Why is Gen Z dating less and spending more time alone? Emma Camp, senior newsletter editor at The Wall Street Journal's Free Expression, calls it social risk aversion: the fear of being rejected, judged, or seen as cringe. She is writing a book of essays on it, due from Ballantine in 2027.
Emma and Jim O'Shaughnessy cover why her rent control video took off, why the fix for the housing shortage is more housing, how therapy culture and helicopter parenting can turn normal growing pains into permanent labels, and why she invites everyone she's met to every party. Her advice for anyone afraid of rejection: "The fact that not everyone likes you is a good thing, because it means that you have enough of a personality that people can react against that."
KEY INSIGHTS
- Fear of rejection is the common thread. Emma traces Gen Z dating less, marrying less, and spending more time alone to one cause: social risk aversion.
- Not being liked by everyone is the point. A distinct personality will put some people off, and that is how the right friends find you.
- Friendship starts with asking. The hardest step is asking for a number or sending an invite, and most people are glad to be asked.
- Don't give a permanent name to a temporary problem. Many struggles at 17 fade with growing up, and Emma warns against treating them as lifelong conditions.
- Raise adults, not compliant kids. Independence comes from practice, and young adults who never had it are more likely to feel helpless.
- A housing shortage needs more housing. Emma argues rent control caps prices without adding supply, so the real fix is making it easier to build.
READ EMMA
WSJ Free Expression: https://wsjfreeexpression.substack.com
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Chelsea Follett, author of The Grim Old Days, on Infinite Loops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWl_J-DGeHc
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:18 Writing vs. Making Videos
2:56 Rent Control and the Generation Gap
4:33 Control vs. Freedom, Not Left vs. Right
7:21 Is New York Real America?
9:04 Are Gen Z Men Really Moving Right?
13:17 How to Make the Case for More Housing
17:20 The Fixed-Pie Mistake
18:48 Why She's Optimistic About Free Markets
20:35 Capitalism, Religion and Ideology
24:25 Reflexive Patriotism vs. Reflexive Anti-Americanism
26:45 Gen Z's Social Risk Aversion
31:22 Has She Ever Thrown a Party That Bombed?
35:51 You Have a Duty to Show Up
37:56 Mixing Personalities at Parties
39:50 Can Money Buy Community?
41:18 The Hardest Part of Making Friends
43:14 Why She Used to Fear Rejection
44:39 Not Everyone Has to Like You
45:29 Growing Up vs. a Diagnosis
48:05 Therapy Culture and Learned Helplessness
51:22 Leaving Home at 15
52:42 Raise Great Adults, Not Compliant Kids
54:51 Tracking Apps and Adult Children
57:39 Emma's Book on Gen Z and Risk Aversion
1:00:10 Inside the Book: AI Boyfriends and Therapy Culture
1:01:26 A Permanent Name for a Temporary Problem
1:02:33 Why Marriage Lets Her Take More Risks
1:09:17 The Dream Job and the Toga Party
1:11:01 Killing Your Darlings in Video vs. Writing
1:12:07 Why She Takes Her Editor's Notes
1:20:15 Ending Note
ABOUT THE GUEST
Emma Camp is a senior newsletter editor at Free Expression, The Wall Street Journal's opinion newsletter, where she writes daily commentary and makes short-form videos on American culture, politics, and economics. She joined the Journal in 2026 from Reason magazine. Her 2022 New York Times essay, "I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead," written while she was a student at the University of Virginia, is the piece she says launched her career.
ABOUT THE HOST
Jim O'Shaughnessy is the founder and CEO of O'Shaughnessy Ventures and the author of the New York Times bestseller What Works on Wall Street.
He founded O'Shaughnessy Asset Management and hosts Infinite Loops.
