Busybodies vs Bedrotters: Negative Coping Mechanisms of Gen Z
This article was originally published in the December print edition of The Bark, distributed at the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.
Students working in the Kathryn A. Martin Library. Photo by Anna Jordan
Gen Z is detached from their own emotions.
That’s a big statement, but the best way I can say it. We use many negative ways to cope with our mental health issues, such as alcohol and nicotine usage, sarcastic jokes about traumatic events or feelings, and the two things I will be comparing today — bedrotting or overworking ourselves.
Our generation is correlated to bedrotting in mainstream media, whereas millennials are seen as busybodies. But you cannot group a whole generation into one coping mechanism when there are millions of us, so I am using both today. Which one negatively impacts our lives, or are they equal? And is there a way to find balance?
According to Psychology Today, bedrotting is a strategy used to unwind and decompress. However, we overuse it in our daily lives, and it can lead to insomnia, depression, and anxiety.
Consistent bedrotting leads to a lack of activity, which reduces motivation and increases fatigue. Retreating to your bed allows you to escape the stressors of life and avoid all of your problems.
Instead of coping with our issues and our emotions, we lay in bed and scroll through TikTok for hours on end.
But there’s another side to the coin — being a busybody.
PsychCentral explains that being a busybody is another way to avoid our issues. Instead of facing what haunts our head, we overwork ourselves to the point that we can’t think of anything else but the work in front of us.
And there is an entire culture surrounding that negative coping mechanism, called Hustle Culture. It has become such a popular way of living that it is considered a social norm, a culture.
Let me repeat that: There is an entire culture surrounding a negative way to cope with mental health.
Bedrotting and busybodies are both considered normal. Teenagers and young adults bedrot all of the time, and adults from their mid twenties to forties are known to work hard and long.
Without knowing it, we have normalized negative coping mechanisms as a society. And we need to denormalize it so that future generations learn positive coping skills to help them with the trials of life.
As college students, we are all stressed and exhausted all of the time. But instead of burying ourselves in work or blankets, we can find ways to face our issues and attach ourselves back into our emotions.
As a nineteen year old girl, I’ve compiled a list of my own personal ideas for all the college students out there who have a hard time coping with their issues, understanding their emotions and thoughts behind them, and who find it very easy to stop caring about anything and everything:
Self-reflection. Start listening to yourself and what you need. Face the hard things that are hard to face, and strive to understand why you are the way that you are. You won’t be able to cope or grow as a person if you don’t understand why you’re feeling the way that you’re feeling, or acting the way that you’re acting.
Self-love. Give yourself grace and kindness. We are all going through life’s journey and are bound to make mistakes. Don’t crumble from them, learn from them.
Self-assure. Remind yourself of who you are; your strengths, your weaknesses, your ambition and goals, and keep them in mind as you go through life. Always try to be the best version of yourself.
There will be times that you will bedrot or overwork yourself. And that’s okay, as long as you remember that it’s unhealthy and not a great thing to do consistently.
Just strive for balance, and you will be okay.