Matt Bernstein is a junior at New York University. Like many students, he spends most of his time going to class, working on assignments, and hanging out at coffee shops around the city. But outside of schoolwork, the 21-year-old is also a vocal activist with nearly 160,000 followers on Instagram.

Bernstein’s Instagram combines three things he feels passionate about: makeup, photography, and advocacy. He uses makeup to explore social and political issues that are close to him, like access to mental health services and systemic violence against the LGBTQ+ community, as well as issues like climate change and gun violence. His brightly colored posts are often accompanied by heartfelt captions and screenshots from news articles.

“I think there’s a social responsibility for people with platforms to use them for good,” he told Teen Vogue, adding that he hopes his account can help draw attention to the societal transformations he wants to see. “We’re at a tipping point for so many things, sexuality being one of them, where the system we have in place is failing so many people.”

Bernstein offers a glimpse into the life of a Gen-Zer: always online, ravenously political, and relentless in the pursuit of social change. But it turns out this combination is taking a toll on young people that researchers are only beginning to recognize and understand.

The unique social and political challenges faced by Gen Z are abundant. They’re confronting a wave of white-nationalist-fueled violence and a surge in far-right populism worldwide. They're trying to make up for decades of inaction by older generations on gun regulation and climate change — issues that directly threaten their safety and their future. And of course, Gen-Zers are digital natives: Their generation has always had access to the internet and uses social media more than others, including using it to access the news. So those who are politically involved are operating in an inescapable digital environment that follows them from home to school, from dawn till dusk.

Constant political engagement comes with a price. Bernstein explains that since Trump’s election — the first he was old enough to vote in — he’s felt a mix of distrust and disappointment toward those in positions of power.

“There’s a lot of disillusionment there,” he said, sighing. “A lot of feeling like what’s been done so far isn’t enough.”

A recent study published in PLOS ONE found that nearly 40% of respondents felt stressed as a result of politics. Roughly 20% said they’re even impacted physically — respondents reported losing sleep, feeling fatigued, and experiencing symptoms of depression linked to politics. Younger, left-leaning respondents were more likely to report feeling negatively impacted by politics.

A 2017 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association found that millennials (the youngest group surveyed) were also more likely to experience the negative effects of politics than older generations.

Kevin Smith, one of the PLOS ONE study’s authors, said the impact of these stressors shouldn’t be taken lightly. “If the numbers of our study are even halfway in the ballpark of how people are actually perceiving politics, then tens and tens of millions of Americans feel that politics are exacting a significant toll on their social, emotional, psychological, and even physical health,” he said. “And our data certainly seems to indicate that age is a factor.”

Smith hypothesizes that some of the politically induced stress experienced by young people stems from uncertainty. “For a lot of people, early adulthood is a kind of uncertain time. You really haven’t got an established career and you may still be in school. Perhaps that heightens anxiety,” he suggested. He also theorizes that lived experience might play a role: While older generations have already weathered political crises, such as economic recessions and traumatic geopolitical events (think 9/11), young people don’t have a sense of political resilience yet.