part of our society has gone seriously awry.
“Normalise cancelling plans” is a phrase often trending on TikTok, an affirmation that it is OK to tell your friends you can’t be bothered to see them.
25% of GenZers never answer a ringing phone[/caption]
GenZers don’t like friends… unless it’s the sitcom[/caption]
They’re having less sex than ever …but porn use is soaring[/caption]
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a quiet night in every now and then.
But why glorify it and post it online into an antisocial echo chamber, to get validation from a bunch of other people who also can’t be bothered to see their friends?
Most tragically, the fact so many my age feel the need to post these messages online to thousands proves how desperate they are to feel any sense of belonging.
But they have been tricked into thinking they will get that from strangers on their phones.
Not that they ever answer their phone, if, horror of horrors, someone calls them.
A survey last year revealed a quarter of people aged 18 to 34 never answer theirs.
Slaves to apps
Some 70 per cent prefer text to a call as they fear the latter means bad news.
What is even more dangerous is how the failure of Gen Z to live normal social lives sees them sucked into supporting extremist ideologies and twisted mad men like Andrew Tate.
Unquestioningly believing everything they see online, now more than half my generation think the UK would be better off with a dictator in charge.
Then there is the subject of sex. Gen Z, famously, are having it far less than any generation to come before them, as if this natural part of human instinct has been carved from our brains.
But watching porn has sky-rocketed while notorious OnlyFans favourites such as Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips have turned sex into a grotesque stunt for “entertainment”.
And now most people my age can’t even remember how to date in real life, instead opting to become slaves to apps such as Tinder and Hinge that suck all the fun out of it.
You only need to see how obsessed Gen Z is with the Nineties sitcom Friends to realise how much — despite my naysaying — my generation craves normality and fun deep down.
Here is a group of six people in their twenties, hanging out in real life, and taking life as it comes without a care in the world.
It is a stark contrast to the boring, solitary lives of the young people watching it.
So it is time for my fellow GenZers to take a deep breath and live a little.
Before they paint the whole world their favourite shade of grey.
PUBS? IT IS SOBER AND OUT
PUBS: Gone are the days of popping down to your local for a quick one – for Gen Z at least.
A whopping 43 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds don’t drink alcohol, while a quarter of over-55s have given up booze entirely.
CLUBS: The UK’s nightlife is in a state of crisis.
Around 11 clubs close every month and if things carry on at the current rate, there won’t be any left by the decade’s end, according to the Night Time Industries Association.
DICTATOR-CRAVERS: A new study has revealed that more than half of Gen Z think the country would be better off with a strong leader who “didn’t have to bother with Parliament and elections”, while a third would prefer it if the Army was in charge.
HEALTH CRAZE: Over 80 per cent of Gen Z exercise or go to the gym – up from 64 per cent in 2021.
But it is a trend that both fuels – and is fuelled by – an increasing anxiety about the way young people look, prompting concerns the trend might not be so healthy after all.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Gen Z are the first generation to grow up with a smartphone in their pocket all the time – and many think they are to blame for the fact that a shocking one in three Gen Zers have reported mental health symptoms.
