Youth is a period during which the desire for freedom and the taking of risks take precedence. Health is not a priori a priority for young French people, if we are to believe the
poll results. However, the severe disruptions caused by the Covid-19 crisis in their studies, their career choices and their work resulted in a deterioration in their mental well-being.
The level of psychological stress is felt most strongly in young adults, aged 18 to 25 years. Ipsos study reveals that three quarters of them felt sadness or anxiety and half felt isolated in the context of the pandemic.
Gender plays an important role in the manifestation of psychological disorders in young adults, since women suffer more than men of social isolation, causing a drop in their school results.
New Practices
With the Covid-19 health crisis, young people have been confronted with a virus which, at the beginning, did not seem to reach them, but which, today, affects them directly, through the social and economic disorganizations caused by the measures sanitary facilities. Now, for 92% of young people, it is important to talk about mental health and 80% of them say it will even be the most decisive element in 2030.
Can meditation become a tool for personal development and anxiety management? © Elijah Hiett / Unsplash
The question which arises today, and which constitutes the stake of the research of tomorrow, is to know how to face the psychological disorders generated by the health crisis, and their impact on the long term. What then of meditation, a tool for personal development and anxiety management that is now highly publicized through online applications?
Young people who in the past were embarrassed to reveal that they were meditating now say so without fear. 47% of 18-34 year olds have already practiced meditation to escape the anxiety-provoking climate caused by the health crisis, against 32% of over 55s.
Research started in 2020 with Carole daniel, professor at Skema Business School, on a
sample of young professionals (average age 35), reveals the benefits of the practice of mindfulness meditation, more particularly of the program created by
John Zabat Zinn ”
Mindfulness Stress Reduction Or MBSR.
This program includes 8 weekly sessions of two and a half hours, to which is added a day in silence. In addition, participants are invited to practice daily at home (6 days a week, between 20 and 45 minutes, with the help of audio files).
The current study reveals interesting differences between the two groups of practitioners (306 people having followed a MBSR) and that of non-practitioners (196 people who did not follow the MBSR program).
Young people who in the past were embarrassed to reveal that they were meditating now say so without fear © Mathilde Langevin / Unsplash
The results show the interest of following an MBSR program to fight addictions, since young practitioners obtain lower addiction scores than those who do not practice (average score of 2.51 out of 5 for practitioners against 3.50 out of 5). 5 for non-practitioners concerning the smartphone addiction scale; and average score of 2.68 out of 5 against 3.12 out of 5 for the work addiction scale).
Digital tools
Gone are the days of looking for a meditation center to follow a long-term meditation program. Meditation via your smartphone has been integrated into the practices of the new generation, a sign of a need to refocus without disconnecting.
The number of new people registered for the daily sessions followed on the star meditation application, Small Bamboo, tripled from 5,000 to 15,000 new users per day. Other meditation practices, integrated into the app
Headspace Mini, Snapchat’s secure space, were designed to support the mental health and well-being of young Snapchatters.
Meditating with your smartphone is now possible © Michael Burrows / Pexels
For example, “Choose Kindness” is a mini-meditation focused on practicing kindness that can change the way we show ourselves in the world and how we treat others. Or, “Take on the School Year” is a mini-meditation focusing on feelings of worry, anxiety and isolation that young people may have experienced at school. Note that in the first month of operation, over 5 million Snapchat participants used Headspace Mini, indicating that mental health tools and resources are well received by this young audience.
In search of meaning, in their daily life as in their way of working, young people favor personal construction and the search for a better balance between professional and private life. Their interest in meditation shows that it is not an epiphenomenon in response to the health crisis, but above all a way of living on a daily basis and the art of cultivating body-mind unity.
Meditation marks a fundamental trend which is bringing about a revolution within society itself. This refocusing on oneself is an effect of secularization which corresponds to a new age and to an esoteric vision of the world, as specified the professor in the history of philosophy
Wouter Hanegraaf.
This analysis was written by Élodie Gentina, professor-researcher in marketing at the Institute of Scientific Economics and Management (IÉSEG School of Management).
The original article was published on the website of The Conversation.
