It is said of gifted children and teenagers that, “Anything worth feeling is worth over feeling, and anything worth doing is worth over doing.” The pitfalls of this gifted way of being will be discussed in context to Generation Z (Gen Z), social media, technology, and pornography. It has been documented that males and females began expressing epidemic levels of depression, anxiety, and low motivation since the release of the iPhone in 2010.

This presentation examines how the change in technology has changed and challenged childhood and adolescent development. It will examine the ‘hows and whys’ of declines in mental health, social connections, sleep, and attention with an emphasis on gifted and gender differences. Various topics include the loss of the play-based childhood, fear-based parenting, the lack of interpersonal socialization, and negative effects regarding pornography ease of access. The presentation will finish with logical suggestions for how to help support our children and improve their mental health.