OPINION: Gen Z and the ‘quarter life crisis’

Mid-life crisis, life passing away, responsibility, burden and monotony are familiar terms. People post their 40s experience a dissatisfaction in their life.

Family pressures, aging issues, little time for self all add up to make people go in a discontent zone of living, but not being alive. Most of these people yearn for their life when they were in their 20s. Lo and behold! We now have a ‘quarter life crisis’.

In 2026 we will have more Gen Zs in their 20s than ever before. This was supposed to be the best period of life.

Wait a minute. No. Gen Z are facing a ‘quarter life crisis’. Many Gen Z have entered their twenties. They have had a rough ride. Their teen age was not the carefree age. The era of fear surrounded them. This was not a time to go around freely and wildly. This was a time to stay indoors. Come back early. Watch out rather than hang out.

Imagine you were born between 1997 and 2012. Your childhood had felt the impact of 9/11 in 2001. You experienced the fear factor taking over the world. Pakistan is becoming a security state and parks and public places being bombed. This environment clipped the childhood of these children. As they became teenagers they saw fun being shadowed by terror.

Musical concerts, football matches worldwide were bombed to cut through pure fun and joy. They lived in the era of wars: Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and now Venezuela. They have seen the 2007 economic crash and the present never-ending economic crunch. They have lived in the deadly era of COVID. Quite a nightmare. May be that explains the pre-mature ‘quarter life crisis’.

A ‘quarter life crisis’ is a period of soul-searching and self-questioning that occurs in a person’s mid-20s to early 30s. They feel at a loss of identity, purpose and future. Feelings of uncertainty, self-doubt, restlessness, disillusionment, low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression are common during the quarter-life crisis. The sudden dysfunctionality that we see in youngsters these days is due to some triggering loss. A job loss, romantic break-up, moving to a new city, or the death of a loved one can trigger a quarter-life crisis. Let us look at the Pakistani Gen Z and their triggers in ‘quarter life crisis’:

1. Escape for better— Gen Z are an over-informed group. Being digital natives, surfing, searching is second skin to them. They were disturbed by the fearful environment in which they grew up and they are disturbed about the dismal job opportunities in the country. Their tech and net savviness makes them compare instantly. Most of their peers who are at jobs are far from satisfied. In a recent study conducted by IRIS communications on “Deconstructing Gen Z”, 62 percent of Gen Z feel that the economic conditions are poor offering little to them in terms of career growth and stability. They also feel that job matching in Pakistan is a rarity. They express frustration on what the jobs offer and what they can offer. This mismatch is forcing them to look for opportunities overseas. These facts have played a part in one of the highest brain drain that Pakistan has seen in recent years. According to figures of PIDE (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) from 2022 and 2023, there was a 26.6 percent increase in the emigration of highly qualified professionals. Gen Z are a highly patriotic group and are only taking this choice because the prospects in the country are not promising. This early and reluctant change of career causes more stress. Gone are the days when opportunities abroad were great. With most western economies declining, many Gen Z find settling overseas a big trauma, another stress contributing to the quarter life crisis.

2. Purpose vs practice— Gen Z have a purpose crisis. They are young, smart and aware. They are restless. They want to something that is meaningful. While they want to go for a more purposeful job, relationships and life, they find the grind to find it very cumbersome. The distance between their desired world and the practical world creates an internal disconnect. This disconnect then results in disenchantment and disengagement. That is what causes an internal friction that creates this crisis of “what am I” (identity crisis) and “what is my purpose and future” the (uncertainty crisis).

3. Mental health challenge-Almost 42 percent of Gen Z have admitted to facing anxiety, burnout, hopelessness and depression. The recent suicide attempts by two university students in Lahore are a sad depiction of the mental state of our youth. Having grown up in an insecure and unfree environment their lifeline is social media. While social media provides a lot of information, it also creates stress. According to the IRIS communication study, the largest used platforms for Gen Z are Instagram 42 percent and YouTube 20 percent. Many studies show that use of these platforms brings a CC, i.e., comparison culture and FOMO, i.e., fear of missing out. The photoshopped world on these platforms makes Gen Z feel inadequate and unworthy. These two feelings create emotional pain and depression.

Gen Z are huge talent reservoir. Rejecting them as misfits is not just unjust but also a loss of one of the smartest human resource pool we have. What needs to be done:

1. Hire for potential not for degrees— Organisations need to change their paradigm. They need to rethink their hiring patterns. Rather than looking for degrees, look for the passion, potential and purpose. Gen Z who are engaged through a higher purpose are more likely to outdo their senior colleagues.

2. Develop leadership capacity— At the moment the leadership in companies is busy rejecting this generation. Reskill and retrain leaders to understand Gen Z. Create reverse mentoring capacities. Develop Dialogue circles within departments to bridge the gaps.

3. Focus on mental wellbeing— The most crucial thing is to look after their mental health. The government must make it mandatory for education institutions to provide mental counselling and support. Organizations need to work on having therapists and behavioural coaches in their panels to constantly engage with employees rather than waiting for employees to have the courage to seek it.

What worked with us will not work with them. Gen Z are a generation apart. We need to unlearn our learnings to learn their learnings. Rabindranath Tagore, for example, had famously said, “Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026