The Existential Crisis of Gen Z: What Would Sartre Say About Our Search for Meaning?

The overused term 'existential crisis’, which is used in the title of the blog here, must be nothing new to hear about. Being 23 or so, scrolling through your Instagram feed aimlessly at 2 a.m., surrounded by the blue glow of a thousand different lives makes you feel exactly what this terminology means. 

Influencers are living their #bestlife, peers flexing new jobs, side hustles, and yoga poses, and there you are — frozen. Endless doors to open that lead to another set of countless paths but not knowing which knob to twist in the first place. Ever wondered why that is?

Let’s look at it like this. We, the people who make up this so-called Gen Z, live our lives with a very obvious map that everyone else has referred to before us. All the points, indeed, are marked. 

Landmarks are carved out well, except for the dotted lines that show the path. Nothing joins anything in this map. We have points to reach but don’t have a single idea about how to. That, my friend, is the very crisis of our existence.

But what if an old French philosopher, a chain-smoking radical from another era, actually had something to say about all this? It’s Jean-Paul Sartre, with his brooding existential angst, who might help us decode this mess. 

His words are heavy, but they still hit home — bringing us back to the same question: What does it mean to truly exist in a world that's always watching?

“Hell is Other People”: Is Social Media The Gaze Sartre Talked About?

When Sartre (Jean-Paul Sartre) wrote in his play No Exit (Huis Clos) that “Hell is Other People”, he didn’t really suggest that people are inherently bad or that relationships are doomed. Instead, he was pointing to a deeper existential idea. He meant the way other people look at us or perceive us, indeed builds a trap for us. 

P.S: Moreover, by this, he meant something more as well, that I will disclose my future newsletter.

So, how many times have you put up a story and deleted it later ‘cause you didn’t want certain people to feel a certain way or say certain stuff. Do you ever realize an entire bulk of mankind has lived their lives without being bothered about something that constitutes a big concern of our lives now?

Likes, comments, tags, shares, and endless workings of a hyperconnected world, entrapped in confusing algorithms that ends up causing Gen Z dread (argh, yet another neologism to describe our agony).

Now see, an entire populace that hinges on the trade of snaps, mirror selfies, reels, and whatnot claims to have this very ironically peculiar infection called social angoisse (French word meaning anxiety) or as some may confess of being camera shy (for real?!).

Oh, how we are dreaded by the thought of our friends posting our ugliest pictures on our birthday! Do I look fat? Yes, I do. My smile looks weird, oh, and the gums? Even weirder. My feed looks disjointed. I must have an aesthetic feed (sorry for the real sense of this word), aesthetic enough for my friends whom I consider so! Or else I might be socially boycotted, belittled and might have to rot in exile.

This is Sartre’s “The Look.” It’s that shift from just being — feeling free and natural — to suddenly seeing yourself through the eyes of others. You move from living your life to performing it. It’s like the spotlight turns on, and you’re on stage, whether you wanted to be there or not. He says, the very thought of us being observed from other’s POV, reduces our being into a mere object.

Bad Faith and Burnout: Are We Sabotaging Ourselves by Settling for Less?

In existentialist philosophy, bad faith is a form of self-deception where individuals deny their inherent freedom and responsibility by conforming to societal expectations. Sartre argued that bad faith involves deceiving oneself into believing that one's actions are dictated by external forces rather than personal choice. 

In today’s context, this manifests as adhering to societal norms—be it career expectations, social status, or lifestyle choices—despite a deep inner discontent. When individuals pursue these external markers of success rather than what truly fulfills them, they experience a disconnect that fuels burnout.

Since when did this world have lifted its weight from the side of values and inclined its bulk on that of the side of norms? What are these norms anyway? This bad faith, broached by Sartre, refers to that condition where one individual decides to live in a certain way or bow down in front of certain norms while turning a blind eye to all the other possibilities. It's that flash of a consciousness where we do realize our existential freedom, even though we choose not to see it. 

In essence, Sartre’s concept of bad faith serves as a reminder of our existential freedom and the choices we have. By recognizing our tendency to slip into bad faith, we become more conscious of our freedom and better equipped to live authentically. 

There is no reality except in action.

― Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism

What Do We Offer As A Solution?

So, what’s the takeaway? Sartre reminds us that the real trap isn’t social media, it’s how we let it shape our identity. The pressure to conform, to perform, to live up to expectations is exhausting. But we have a choice — a freedom that we often forget exists.

In a world driven by likes and algorithms, Sartre nudges us to reclaim our agency. We don't have to live in bad faith, settling for less. The path to authenticity is messy and uncertain, but it’s also ours to create.

Stop looking through everyone else's eyes. Start living for yourself. Because at the end of the day, there’s no guidebook to life — only the choices we make.