John Green is best known for his tear-jerking young adult novels. But beyond the emotionally charged lives of two teens bound by more than their illnesses in his bestseller, The Fault in Our Stars, Green has become widely recognized for giving his curious audience a crash course in everything from history and philosophy to science and current events. He’s identified to his over two million social media followers as an knowledgeable in centuries-old historic occasions, world well being, and our fashionable technological panorama.
Inexperienced is ready to join with a broad viewers due to his uncanny means to grasp the darkish and sophisticated realities of individuals—significantly younger ones. And he has a message for them.
“I worry a lot that young people are affected by the terrible disease of loneliness at a scale that we haven’t seen before,” he tells Fortune.
With the rise in social media got here a decline in psychological well being, and a world pandemic that shut down colleges and remoted children as they have been coming of age solely worsened issues. In a single latest evaluation, a fourth of individuals aged 15 to 18 reported feeling lonely, which may exacerbate psychological well being points. Dubbed the “anxious generation” by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, younger adults immediately would be the loneliest group of all. With looming uncertainty about the way forward for work, AI, and the economic system, Inexperienced has a easy lesson for younger individuals.
“I believe they need to be studying extra books,” Inexperienced says. “But I’m biased. That’s like asking a musician if people should listen to music.”
Nonetheless, he sees studying as probably the most vital character growth software for younger individuals.
“My case for books is that they shrink the empathy gap,” Inexperienced says, “because when I read Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield isn’t my friend or my spouse or my anything, [but] he is as close as I can come to being someone else.”
Being socially remoted can block individuals from feeling empathy for others. Within the newest annual World Happiness Report, a rating of happiest international locations on the earth, the U.S. dropped out of the highest 20, largely due to younger People’ discontent attributable to social isolation and worsening psychological well being.
A key marker of happiness, per the report, is believing within the good of others. Missing invaluable social connections could make believing within the goodwill of others tougher. Discovering a technique to bridge the empathy hole, as Inexperienced says, may encourage us to succeed in out to individuals, past the pages of a guide.
“Through the process of imagining with clarity and sophistication what it’s like to be someone else, we both learn what it’s like to be ourselves, but we also learn what it’s like to be one of the 8 billion other people on this planet,” Inexperienced says.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
