Gen Z Is Whining Again About How Hard Life Is: 'Midlife Crisis'

Suck it up, buttercups. 

Just when you thought you'd heard it all from Gen Z and its "midlife crisis" cries back in December, along comes a report from MetLife that shows the Zoomers are more stressed, more depressed and more burned out compared to the average employee. 

Wait, you're telling me the generation that was shoved into every single activity their Stanley-succin' suburban moms could find are feeling stressed and burned out?

Color me surprised. 

"Gen Z is not necessarily doing well. Our study showed holistic health for all employee age groups is down a bit, but it’s down the most for Gen Z," Todd Katz, executive vice president of group benefits at MetLife and member of MetLife's DEI Leadership Council, told InsuranceNewsNet.

Impressive work, Todd. 

Gen Z in their bubbles taking a mental health break from their stressful lives. / Getty Images 

You're telling me the generation (Gen Z is currently ages 11-26) that grew up on TikTok shoving 6,000 videos down their brains are feeling less happy, less successful and less engaged than their fellow workers?

I'm shocked, I tell you, Todd! 

Ahh, but Todd, who makes money when companies offer workers more benefits, says there's a solution — offering Gen Z pet insurance. 

Actually, that's just one benefit that Todd says would make the Zs happy. 

He's suggesting student debt assistance, child care benefits, pet insurance, commuter benefits and "benefits that help them create emergency savings," Insurance News adds. 

Good luck digesting all of those wants. 

Gen Z claims it is already dealing with the ‘midlife crisis’ stage of life

Again, we're talking about people who've been in the workforce a maximum of eight years. 

In a study released in December, 38% of Zs said they're currently dealing with a midlife crisis. 

Are they going out and buying motorcycles and Corvettes and expensive golf clubs?

No, the Zs don't have the money to throw around and it's stressing them out. The stress of not having the money to live the Instagram and TikTok lives they're watching on a phone is causing the Zs to miss work. 

How much work?

In the UK, we're talking one day a week to deal with "mental health struggles." 

In a September U.S.-based report, nearly 20% of those who participated in a Gen Z survey said they'd taken a mental health day in the weeks before the survey. 

In other words, they're taking the days all the time. It's common. 

The Millennials, who used to get beat up by the Boomers, are now on the attack and going after the Zoomers, but is it only the Zs who are playing games in the workforce with mental health days?

Let's cut to the chase: Is this country f--ked? 

At times, it sure feels like it, but I like to try to stay positive about life because I'm Gen X and I'm just trying to stay out of all these fights. 

 And then I read stuff like this from Forbes and I'm convinced we're absolutely toast. 

"Gen Z respondents, on average, believe an annual salary of $587,797 and a net worth of $9.47 million are necessary to achieve 'financial success,'" the outlet reported in December. 

Let that soak in. 

Email: joekinsey@gmail.com