Young actors praise Gen Z's mental health awareness
During an interview on a local talk show, young actors Aina Asif, Abul Hassan, Reham Rafiq, and Samar Jafri discussed the positives and negatives of their generation. The quartet identified Gen Z's significant awareness of therapy, while also acknowledging that today's youths need to work on their patience.
Aina began the conversation by discussing therapy. "Before looking for a solution, we must identify the problem. I'm too young to speak on this, but I would sometimes wonder why our generation is so depressed; this wasn't so common before," she said.
According to the Baby Baji actor, the reason for this is that young people today have greater awareness of their issues. "If I feel anxious, I know why that's happening," she illustrated. "For example, I can have social anxiety or anxiety over my exams. That's what I've learned about myself. Parents should take that into consideration and understand that they shouldn't shut off their child's attempt at communicating such feelings."
Parwarish actor, Abul, had his own insights to share. "These things are so complicated that our people tend to stigmatise them, like calling someone a 'mental patient'," he noted. "We shouldn't use words like these because that only promotes the stigma. We should instead aim to understand what's happening. This isn't a Western concept. We are human beings too, and we all have these things in common."
Making a note of his generation's ability to tackle social issues, Abul added, "Body positivity is a good thing as well. Plus, this generation recognises racism, sexism, and surface-level misogyny, which I feel shows significant growth."
Both actors stressed that gaining exposure should not result in a lack of empathy towards one's parents. In agreement, Judwaa actor Reham remarked, "I feel like both sides should try to level with each other. Parents should understand that times have truly changed, and kids should also understand that their parents only handle them in ways they know best."
Speaking about Gen Z's intolerance towards wrong, she added, "This is the cause of tension within society. Older generations tend to downplay things, but these aren't little things. Many drops make a river. When someone does something wrong, we only try to correct them. But they see it as ill-mannered behaviour."
Finally, Meri Ho singer Samar commented that the generational gap can be addressed if all sides work on their ego and express gratitude. "We've forgotten how to be grateful," he lamented. "I feel like we should be thankful for where we are in life and continue living as such."
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