Jember University student Najya, 21, is one of the many Gen Zs who felt their mental health was more “fragile”, especially coming out of the pandemic.

“I got into college during the pandemic, and there was no separation between personal and professional lives, work and academic hours were melded, and toxic productivity became an issue because I would anxiously try to spend 100 percent of my time on work,” she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Najya falls within the age bracket of people born between 1997 and 2012, referred to as Generation Z, which was labeled as “stressed, depressed, and exam-obsessed” by British publication The Economist in 2019 and the term has adopted by several other media outlets in recent years.

Data from mobile survey platform Jakpat in 2022 also show that Gen Zs in Indonesia experience comparatively the most mental health problems, at over 59 percent out of 1,870 respondents.

Only 39.8 percent of Indonesian Millennials or Generation Y (born between 1981 and 1996) told the survey they were having mental health issues, while only 24 percent of Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) said they have mental health issues.

Bandung-based copywriter Nadya Khoyron, 24, agreed with the survey as she shared her problems with anxiety in her workplace.

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