Gen Z's Mirror Fatigue

Young adults are increasingly dissatisfied not with external institutions but with their own mediated images and cultural self‑representations. That inward critique produces cultural products that both celebrate and self‑invalidate a generation's identity, changing how youth media and politics operate. — If Gen Z's cultural energy is focused on self‑reflection and critique, media-makers, policymakers, and political organizers must shift from talking at youth to addressing their internal cultural anxieties.