Fair analysis. As a member of gen z myself (on the older side, born in the 90s) I can understand how having your hopes dashed like that can be tough.

If we're talking about the mental toll then I think you're probably right. Never having hope in the first place hurts slightly less. That being said if we're talking about actual material wellbeing, it's pretty clear gen z (so far) have it worse.

I'm saying this as someone who is a slightly older gen z, I feel absolutely blessed to be on the older side as the younger kids are so incredibly fucked it's hard to even explain. I believed that studying hard would get me places, and it kinda did. If I was even 2 years older it would have got me far further. The shift since covid is hard to overstate. If things carry on in this direction I just don't see a future for most of my generation.