The Hidden Toll: How Lockdowns and Digital Overload Shaped a Generation’s Mental Health
Hey Gen Z — Let’s Talk About What Really Happened During Lockdown
You already know the COVID years weren’t just about staying home—they completely flipped your world. What should’ve been your time to grow, connect, learn, and figure yourself out turned into something way more isolating and way less stable. And here’s the truth: no generation has been hit harder by the emotional fallout of that time than yours.
We’re not here to scare you. But we do want to talk honestly about what happened, why it matters, and what you can do about it.
You Were Cut Off When You Needed Connection Most
Schools closed. Sports stopped. Plans were cancelled. You were stuck indoors while your routines, social life, and sense of normal completely vanished. For a lot of people, that meant way too much time in your head—and way too much time online.
There’s this New York Times article called “Childhood Without Other Children,” and it captured something so real: even little kids started to see other people as threats. That’s how deep the social anxiety ran. And if toddlers felt it? You probably did too.
When you're cut off from real-life connection, you miss out on stuff you don't even realize you're building—empathy, confidence, resilience, problem-solving in relationships. That all comes from doing life with other people.
Mental Health Took a Serious Hit
The numbers back up what a lot of you already know: things got dark.
🔹 Nearly half of 18–24-year-olds showed signs of moderate to severe depression during the pandemic.
🔹 Over a third had thoughts of suicide—10 times more than before lockdown.
That’s not just data. That’s you. Your friends. Your siblings. And while older generations were worrying about working from home, you were trying to figure out who you are in a world that felt like it was falling apart.
No exams, no clear future, job losses, financial stress—everything was uncertain. And mental health support? Pretty much inaccessible for most people.
Let’s Talk About Screens (You Know It’s a Problem)
We get it—your phone was a lifeline. It’s how you stayed connected. But it also became a crutch, and for a lot of people, a trap.
In The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt breaks it down: social media and smartphones are wrecking your focus, messing with your sleep, isolating you from real-life relationships, and making you addicted to chasing likes and validation.
You’re seeing highlight reels of people’s lives 24/7, and somewhere along the way, it made you question your own. That’s not your fault. These platforms were designed to keep you hooked, to trigger self-doubt, to make you scroll just one more time.
Lockdown + Too Much Screen Time = A Mental Health Mess
With school online, friendships online, even workouts online—you lived through a digital overload. And now? That “online default setting” still hasn’t gone away.
You’re still dealing with the effects:
Trouble focusing
Constant stress
Disconnection from real people and places
Less movement, less sunlight, less sleep
You probably feel tired a lot. Or low-key anxious all the time. Or just… off. And that’s not a personality flaw—that’s burnout. That’s what happens when you’ve been in survival mode too long.
The Pressure to Look “Better” Than Real Life
You’ve probably seen it—or maybe you’ve felt it yourself: the pressure to “tweak” your appearance. Not full-on surgery, but small cosmetic fixes to look like the filtered version of you. Botox. Lip fillers. Skin smoothing.
It’s not just influencers doing this. Gen Z is leading the charge in the rise of what’s now called “tweakments.” Research shows it’s directly linked to how much time you spend on social media and how critical you become of your own face and body.
Ever heard of “Snapchat dysmorphia”? It’s when people want to look like their filtered selfies in real life. That’s how distorted things have gotten. And lockdown didn’t help—being stuck online gave this obsession more power.
Sleep Is a Casualty Too
Blue light from screens—especially at night—messes with your brain. It stops your melatonin from kicking in, which means your body doesn’t get the “hey, time to sleep” signal. So you stay up. You scroll. You get less rest. You wake up irritable, unfocused, maybe even anxious.
It adds up. Poor sleep affects memory, mood, learning—and let’s be real, everything’s harder when you’re exhausted.
So, What Now? How Do You Reset?
You don’t have to quit social media or toss your phone (though a break wouldn’t hurt). But there are things you can do:
Reclaim in-person connection: go outside, meet up IRL, talk without texting.
Set your boundaries with tech. Not your parents’. Yours.
Protect your sleep—no screens before bed (your brain will thank you).
Move more. Even 10 minutes outside can reset your nervous system.
Get support. Talk. Vent. Heal.
At Kensho MindBody, we’re all about making support real, accessible, and affordable for young people. If you’re struggling with anxiety, stress, burnout, identity, or just feel like something’s off—come talk to us. We’re here for it.
Final Thought
What you lived through wasn’t normal. It shouldn’t feel normal. And if you’re still feeling the impact, you’re not broken—you’re responding exactly how a human being would to everything you’ve been through.
But you don’t have to stay stuck. You’re allowed to feel better. You’re allowed to reset. And you’re definitely not alone.
💬 Need to Talk? Want to Feel Like You Again?
If anything in this post hit close to home—know this: you're not alone, and you don’t have to figure it all out by yourself.
At Kensho MindBody, we offer therapy and support that gets it—stress, anxiety, identity, overwhelm, burnout, trauma, and everything in between.
We’re all about real support, real tools, and zero judgment. And we keep it affordable for young people, with heavily discounted sessions just for you.
👉 Explore Sessions + Pricing
👉 Book Your First Chat (It’s Free)
📥 Want the Key Info in One Place?
We’ve put together a quick, free download that breaks down:
What lockdown really did to mental health
How digital life affects your brain, mood & sleep
Simple ways to feel more grounded
Tools to help you reset (without deleting all your socials)
📄 Download “Life After Lockdown: What Gen Z Needs to Know” (PDF)