Gen Z’s flight phobia is sky-high.
Recent research has uncovered that nearly half of all Zoomers are afraid to fly within the wake of issues of safety plaguing Boeing’s 737 aircraft.
JW Surety Bonds surveyed 1,000 Americans about air travel including 230 members of Gen Z, a staggering 49% of whom at the moment are terrified to board a plane.
“Flying fears look like especially heightened amongst Gen Z,” Merritt Ryan from JW Surety Bonds told The Post, noting that these children feel more flight fright than members of another generation.
Recent York City therapist Lesley Koeppel says the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened anxieties amongst Zoomers as they lost the flexibility to trust each family members and societal institutions at a vital time of their development.
“People trust their parents growing up, but they [Gen Z] reached an age where Covid happened, and there have been all kinds of inconsistencies that made these kids wonder: ‘Are these societal institutions to be trusted?’” Koeppel declared.
She said parents — lots of whom were themselves anxious throughout the pandemic — were passing along their very own anxieties. At the identical time, outside sources were conveying conflicting messages on a day-to-day basis as information evolved.
“[Gen Z were told] Wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, get vaxxed, don’t get vaxxed, don’t touch a package that involves the home, now you may touch the package,” Koeppel explained. “There was a lot misinformation and inconsistency.”
“I actually think that put that generation on shaky ground, once they were purported to find a way to be branching away from their parents and learning to trust these sources that might not be trusted. While you don’t trust, you develop anxiety and might go backward,” she added.
In consequence, Koeppel says, many Zoomers struggle with severe trust issues and will be unwilling to position faith in anything Boeing, the airlines, and even the Federal Aviation Authority tell them.
The Boeing 737 MAX 9 is currently under federal investigation after a cabin panel blew off an Alaska Airlines flight mid-air in January, forcing an emergency landing.
Moreover, lockdown orders gave many members of Gen Z an excuse to retreat into the comfort and safety of their homes because the innumerable dangers lurked outside — and now they’re scared to face their fears.
“If you’ve got anxiety, one among the ways to treat it’s exposure therapy, so it doesn’t get a probability to come up with you,” Koeppel explained. “When the world was shut down and other people weren’t traveling that was not less than a 12 months of individuals not being exposed to what they may be afraid of.”
Nonetheless, it’s not only Gen Z who’re concerned about taking to the skies amidst the FAA’s ongoing investigation of Boeing.
JW Surety Bonds survey also found that 40% of Baby Boomers and 39% of Millennials were also anxious about flying.
Gen X was the least bothered by Boeing’s problems, with 38% saying they’re now afraid to take to the skies.