International Youth Day is important to those of every age.

The name alone triggers feelings of hope and optimism in me as I look at the newer generations and see a stirring wave of possibility. It is a tangible, almost physical feature of youth. Many of humanity’s best instincts surface in our desire to nurture and protect the young for the future.

At the same time, I am also concerned and saddened by some of the reports that are coming out regarding the well-being of today’s youth. Statistics show high rates of youth mental health concerns and their lack of optimism and hope for the future.

We as a society should be alarmed. The natural state of youth is confidence and optimism. Youth are hard-wired to have a sense of invincibility and unquestioned confidence in their beliefs.

And these alarm bells are ringing harder and louder over time.

Fortunately, I am also starting to hear some compelling explanations for this trend and some promising ideas to reverse it.

The impacts of our digital society our undoubtedly playing a role. The correlation with the timing of the deterioration and the rise in screen use is clear and the evidence is rolling in linking higher screen time and poorer mental health. Even more directly, youth are clearly seeing and stating this connection themselves.

The other likely culprit has been a change in parenting styles that have been highly focussed on protecting children from potential harms. While this continues to feel like an unquestionably correct thing to do, it is becoming increasingly clear that protecting kids from the dangers out there have moved different risks inside. As the opportunities to independently navigate the world and social situations have become far more limited, the development of crucial skills and confidence has taken a direct hit. We are now finding that the lost opportunities to develop these skills is posing a very real risk to the well-being of those children that we have been so desperate to protect.

So what does this tell us about how to support and celebrate youth?

I know that one of the things that I liked best when I have worked with youth is their often remarkable resilience. It often seemed that the true nature of youth included an innate ability to reinvent one’s self, perhaps because the concept of self is still under development.

This means that despite these significant challenges there is still a great opportunity to hope for a positive response to these changes. It is still possible to acquire those skills, to engage more fully in life in a way that maximizes one’s well-being.

In a month which celebrates International Youth Day, we are all called upon to support our youth.

We can strive to shift our way of relating to the world as fundamentally a scary place and seek to create a society that fosters meaningful ways of connecting that will keep all of us safer and healthier.