Gen Z And Nihilism: When Young People (Happily) Have No Interest In The Future

-Analytics-

MADRID — Nihilism is hardly new: people were embracing carpe diem long before Russian revolutionaries gave the idea fresh life in the 19th century. Its history stretches back millennia, but every so often swings back into fashion.

That’s what’s happening now with Generation Z: nihilism has found a new form we can call viral.

Among those born between the mid-1990s and 2010, nihilism has become something of a trend. A recent BBC article profiled a young woman named Sophie, who refuses to even consider her future, or retirement plans. “I’m not necessarily worried,” she says. “It’s more of a feeling of helplessness.” But instead of igniting a revolutionary spirit, this brand of Gen Z nihilism is changing how they live their day-to-day lives. It’s nudging them toward the here and now.

Back in 2019, The Guardian identified what it called “sunny nihilism.” The journalist writing it described her own experience of realizing that all the stress in her life didn’t amount to much. “Who cares? One day I’ll be dead and no one will remember me anyway,” she concluded.

Rather than falling into gloom and doom, Gen Z had already started to embrace a kind of hedonism in response to the state of the world. If nothing really matters, why not enjoy the moment? That was the core logic. Hence the idea of “sunny” or even “optimistic” nihilism took root.

Multiple “once-in-a-lifetime” crises

That’s part of why nihilism has caught the attention of companies that analyze consumer behavior. The consulting firm WGSN identifies it as one of the forces shaping Gen Z’s shopping habits, a generation that inherited millennial frustration and pushed it further.

“Nihilistic sentiments have been bubbling up among millennials for years, intensified by the emotional rollercoaster of living through multiple so-called “once-in-a-lifetime” crises,” explains Cassandra Napoli, senior insight strategist at WGSN. “Unfortunately, things aren’t looking much better for Gen Z, as nihilism sinks its claws into a group often associated with strong values and big hopes for humanity.”

In other words, Gen Z: the same generation that not so long ago seemed committed to making the world a better place has found itself drifting toward a kind of fatalism, worn down by one crisis after another. Millennials already went through a similar reckoning as they entered adulthood, caught in a prolonged adolescence that led to frustration and political unrest. Generation Z, too, faces delayed milestones of adulthood and is taking shelter in the immediacy of the present.

TikTok is full of videos urging people to spend now and forget about the future, to live only in the here and now.

This energy inevitably spills over onto social media. Nihilism shows up as a kind of undercurrent (sometimes front and center, sometimes more subtly) in many of the viral trends sweeping TikTok. The tongue-in-cheek “girl math,” which invited users to justify spending habits, is just one example.

The platform is full of videos urging people to spend now and forget about the future, to live only in the here and now. And as the BBC points out, the algorithm tends to amplify exactly this kind of content, helping nihilism reach a wider audience.

The happiest generation?

The “new nihilism” was already flagged as a key trend by Ipsos in its global forecast for 2024 (one that didn’t focus specifically on any one generation). According to their analysis, the outlook was prompting people to live for the moment and sometimes make impulsive financial decisions. Just 31% of people globally said they were optimistic about the world’s future over the next year.

Meanwhile, the non-stop crises of the past decade have left many citizens burned out, and trust in public institutions has taken a major hit. According to the Ipsos State of Democracy report, half of Spain’s population is dissatisfied with the state of its democratic system.

In the firm’s Predictions 2025 report, released last December, 68% of Spaniards described the previous year as a bad one. Although the study did point to some “moderate optimism” around the economy, other findings stood out. For example, 49% of people globally, and 41% of Spaniards, believed there was a chance nuclear weapons could be used in an armed conflict by 2025. It’s worth asking how the instability seen at the start of 2025, especially with decisions coming out of the United States, might be shaping the public mood.

If we scratch beneath the surface, might things not be quite as bleak as they seem?

So, is slipping into the same nihilism already gripping younger generations really inevitable? Or, if we scratch beneath the surface, might things not be quite as bleak as they seem? According to the latest Ipsos survey tied to World Happiness Day, 72% of Spaniards say they are happy, a figure that’s actually gone up by 11 points since 2011. The happiest? Generation Z, followed by baby boomers.

Lately there’s been a lot of discussion about the need to bolster democracy, to make its values and social benefits resonate more deeply, and to reinforce the broader social fabric. These calls are driven in part by the rise of the far right, the disinformation crisis, and the negative impact of social media on public discourse.

In such a polarized climate, reinforcing democratic values is essential. The question is whether doing so might also offer a kind of resistance, however subtle, against the pull of nihilism.