I’ve tried contacting psychologists, both those who work at the school, those who work at the hospital and those who consult via the internet. Unfortunately most of them are very busy with work and I’ve only got an appointment for about two weeks from now at the moment. However I have sent messages to a number of internet counsellors via social media and two have replied to me.

Susu

Susu is a counsellor with 12,000 followers. She specialises in helping people with their relationships, and she usually helps make it easier for people to get in touch with psychological knowledge by posting videos on her Xiaohongshu account.

• Do you think Gen-Z get anxious about FOMO emotions when using social media?

Yes.

• What do you think are some of the reasons why using social media causes anxiety in Gen-Z?

There is too much information and Gen-Z don’t have the maturity to distinguish between good and bad. The speed of getting new content is so fast that when they return to the real world, they may not have the patience to think about it, which leads to a feeling of emptiness and meaninglessness.

• What kind of impact do you think this anxiety will have?

Public opinion will affect the way young people think, and their ability to delay gratification will decrease, making it difficult for them to adapt to the real world.

•  How do you think we can alleviate the anxiety caused by FOMO when Gen-Z use social media?

Parents or teachers can set aside a special time to communicate with students about what they are browsing, listen to their own opinions, and cultivate their ability to think independently and thoughtfully. Share the concept of FOMO and organise a debate at school.

• What do you think should be done to help Gen-Z use social media more healthily?

Increase interaction with them, set up fixed time to use electronic devices.

• FOMO is a foreign word created in the West, do you think it has a more specific impact on Chinese Gen-Z (compared to Western Gen-Z)?

I feel that many parents in China don’t have the time and energy to do outdoor activities with their children or to talk to them. In order to keep their children quiet they may give them electronic devices too early, causing them to become addicted to the internet.

• In the previous survey, most high school and college students said they preferred to seek psychological help on the Internet, do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of online counselling compared with offline counselling?

The pandemic has indeed given a big boost to online counselling. Picking a counsellor online breaks down geographical constraints, so patients can pick from a much wider range, and can then be better matched with a counsellor who suits them. Online counselling has a lot less venue costs, so patients can also spend less money on counselling. At the same time, online counselling also carries a lot more risks compared to face-to-face counselling, because counselling can sometimes cause us huge mood swings, and there are some patients who are at risk of potential depression and self-injury, and it is difficult for counsellors to give them good support in time if they conceal this information and have counselling online. Moreover, face-to-face counselling can collect more and more comprehensive information, such as body movements, facial expressions, overall temperament, etc. Online counselling will be missing a lot of intuitive feelings, which may affect the effectiveness of counselling. Therefore, there are many different opinions in the industry about the ethics of online counselling. There is no way to say whether it is good or bad.

• How to improve the construction of school counselling for students?

School counselling is very different from social counselling. The focus of school counselling is still to screen for problems and keep students safe. It is not primarily about healing. It’s more like a halfway house. For mild cases, the focus is on counselling with parents and teachers. Moderate to severe cases require crisis intervention, referral to hospitals for diagnosis and treatment, etc.

A better suggestion is that schools and education departments should really pay attention to psychological education and counselling. Give psychological teachers a lot of support and work space. In this way, teachers can better support the children.

Moli

Moli is a counsellor, psychotherapist, mental health education teacher and social worker. She has 10 years of experience in the workplace and now conducts weekly live streams on the Xiaohongshu platform to help answer people’s questions.

•  Do you think the trends generated by social media affect the reality of Gen-Z’s lives?

I think it will affect the need for Gen-Z to follow the crowd becomes very high. A large part of social networking is online nowadays, which means that online networking has become an integral part of Gen-Z’s daily network.

• Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing that Gen-Z are more willing to seek psychological help online? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of online counselling compared to offline counselling?

I think it is a good thing that they are willing to seek help online, because there is an imbalance in the regional development of resources such as counsellors, psychiatrists and psychotherapists in China, and there are more and better resources that can be accessed on the internet. At the present stage, the advantages of the Internet over offline are just like online shopping at the beginning, mixed but rich and diverse.

• How to improve the construction of school counselling for students?

For schools to develop, there needs to be a change in social orientation and values at the macro level. For example, evaluation criteria should be shifted from single to multiple, not purely based on academic performance. At the micro level, it is necessary to have policies in place, funding in place, talent in place, and the importance of leadership in place before it can be truly implemented.

Summaries

Through the above interviews, it can be concluded that the aspects that I need to help Gen-Z with are developing independent thinking and discernment skills, and increasing real-world interactions. I also hope that my intervention will try to optimise the school counselling system by combining teachers and counsellors to educate and guide Gen-Z about FOMO.