As I’ve gone from being the same age as my students’ parents to being the same age as their grandparents, I’ve increasingly felt like undergrads and I live on different planets: They don’t know anything I know; I don’t know anything they know.
This can complicate grading their work. When my journos-in-training drop names into their stories — of bands, of games, of influencers — do they need to provide background, or is this something or someone that everyone but me has heard of? I’m almost embarrassed to ask.
It turns out, though, that these young folk are not as different from me and my peers as one might think. Take the digital world. We grownups are forever tut-tutting about the pernicious effects of all that screen time, all that social media exposure. Guess what? The kids are just as worried about it as we oldsters are.
In fact, they’re worried about all the same stuff that we worry about – maybe more so, because they’re less resilient than we are and are going to have to deal with the messes we’ve left for them a lot longer than we will.
To give you an idea of what’s on the minds of the Class of 2026, here are some snippets from the musings of students in my just-concluded column-writing class:
It’s hard to ignore how heavy the world feels right now. Every day, we are surrounded by headlines filled with war, destruction, and loss. It can feel overwhelming; no matter where you look, there is something devastating occurring. For many of us, especially as college students, it’s easy to carry that weight into our daily lives without even realizing it.
**
It is hard to celebrate [America’s 250th birthday] when the list of national stress points keeps growing. We are watching political polarization harden into something that feels immovable. We are watching threats against public officials rise, debates over basic rights intensify, and trust in institutions sink to historic lows…All of it creates this sense that the country is bracing for impact instead of preparing for a birthday party.
**
The first 20 minutes of my day is filled with chaos. Instead of rising out of the warm cavern of my bed, I scroll through Instagram reels…The five minutes I devote to Instagram turns into 10 minutes then 20 minutes. I watch everything from funny clips of movies, cool sports highlights and tragic current events. I feel like I am in a loop. And, despite cursing myself for wasting so much valuable time in the morning, I find myself doing it again the next morning. We are ruining our mental health…We are overstimulated but underinformed. Worse, we cannot seem to stop.
**
Suddenly, I’m expected to be ready to sign leases, commit to a career and make adult decisions with confidence.
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In State College, you can’t walk down the street, stand in the line at Starbucks or grab your tray at the dining hall without seeing hundreds of people looking down at their phones. Who is stopping to talk to others? Who is looking up from their devices and smiling at the people they are passing on the street?
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Somewhere along the line, the live experience became intertwined with the digital one. Being at the game isn’t just about watching anymore, it’s about proving you were there, documenting it, sharing it. And while that adds a new layer of connection, it also creates distance. You’re never fully in the moment because part of you is thinking about how to preserve it.
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Young people deserve better than an algorithm that turns their anxiety into entertainment.
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We spend a lot of time “connecting” without actually connecting. We text instead of talk, react instead of respond and hang out together while staring at our phones.
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At times, it can seem like everything is moving so fast and it’s difficult to keep up. We’re always told by our parents or relatives that college is “the best four years of our lives,” but a lot of people don’t feel that way. We are so academically and career-oriented that we cannot relax.
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The mental health of this generation is plummeting while they get denied jobs, watch their friends struggle to find a job, and watch post-graduates who are still searching.
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Nearly everyone I’ve met while at Penn State has a dating app account. With the easy access to building a “roster,” romance is suffering. People rarely yearn. People rarely even “crush” much anymore. People are more concerned with whoever is free to come over tonight – not a true connection.
**
Instagram was created to bring people together through pictures. Instead, it’s been tearing apart the communities it’s created.
Bleak, no? But I’d be more worried if they were oblivious. Their keen awareness gives me hope that they’ll fix some of what’s broken.
