As tensions heat up in Iran and Israel, Gen Z is doing what they do best: coping with the situation with dark humor. (It’s the IRL “everything is fine” meme with the dog sipping coffee as the room burns in flames around him.) This has sparked a new TikTok trend dubbed the “my first war” trend, where young people are sharing videos of how they are coping with the escalating situation between the two countries in the Middle East.

What Is Happening Right Now?

For those who haven’t been anxiously following the news, President Donald Trump took military action against Iran over the weekend, striking three sites that are believed to be part of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran responded by firing missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar. Trump announced a ceasefire, which was reportedly violated just hours later when Israel accused Iran of launching more missiles and vowed to retaliate.

Trump said Tuesday that he was frustrated with both countries, telling reporters this morning Iran and Israel “have been fighting for so long that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing,” per CBS News.

How Gen Z Is Coping

People are understandably worried about this situation, due to Trump’s history of rash and harmful policies. They have taken to social media to write panic posts, joke about a military draft, and share doomsday memes, per New York Post. One video, with 11.4 million views, shows a fleet of helicopters flying overhead with the caption “Wdym WW3 has started.”

In the comments, people share funny quips like, “Is this gonna affect my SHEIN order” and “I wanted a summer glow up, not a summer blow up,” according to the outlet.

Another popular response to the conflict in the Middle East is a rise of “Monitoring the Situation” memes, which took off this month with people joking that they are staying on the lookout for world news due to fears of missile strikes or the country heading into another war, per Know Your Meme.

Other people are sharing videos of a potential draft, like one person posing to Nicki Minaj’s “Starships,” and writing, “Me when I get drafted for ww3 and they let us bring AirPods and this song comes on and I lock tf in.” Someone commented, “Everyone who’s being unserious is making me feel better ngl😭😭😭.”

Another person made a “get ready with me for my first ever world war” joke, showing off the Army uniform that they would wear if they got drafted.

Mental Health Challenges

These issues are serious, but Gen Z is coping in the best way they can, through humor and coming together as a community. It’s like what they did during the global pandemic or when Trump was elected president for the second time. But this humor could just be a way this generation is masking an undercurrent of anxiety and depression. After all, one 2022 study found that Gen Z is about twice as likely as Americans over 25 to battle depression and three times more likely to say their challenges are so severe they might be better off dead.

A May 2025 study by Harvard and Baylor University found that Gen Z is changing how researchers used to think of happiness. Instead of a “U-shaped” graph, where people are happy in their youth, feel dips in middle age, and are happy again as they get older, Gen Z is more of a “J,” with their early years being just as unhappy as middle age. Lead author of the study and director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, said in a statement, “It is a pretty stark picture.” He asks, “Are we significantly investing in the well-being of youth?”

Growing up in the uncertainty of modern times can’t be easy, and we completely understand why Gen Z finds a way to help them cope during these (seemingly never ending) stressful times.  

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