NE NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, FEB 6
A new survey finds that members of Gen Z may be most vulnerable to anxiety and depression during this festive season. The survey has been conducted by Tata Salt Lite, and is titled quite aptly, ‘Age of Rage’. This survey highlights how sometimes we react to even the most trivial and life’s small irritations.
Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z respondents (74%) would succumb to ‘Tech Rage’ compared to 63% of those over older Indians. According to the ‘Age of Rage’ survey by Tata Salt Lite, the top factors for the overwhelming sentiment of stress and tension engulfing Gen Z are ‘Tech Rage’ and ‘Work Rage’, while those over 45 years are most likely to succumb to ‘Traffic Rage’.
The survey reveals that while Gen Z respondents would lose their cool over minor technology disruptions; those over 45 years appear to take such incidents in their stride. Further, one-in-six of the Gen Z respondents (16%) claim that issues related to technology are the most likely cause of their stress and tension (compared to 12% of those over 45 years) and 14% claim that they are most ‘often’ the victim of ‘Tech Rage’ (compared to only 11% of those over 45 years). In contrast, nearly a quarter of India’s older generation (24%) lose their temper most ‘often’ due to domestic issues such as squabbles with their family and friends compared to only 15% of Gen Z respondents.
According to the survey, another cause for Gen Z anxiety is ‘Work Rage’ where employees childishly react to unexpected work. For example, more than two-thirds of Gen Z respondents (67%) claimed that urgent work from their manager on holiday would make them angry enough to argue and make some intentional errors compared to only 58% of respondents over the age of 45. 62% of Gen Z respondents even admitted they would get angry if they were assigned work at the last minute on a Friday night, compared to 51% of those over 45 years.
Although millennials (those between 26-35 years) to are more inclined to work stress and tech stress, their reactions appear to be more controlled than those of Gen Z. 63% of millennials would react to someone unplugging their phones and more than two-thirds of millennials (68%) would lose their temper if the Wi-Fi malfunctions. For work, more than half of millennials (54%) claim they would become aggressive or angry if asked to stay late and even more (63%) would get into arguments if asked to work on their holiday.
The findings also revealed some differences between men and women and their reactions when faced with stressful situations. For instance, although issues related to work, are the top cause of anger for one-in-five women respondents (20%), it is men who turn red with rage at the sight of unexpected work. 64% of men would lose their temper if their boss assigned them work on a holiday compared to 58% of women and 57% of men would lose their temper if their boss requested them to stay back at work on a Friday compared to 52% women.
Dr. Rajesh Padhi, Specialist, Critical and Internal medicine, CARE Hospitals, explained, “The younger Indian generation is living a high-intensity life where stress has become a universal phenomenon. Time and time again, we see them feeling overwhelmed because of the pressures that they face as part of modern life. There is immense competition in every area of life especially in academia and at work. Further, technological advancements and social media are turning them from impatience to hyper-impatience. It is imperative to maintain a balance by eating healthy and adequately as a deficiency or overeating both trigger body and mental stress. One of the ways to control hypertension is to use low sodium salt. The low sodium salt is refined, iodised and potassium enriched and has lower sodium than regular salt.”
Sagar Boke, Head, Marketing, Consumer Product Business, Tata Chemicals Ltd. explained, “The ubiquity of social media and work-life balance pressures has caught our youngest citizens off-guard, causing them to over-react even in innocuous situations. While this survey is the right way to highlight how sometimes we react to even the most trivial and life’s small irritations, our campaign has a serious objective. The youngest in our nation has to be gently integrated into the society and workforce so that they can adequately acclimate themselves to life’s pressures without it impacting their health. As a brand Tata Salt Lite contains 15% less sodium and hence drives conscious and adequate- not too little neither too much, consumption of salt for all our consumers so that they can best manage their temperament when juxtaposed with situations that trigger stress.”
Boke further added, “According to research by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, each 1-point increase in anger was associated with a 12% increase in the risk of hypertension.”
