TikTok 'Self-Care' Trends Are Making Gen Z's Loneliness Epidemic Worse

TikTok "Self-Care" Trends Are Making Gen Z's Loneliness Epidemic Worse. In today's video, we delve into the prevalent friendship recession affecting Gen Z, exacerbated by TikTok's portrayal of "self-care." The platform has redefined self-care as mean, unempathetic, and toxic, encouraging the hasty termination of friendships over perceived "red flags" that may not even be genuine issues. This trend intensifies the friendship drought and loneliness experienced by Gen Z. The shift towards hustle culture and an obsessive focus on self-care trends is replacing authentic human connections, ultimately hindering the pursuit of true happiness, social connection & friendship.

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About Salem: Hey! I’m Salem. I make commentary and video essays on anything I want to talk about. New videos every week! Make sure to subscribe and turn on post notifications so you never miss a new video.

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[nicolcacola]

Friendship decline, relationship decline, family decline...its like we are being conditioned to merely depend on tech companies for any type of connection.

[juliagrantaire]

I'm tired of the lack of patience and grace we extend to each other. If someone doesn't perfectly slot into your aestheticized life, it's considered an act of self care to cut them out. They're "preventing you from being your best self." Why can we no longer grow into our best selves together and understand that no one is going to be their best at all times?

[grilledcheesus]

I also don’t like that self care is becoming synonymous with the beauty industry and consumerism.

[MountTaesan]

My friends are always like “I look like a fan” whenever they wave to someone and they don’t notice. I feel like our generation has gotten so quick to be embarrassed over the littlest things because of how judgmental we’ve become. It’s honestly annoying

[tessmoffett]

It took having kids for me to realize how important community is. I didn’t want my kids to grow up seeing their mother be friendless and withdrawn. My own mother was and is that way and I think it affected my own social anxiety massively. I’m just now unlearning it and putting myself out there.

[coolbreeze]

My neighbour is 84 years old. She invites her grandson and his partner to her place for tea every Saturday afternoon. They saw me in my yard one day and started inviting me. Then they invited our neighbours across the street. This started a few years ago and now it's an afternoon party every Saturday and it's just a lovely time! I don't have much in common with any of them on the surface but we've definitely had some fun conversations about random things.
I think many times, people want to curate their friends. Only wanting to associate with specific types of people and being dismissive of others. That is to their own detriment since they miss out on meeting a lot of great people.
The fun of life is letting people surprise you (in a good way).

[HuckleberryCyn]

Self care isn’t just bubble baths and face masks. Self care is calling your parents for help. Self care is making doctors appointments. Self care is reaching out to someone when all you’d rather do is self isolate. It’s not always comfy cozy, but doing things that need to be done to make things better for you down the road. Love your commentary as always

[Brambrew]

Inter-dependency is the only way.
People _DO_ need each other.
We need mutual, two-way needing built on a foundation of respect and reciprocation.

[sarahb]

I've seen a several people "boundary" their way out of friendships and (non-toxic) family relationships. Like yes boundaries are important but if you keep screaming no is a complete sentence at everyone, no one's gonna want to hang with you. I had a therapist try to convince me that i should set boundaries with boundary setters to take back my power in the relationship. Like the world has become a giant boundary setting black-hole nightmare where everyone must be perfect and also a mind reader

[SabrinaMorris-ehfz]

Here are some easy tips as a 25 year old I have done to try and curb loneliness:
1). If you have a problem cancelling on people, invite them to you. It’s harder to cancel.
2). If someone has problems getting to you, offer them a ride. Offer to meet them for coffee.
3). It doesn’t have to be expensive. Plan a potluck night with friends. Plan a craft or paint night and people bring supplies. I hosted a cake decorating party for Valentine’s Day. Make a fire and make s’mores. Go for a walk. Go thrifting. Learn how to cook together at home.
4). I started a weekly watch party for the bachelor series. I cook some extra food, make a drink, and have it in my living room. It’s a low commitment thing for my friends (who didn’t know each other before hand). It helps me as I have been wanting to get better at cooking and bartending, and if my friends feel bad for missing one week, they can catch the next one. Sometimes only one person shows, sometimes I have 7. This helps me not just see my coworkers every day.

It doesn’t have to be a large effort, but I have had people tell me that they really appreciate the effort. And I have girls that told me that even though they don’t attend, they always appreciate the invite. And because you brought people to you, they are more likely to bring you to them too when they get an idea.

[kyrakytana]

Low maintenance relationships for the win. With how busy our lives are nowadays, I think that "errand-hang" with your friends is the only way to stay in touch regularly. "I need new shoes, wanna come shopping with me?", "I don't feel like cooking alone, want to join me?", "I'm exhausted and about to get take-out. Would you like me to get you something too and come over?". "I need to clean my place. Do want want to come over this weekend, and we'll tackle your place next wee?" Those turned some to be of the best times with friends. Even just talking with people on the phone while you're sitting on the couch. You don't need to plan huge elaborate events every time you meet, but you do need to make an effort to stay connected.

[daisyfet]

I think a lot of people are in survival mode and honestly, it's hard to trust many things these days (media, government, future, etc).

[unicornpuke]

I've basically lost all my friends in the past 4 years. Mostly because I'm so beyond tired of putting in the effort and getting absolutely nothing in return. It's exhausting. And not worth it in the long run. 15-20 years of friendship really doesn't mean anything to people anymore.

[chloecordingley]

It's clear people don't care for each other anymore, I'm gen z and I cry every day because of how hard life is right now, and I'm still trying to find happiness and I've realized depending on people doesn't help anymore. I feel that everyone is competing with each other instead of helping. I also think with climate change, pollution, less animals and less color in the world now than ever before along with our ever growing human population is making it hard to stay happy especially with all the hate in the world.

[abigailpauly]

Commenting this mid video so maybe it’s touched on, as an introvert who works in the service industry, I mostly get overwhelmed by feeling like I’m constantly reachable (texting, calling, social media). Sometimes that alone is so exhausting to me that I don’t want to go out and interact with more people. And I’ve found by expressing that to my friends, a lot of people get upset and think I just don’t want to talk to them ever. When in reality I’d much rather plan to meet up and chat about things.

[thalmorbiznitch]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think the number ONE killer of friendships and proponent of loneliness is the disappearance of third spaces, specifically free third spaces. That's where people used to meet friends. It was a way to hang out and exist among other people.

[sallys.]

On one hand people say they are lonely but on the other they blatantly admit they will do nothing for their friends. Friendship take effort, like any relationship.

[repulseiv]

I've actually been isolating since I was 11, I'm 21 now, and right when I was about to go out and have a life, the pandemic happened. Now, I have to learn how to talk to people with my severely underdeveloped social skills.

[Junelily]

So true, as an introvert I hate how people make assumptions about introverts, but in real life we are the opposites, yes we always do not like people, but we also love hanging outs, parties, we arenot shy how they portray us. We are not complicated, we love family, friends. We just do not have too much friends or meet new people every sec time.

[Sunshy]

I also feel like a lot of this also stems from a lot of anxiety and insecurities. We’ve also made ourselves too comfortable over the years by avoiding discomfort, avoiding boredom, avoiding difficult conversations and topics. Nobody knows how to be vulnerable or how to deal with their complicated feelings or difficult conversations and much all need to happen for any deep meaningful relationships.