"For more than a decade, economists have been tracking a quiet inversion in American well-being: young people are now the most despairing age group in the country. A 2025 working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Dartmouth economist David Blanchflower and University College London's Alex Bryson documented a dramatic rise in despair among young workers since the years just following the Great Recession - roughly 2012 to 2014 - reversing the classic pattern of the "midlife crisis.""
Commencement audiences boo when speakers mention artificial intelligence, but the reaction reflects more than fear of machines. Similar boos have appeared across multiple universities, including remarks about AI as the next industrial revolution and warnings about inherited crises. Economists have tracked a long-term inversion in American well-being in which young people have become the most despairing age group. Research links rising despair among young workers to the period after the Great Recession, around 2012 to 2014, reversing the traditional pattern of a midlife crisis. This background helps explain why graduates respond with anger and skepticism when future narratives are presented as inevitable or already decided.
#artificial-intelligence #commencement-culture #gen-z-mental-health #economic-despair #workforce-anxiety
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