In your opinion, what can/should be done to reverse the decline in youth well-being?

"Youth are bombarded with messages of who the should be and become. They have too many choices and can’t remember a time when connection didn’t happen through a social media platform. Social media needs restrictions, like alcohol, to help developing brains."

• "Children do well when they feel safe. Whether climate change, gun violence, lack of access to health care, racism, social media, or fighting about whether science is science (to name only a few), we as adults have fundamentally failed to provide a childhood for Gen Z in which they feel more safety than fear."

"We need to focus on cultivating resilience and independence in today's (and tomorrow's) children. So many supports and failsafes have been enacted (especially in the world of education) that children and teenagers don't know how to fail or what to do when they do fail. As a result, they blame others rather than their own actions when things go wrong. We allow students to progress without demonstrating true mastery and understanding and the pandemic has only made this trend worse. 

The multi-layered issues are starting to come to a head - teacher burnout and lack of respect, parental lack of involvement and expectation that someone else will "parent" for them, societal unrest and division, digital addiction (including screen time too young - parents now use it as a "pacifier" - and social media access without restrictions), lack of autonomy and independence (see Jonathan Haidt's current research/book release) - and this is resulting in a widespread issue that will only get worse if we don't start holding children (and adults) responsible for their actions while also cultivating a sense of community somehow in a broken society."

• "Get the kids off their tablets/social media and send them outside to play with other kids. Push teens hard to develop a work ethic and understand that the have value and can take control of their life. Encourage them to serve in the military. Etc. Etc."

"As a teacher a total reconstruction of the school system is so needed and yet completely overlooked. We don’t teach children empathy, compassion, or how to take care of themselves. The hard truth is that some parents are also not teaching this so it needs to be supplemented in schools (and for the kids who ARE being taught this at home, having a second opinion that is impartial is good to learn & teaches decision-making as they are getting choice.) 

On the topic of parents, an unfortunate reality is that millennial parents are (generally but not always) bigger enablers than any past parental generation. Which not only raises kids to be worse off, but it can also affect their mental health. That combined with the constant exposure to social media, has people feeling worse than previous generations."

• "Dang I really don't even know. I'm 18, about to leave high school and enter college, and I seriously doubt the stability and future of this nation. It's a depressing side to have to take, and I'm really going to try my best in school and continue to try and make a life for myself, but the faith that prior generations have had in their economy and their government... I just don't have it. Right now feels like going up a rollercoaster, knowing you're heading toward the big drop, and fast."

"I believe if their use of technology is monitored more it would help a great deal. They are given phones and unfettered access to the internet and social media too young. They need to be able to communicate effectively without technology, because the use of such technology takes the human connection out of their lives."