I see this in a similar light to the opioid crisis. While it won’t directly kill you like opioid addiction or overdose, economically strip mining Gen Z and Gen Alpha for gains using meme stocks, crypto, sports betting, prediction markets, and similar systems is going to leave us in a bad spot after these enterprises have left with their gains.

Indicators to track will be suicide, bankruptcies, domestic violence, military washout rate, etc.

Related:

The housing crisis is pushing Gen Z into crypto and economic nihilism - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46079617 - November 2025

”Giving Up": The Impact of Decreasing Housing Affordability on Consumption, Work Effort, and Investment - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5770722 - November 19, 2025