The Worthlessness Epidemic: A Skyrocketing, Silent Problem

By Julia Dunn on September 6, 2015

Trigger Warning: discussion of mental health issues (anxiety, depression, suicide, low self-esteem/self-image)

“Feeling worthless means that every single achievement I have is instantly devalued in my mind. I could become the President and I would still feel like I’m not good enough, smart enough … enough.”

-2nd year student, University of California, Santa Cruz

“Feeling worthless and unwanted or unneeded is something so many people struggle with and it took me a long time to realize how badly these awful, negative thoughts affected my life–they destroyed me to the point that I ate away my feelings. I didn’t know who to talk to or what I would even say and so I very easily turned to ice cream and cake; I was killing myself.”

-4th year student, University of California, Riverside

“I felt like … my friends and my family didn’t care about me. I couldn’t go into the garden or go to my org meetings because I felt that I wasn’t valued or that I wasn’t important.”

-3rd year student, University of California, Santa Cruz

“My constant comparison between me and my older classmates gave me multiple feelings of worthlessness. I had a hard time cutting myself some slack.”

-2nd year student, University of California, Santa Cruz

Image via Pixabay

Scroll down a college student’s Tumblr dashboard, and you’ll see thousands and thousands of “notes” (analogous to Facebook “likes”) on text posts that read “I really don’t feel like existing today” (over 200,000 notes); “I was doing better. Why am I like this again?” (186,000 notes); and “‘Are you okay?’ ‘Of course.” “Are you lying?’ ‘Of course’” (164,000 notes).

Young people relate to these posts quite strongly, and it’s because of a worthlessness epidemic hurting students in universities everywhere.

Across college campuses worldwide, students are struggling to feel important. They feel as though they have no value, and that they aren’t worthy of good things. And the issue is, much of it is not externally visible (while some of it is extremely apparent).

We seem to be shifting more attention onto mental health in universities in terms of talking more about anxiety, depression, eating disorders and “common” mental illnesses, which is fantastic; however, we often do not specifically address the widespread worthlessness epidemic making itself known through outlets like Tumblr–why are college students/young adults feeling so unimportant and low? Why do students feel so much pressure?

There are many answers to that question.

For one, college itself undoubtedly stresses students out.

“Stop asking about college! Stop asking about jobs and my career! Stop asking about my future! I DON’T KNOW OKAY I DON’T KNOW!” is another Tumblr post which students often reblog (share). As a college student myself, I understand that my peers are sick of being asked about their future with the expectation that they will follow a typical pathway to success.

Between ever-increasing student fees and complicated financial aid situations, students are even going as far as to create memes that depict themselves hoping a university vehicle would run into them if it meant that their tuition bill would be covered. Students experience such a great level of overwhelment in their daily lives that they feel unable to keep up with the stressors of campus life.

This leads to students internalizing an idea that they are simply not strong enough or not capable of managing such stressors, especially in comparison to their peers. One University of California, Santa Cruz student reported that “worthlessness [feels] like the world [is] closing down on me.”

The National Union of Students, who surveyed 1,200 UK college students, found in a recent study that “40 percent of the sample reported feelings of ‘worthlessness’ or ‘hopelessness.’” Furthermore, 1 in 10 students reported “suicidal feelings.

The pressure to be competitive career-wise after graduation seeps into the years students spend at their universities; students know that college is where they must find outlets for growth and experience that can assist their job hunting later on.

At a time when students are supposed to act as adults while still holding onto fragments of a teen mentality, they feel they are not yet old enough to be taken seriously or considered exempt from the “crazy college student” stereotype of reckless behavior. Often, students feel criticized by older adults, propelling feelings of worthlessness:

“Adults often criticize me for being lazy. They took 16+ units and worked a full time job plus part time on-top of it. They say if I were more motivated, I could do the same. They don’t understand the world is different now. I try to support myself with a minimum wage job and still put myself through school because I value my education, but it really is difficult. I get those talks from every adult in my life, and it makes me feel inferior.”

-2nd year student, Santa Rosa Junior College

Another factor contributing to worthlessness can be students’ family lives. At age 19-20, students may feel awkward in relation to their families or guardians. If young adults have lived with their families their whole lives, they become stuck feeling too old to live at home, yet not prepared to move out alone.

Students seem to feel as though they are not valuable individuals, unimportant to the functioning of life around them. Some compare their success (or lack thereof) to that of others, which is destructive in itself.

In light of National Suicide Prevention Week (September 7-13), we must recognize that feeling worthless can lead to stronger cases of anxiety, depression, and other mental illness that can lead to a suicide attempt if left unaddressed. It is time for us to pay attention to the thousands upon thousands of students who believe they do not add any value to the lives around them.

Given that three-quarters of all chronic mental illness begins by age 24, we mustn’t ignore students feeling worthless. We cannot simply tell them to “try harder,” or reinforce comparisons between students that manage very different responsibilities and hardships.

If you feel worthless, insufficient, or useless, know that you are an integral part of the universe and your presence has immense meaning.

“If you’re scrolling through Tumblr trying to distract yourself from something you don’t want to think about or you’re looking for a sign that everything will be okay, this is it. So, breathe. Relax into this moment. You’re alive and that’s all that matters.”

Image Via Pixabay.com

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format