The Kids Are Not Alright

Something sinister lurks among our children. It has no preference—no racial limits—no social boundaries. Whatever it is also lurked by me and my peers in our adolescent years and the youth of the generations before me. We can’t see it—but surely, we can feel it. It brings darkness and sucks the souls of the innocent eyes of our youth, watching a young child eventually grow into someone you don’t recognize anymore.

What separates us from those who have decided to go down a darker path in life? I’ve watched the nicest, sweetest people grow into nothing but trouble. I’ve watched conversations from convicted felons with the warmest eyes commit the ugliest crimes. Where did it all go wrong?

The topic first arose in George Magazine’s June/July 1996 issue. In Why Kids Are Ruining America, Bret Easton Elis says, “It was seemingly excessive behavior that disturbed me: the obsessive club-hopping, the sexual ambiguity—the casual drug use; all of this is set in an incredibly dangerous city,” speaking down on even his own generation.

“They kill—” says Melissa Rossi.

Jonathon Bernstein lists “10 things kids have wrecked for adults,” including cigarette machines, aspirin bottles, guns—and sex. While yes, some of that might be true, he concluded his strenuous annoyance of the general youth following his strong opinions of the child stars of the time, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Referring to them as “multi-talentless” and “perched prettily atop the show business empire,” he admits they undeservingly control the entertainment industry.

The tragedy of the Columbine High School Massacre occurred just two years after the publication of George Magazine’s June/July 1996 issue. The two corrupted souls, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, brought multiple assault weapons (including explosives) to school, claiming the lives of 12 students and 1 teacher in what was known as the deadliest school shooting of its time.

Eric Harris, with psychopathic tendencies and violent fantasies, and Dylan Klebold, struggling with depression and isolation, were social outcasts drawn to violence. Despite warning signs, such as Harris’s disturbing writings and their criminal behavior, no intervention occurred. Their anger and desire for revenge led to the tragic attack, killing 13 and sparking national debates on gun control, bullying, and mental health.

Josephine Chess revisits this epidemic in George Magazine’s ninth issue in July of 2023. In Mental Health Crisis Among Our Nation’s Youth: It’s a Life or Death Situation, Chess recounts her own personal difficulties with her teenage son turning to alcohol as a result of underlying depression and anxiety. As a student who completed his 8th grade year in the confines of his home due to the COVID-19 lockdown, Chess feels that the isolation and reliance on technology and social media have depleted her son’s mental health.

Dr. Murphy’s new Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health tells us that social media harms children’s and adolescents’ mental health and well-being.

A Newsweek article by Gabe Whisnant, published in September 2024, highlights some eye-opening stats from the FBI’s Annual Summary of Crime in the Nation. According to the report, the number of suspects under 18 involved in violent crimes rose from 31,302 in 2022 to 34,413 in 2023. The jump in property crimes is just as striking—73,332 cases in 2023 where juveniles were accused, compared to 56,674 the year before. The numbers paint a clear picture: youth crime is on the rise.
The Council on Criminal Justice posted a report in September 2024, Youth Crime Before and After the Onset of COVID-19: A Survey of Middle and High School Students in the United States. Between the spring of 2020 and the spring of 2023, non-lethal violent crime dropped by about 24%, and property crime dropped by 23%. It also emphasizes that youth crime did not vary by sex, race, or parental education.

The University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development published the study, The Onset of Puberty: Effects on the Psychophysiology of Defensive and Appetitive Motivation. By examining how puberty affects motivation in adolescents, adolescents in mid-to-late puberty show stronger defensive responses and higher appetitive motivation. This can contribute to increased sensation seeking (whether it be sex, drugs, or violence) and leaves them vulnerable to possibly suffering from mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

I spoke with a young New York resident about her experience growing up with her family and two younger siblings. As the eldest sister—who wishes to remain anonymous—she shared that her childhood was significantly different from that of her youngest sibling, who is eight years her junior. When she was twelve, her parents separated, and being raised by a single mother required her to take on greater responsibility, particularly in helping care for her younger siblings.

“Our experiences were very different,” she explained. “As the oldest child, you’re naturally more responsible because you’re often the one looking out for your younger siblings.”

“Being the oldest female also places you in a similar position—I believe society tends to place more responsibility on women,” she shared. From her own experience, the oldest children often grow into more responsible, self-sufficient adults, shaped by the expectations placed on them.

Parental divorce before or during adolescence can affect mental health and alcohol use, with some differences between genders. ScienceDirect published a study of 5,155 males and 4,960 females and found that early divorce hurt girls’ mental health at age 15, but not later. Boys didn’t show a clear pattern, but early divorce led to more alcohol use at age 15 and less at age 25.

In the new Netflix show, Adolescence, the darkness of growing up—mental health struggles, isolation, and family issues—feels all too real. The impact of parental divorce, especially in early adolescence, echoes in the lives of many. Just like in the show, the emotional turmoil of these years—amplified by social pressures—leaves many teens lost, searching for ways to cope.

Juvenile Court Judge Lasheyl Stroud tells WBNS 10TV, “One night in a juvenile detention center decreases your chances of graduating high school by 15%.” While aggravated robbery, murder, and assault rank among the top crimes where a teenager is charged as an adult, the number of juveniles that have had GPS monitors placed has gone up about 8% every year since 2020. “We have more juveniles in the Juvenile Intervention Center today than we did 5 years ago—over twice as many.”

Over the last 20 years, adolescent crime and violence have gone from occasional headlines to something that feels disturbingly routine. What used to shock us now barely makes the evening news. School shootings? We’ve seen too many. Teen gang violence? Still rising. Social media beefs turning into real-world assaults? That’s just Tuesday. Kids are growing up faster, angrier, and more disconnected than ever before. You can’t ignore it—our teens are in crisis, and the consequences are playing out in real time, often with heartbreaking results.

Take the 2018 shooting in Parkland, Florida, or the 2022 tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. These weren’t just senseless acts of violence—they were cries for help no one heard in time. And they’re not isolated. They’re part of a larger pattern: rising rates of juvenile arrests for violent crimes, more weapons in schools, and an uptick in youth involved in organized crime. We’re not just losing control; we’re losing kids—to systems, to trauma, to a society that too often treats them like problems instead of people.

What does this mean for the future? If we keep raising generations who see violence as a form of communication and survival, we’re looking at a world where empathy is an endangered species. This isn’t just about crime stats—it’s about the emotional decay happening beneath the surface. If we don’t start listening, guiding, and actually showing up for our youth, we’re going to wake up one day and realize the next generation doesn’t want to inherit the mess we left behind. And honestly? Who could blame them?

So what now? The numbers rise, the headlines blur, and behind each one is a child we failed to reach. We call it a crisis but treat it like weather—inevitable, passing. We blame screens, schools, parents, and the kids themselves. Anything but the systems we built and the silence we maintain.

We keep asking where it all went wrong—but maybe the real question is, did we ever give them a chance to get it right? What if the violence, the isolation, the anger… isn’t rebellion, but reflection? What if this is what happens when an entire generation grows up feeling unseen?

The future isn’t waiting. It’s already here. And it’s watching us.

Maybe the scariest part isn’t that we’re losing the kids.

Maybe it’s that deep down… they’ve already lost faith in us.