Each generation is introduced to a world completely different than the last. Generation X has experienced unprecedented change in job fields, education and technology. This has led them to have a different perspective of the world than younger generations like Generation Z.

Many members of Gen Z were raised by Gen X parents, but Gen Z will have a completely different parenting style than the people that raised them. Technology has completely changed, and social media has become an intense norm for Gen Z. Mental health has slowly taken strides to become normalized. And along with that, gender identity, sexual orientation and body positivity are publicized much more than a few years ago.

Throughout Gen Z’s lifetime, the strides taken toward mental health advocacy have been large. Advocacy in general has increased due to social media making it easier for people to share their thoughts and opinions.

Gen Z will continue to advocate, but through parenting. With their prominent knowledge of mental health, Gen Z will be aware to look out for things that adolescents struggle with. With things like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, etc. being talked about through the media, especially with teens, Gen Z might be able to catch signs of what their children experience.

Each family is different. It is not that Gen X should have looked out for these traits in their children. The fact that they are becoming normalized throughout the current generation will allow them to be watchful.

Diet culture took a rise in Gen X. They experienced the growing media, science and technology that told them that the most acceptable and idolized people were thin and white. While technology expanded, these observations were shared. Gen X learned all about healthy foods and the cons of what they grew up with.

So, they changed their habits. What they may not have been aware of was how it was passed on to their children. While they were learning a “healthy lifestyle,” they taught it to their kids.

Gen X has learned a lot in their lifetime. Technology has expanded, and they were able to access a whole world of information that other generations had not been able to. There is nothing “wrong” with Gen X. As they learned, their children absorbed.

Gen Z is now aware of how mental health can be impacted based on how they are raised. There is no way to tell what the next generation will absorb from their parents, or what the current generation will be exposed to.

However, with the normalization of mental health, Gen Z will be able to pick up on their children’s struggles. With any hope, that would decrease the number of severe cases. Mental health advocacy might continue through each generation; however, it started with this one.

Audrey Trevarthan is an opinion writer. Contact her at [email protected].