TikTok (application)

Alix Earl and the mental health confessions taking over the internet

Portrait of Rachel Hale Rachel Hale

USA TODAY

Boy band 5 Seconds of Summer’s hit 2014 song “She Looks So Perfect” is having a revival moment on TikTok for an unexpected reason: Gen Z creators are posting videos sharing their mental health confessions over the track.“‘You’re so funny’ thx if I stopped taking my meds I’d be in the hospital,” influencer Alix Earle posted to her 7.2 million followers on Tuesday, captioning her video, “live, love, lexapro,” referring to the popular medication used to treat anxiety and depression.

Thousands of videos are listed under the song, each starting with “You’re so funny” before sharing a mental health confession – such as, “thanks, I have anger issues” or “thanks, I’ve been medicated since seventh grade.” Creators shared videos addressing everything from childhood trauma to domestic violence, opening up a conversation about how humor can help young people connect with their peers about mental health.

Is Gen Z sad?Study shows they’re more open about struggles with mental health

Influencer Alix Earle shared her mental health struggles with her 7.2 million followers on Tuesday, captioning her video, “live, love, lexapro,”

Gen Z is more open about mental health than past generations

The trend provides insight into the mental health struggles of young people. Users shared videos about relationships, trauma from growing up sexually closeted, and experiences with separated and divorced parents.

“I have only ever been cheated on and use humor to cope,” one user shared. “I’ve had crippling anxiety since before I could remember,” another posted. Variants of the trend also touched on disordered eating, with video text like, “Thanks I’m not allowed to weigh myself” and “thanks I’m not allowed to have Myfitnesspal.” Others used the trend to share concerns about their chosen career path, suicidal ideation and grief over deceased parents.

When asked to describe their current mental health or well-being, just 15% of members of Gen Z polled said it was excellent in a 2023 study by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. Gen Zers report having experienced negative emotions such as stress, anxiety and loneliness, the study said, and 47% of those polled said they are thriving in their lives right now – a figure among the lowest across all generations in the U.S. today.

That’s a big decline compared to a decade ago, when 52% of millennials in that same age range said their mental health was excellent, the study noted. And in 2004, 55% of people aged 18 to 26, including both millennials and Gen X respondents, reported excellent mental health.

Jayla Johnson, a 23-year-old who works in brand partnerships in music and entertainment in New York City, said those in her generation are simply more brutally honest with their feelings.

“We don’t sugarcoat things,” Johnson said. “We’re going to tell you exactly how we feel. You can’t expect someone to know what we’re going through.”

Ryan Jenkins, a bestselling author who has written extensively on Gen Z and millennials, said social media for better or worse has given Gen Z “a platform for their voices from day one to be heard and outspoken.” He said technology has in many ways given Gen Z “an overstimulation that no other generation has had to weigh through.”

More:This is America: Why it’s totally normal for Gen Z to use humor to cope with sexual assault trauma

Gen Z uses humor to cope

Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have changed the way teens talk about their mental health. And whereas the cultural norm on Instagram is a more polished aesthetic, TikTok’s trend-driven community feels more informal and prioritizes user engagement, creating a fertile environment for personal moments to go viral. When the comment sections on users’ confession videos are filled with support, it builds a sense of solidarity and peer connection.

Humor is an extremely useful and common coping strategy that can help some process such a heavy and traumatic event, according to Marni Amsellem, a licensed psychologist. For others, it can lighten the emotional severity of the trauma as well. 

According to Jean Twenge, author of “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood,”  Gen Z is more pessimistic than millennials, which might explain their inclination towards dark humor — a “type of humor you have when you’re feeling negative emotions.”

In recent years, celebrities like Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Chrissy Teigen have helped open up the conversation by sharing their mental health struggles with followers. On TikTok, where influencers reign supreme, creators like Earle joining in on the trend helps make it that much more relatable for teenage viewers.

Pop star Adam Lambert got in on the trend, posting, “Thanks I kissed a man on live TV in 2009 and almost got sued.” Parenting influencer Lottie Weaver shared, “Thanks my dad died when I was four years old” to her two million followers.

For Gen Z, it’s another example of using online spaces to widen the conversation about mental health — and mental health experts agree that’s a good thing.

Terry Collins and Jenna Ryu contributed to this report.

Rachel Hale’s role covering youth mental health at USA TODAY is funded by a grant from Pivotal Ventures. Pivotal Ventures does not provide editorial input. Reach her at [email protected] and @rachelleighhale on X.

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