Google Search: What to Do in Case of Doomsday
- slingshotmagazine
- Mar 11, 2019
- 2 min read
by Susanna Joseph
On its page for depression, the NHS website recommends physical activity, fresh fruit and vegetables, and exercise to all those who are physically capable. While a chemical imbalance in the brain cannot be cured by jogging, vitamins strengthen the body, activity releases endorphins and serotonin which can help raise moods. So does sunlight, usually. But what about when the source of anguish is actually what’s blasting through the curtains?
There’s a new phenomenon brewing, combining existential dread, social media and rolling 24-hour news coverage into a perfect storm for people paying attention.
It might sound ridiculous to those that do not exist online, but the constant stream of information fixated on the calamitous trajectory the world is on – politically, environmentally, socially – is enough to make some Millennials start seriously questioning the existence of their own future; and whether that future would even be something they would want.
American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faced another media storm, voicing these quietly brewing concerns publically, pointing the media hounds that hang on her every word in a new direction.
Young people are so unsure of what their future holds they are putting off having children. The birth rate in the US is at a 30-year low, and not faring any better in the rest of the world. Increasingly Millennials are questioning whether it is morally responsible to bring new life into a world that is struggling, with no signs of the tides turning (apart from rising sea levels).
It seems as well under-35s are sceptical their governments are doing enough to provide for them and their hypothetical children. When voters voice anxieties about the planet and get promptly ignored by their Baby Boomer or Generation X representatives, what does this do to instil faith about our current political system?
The centrist media commentators who scratch their heads at the vocal mainstream embrace of socialism in the last few years always seem to overlook this glaring dichotomy. But even while Millennials are more active than ever before in pursuing the politics that works for them, it does not alleviate the worry of bringing a child into a world that set on supporting policies that will harm it.
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