Is Gen Z’s Humor Actually Funny or Just a Coping Mechanism?

A lot has happened within the last couple of years turning our entire world upside-down. From a global pandemic to a string of local attempted kidnappings, it’s an understatement to say that our generation has been faced with challenging times. So, how exactly has this growing generation begun coping with the extremities they have experienced over these past few years? 

The answer can be found across a multitude of social media platforms. Satire on TikTok and ‘fairy comments’ on presidential instagram posts show that despite the criticism from older generations, Generation Z uses humor as a means to cope with these extenuating circumstances. 

We know that when Gen Z is faced with a difficult situation, the generation as a whole turns to comedy as an escape, but is this kind of approach actually a coping mechanism or is it something that excuses the severity of the circumstances that they are dealing with? Scientific studies have actually found that finding comicalness in stressful situations is not only a coping mechanism, but a healthy one at that. 

A 2021 NIH study concluded that humor was in fact a method of reducing stress and does so in three ways.

POSITIVE REFRAMING

One way that humor lowers levels of stress is through positive reframing, as it “makes light of a stressor or stressful situation”. For example, take Gen Z’s response to the possibility of a World War III. Instead of ruminating on the situation at hand, many turned to the social media app, TikTok, to post comedic hypothetical ways they would escape the draft.

Gen Z turned the horrific idea of fighting a war into a fight of who could be the most creative in their evasiveness. Reframing allowed for a different connotation to be taken with the situation, which led to a reduction in stress levels in the overall focus group for the experiment and Gen Z alike. 

CHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE BRAIN

Positive reframing is one great way to cope with a difficult situation, however, it is not always a guaranteed result. Unlike positive reframing, “humor elicits laughter, which releases endorphins and relieves stress”. Endorphins are a “feel good” hormone that can be considered a “natural painkiller”, crucial for lowering stress and pain levels.

CREATing supportive RELATIONSHIPS

Humor doesn’t just affect us as individuals, it also affects the community we are a part of; it helps to “[establish] good relationships” by creating a community that promotes emotion management and a closer connection with those around us. 

To propose an answer the title of this article, Gen Z humor is both. We, as a generation, have found that comicalness not only makes us chemically happier, but also creates relationships that can grow to become the support systems we need during these trying times. In short, this younger generation is taking what they’ve learned from older generations, and expanding it in their own way. We have each had to find our own way to cope during these difficult times, and making any difficult situation more lighthearted is just one of the ways Gen Z does it best. 

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• scientific study