I’m organizing an intervention for Generation Z. Since they prefer anonymity and online communication, I’m planning an online event this Thursday.
Event Highlights:
Fun and loving icebreakers to build trust and support.
The “Oh Card” game: Explore what holds you back and discover any inhibitions preventing you from letting loose.
Exploring art therapy, dynamic meditation, and immersive expression in the dark.
This kind of support and emotional connection is crucial for alleviating anxiety and confusion. I hope my event can provide valuable support and tools to help Generation Z better deal with stress and emotional challenges.
I understand their usual sources of stress, and learn how to relieve it. In real life, some of them deal with stress by consuming a lot of sweets, smoking excessively, tearing up paper, while on the internet, they go wild on their hidden social platforms. They post crazy and aggressive messages. After understanding their motivations for this wild behavior, they feel that the internet provides a platform for them to meet people in similar situations and go crazy together. Seeing others going through the same wild moments as themselves makes them feel a bit better inside.”
Following that, I organized an online meditation event and played meditation videos for them. However, after meditating, they felt that it didn’t really bring them a sense of inner calm because they couldn’t patiently finish it. They provided some other feedback, they want to engage in outdoor group activities where they could let go crazy together.
They came up with some ideas to make their “go crazy” more tangible and not just something done online:
1.Recording their wild moments and compiling them into audio clips.
2.Participants wearing white clothes and painting on each other’s outfits, as well as throwing colored powder at one another.
3.Crawling together on a grassy field. In the past, there was a trend among Chinese university students to crawl on the campus field, which was also a form of letting loose. They used to keep pets in their dorms, not real ones but paper pets, and “walked” them on the campus field as if they were walking dogs.
The internet has isolated people from genuine face-to-face communication, and they’ve come to realize that going wild online doesn’t actually relieve their anxieties and stress. The anonymity of the internet amplifies their emotions, making them appear as if they are acting crazy. Additionally, they are influenced by the spread of information, which causes them to be influenced by others’ wild behavior and, in turn, become more chaotic themselves.
The second intervention
In our daily lives, stress and anxiety can sometimes make it challenging to release our negative emotions. Instead of resorting to hysterical, there are other things we can do.
I organize a “floating words floating mind” therapeutic art workshop, where I guide visitors into the world of poetry. Through creative expression, visitors get to connect with their inner world and the emotions of the poets. Whether it’s randomly applying words, tearing apart poems, or brainstorming connections, people experience a moment of liberation from deep within.
Not only can they discover their potential in the realm of artistic creation, but they can also engage in meaningful exchanges with others and gain inspiration through the mutual stimulation of sensitivity and creativity. It’s a unique and meaningful journey of healing through art.
I print poems on blank sheets of paper in advance, and then I give them to the participants. Participants can choose the poems they like and then I organize everyone to engage in a second reimagining of the poems. They can edit or add to the words in the poems, creating different meanings. After that, we disassemble and reassemble the poems, tearing the paper and collaging it. I provide colored tape for participants to engage in a second round of creativity. The intention is to make people feel a sense of liberation from deep within through these fluid and uncertain words.
—23 Oct. 2023