Dear Evan Hansen: Being Found on the Internet
By Amanda Wang
I once thought the message in Dear Evan Hansen was reserved for high school choir performances or for private enjoyment with headphones on a bus or plane. However, a recent revisit to the story reminded me that it encourages quite the opposite.
Ahead of the movie’s buzzing premiere at this Fall’s Toronto International Film Festival, I purchased the novel version of Dear Evan Hansen as someone who has never seen the musical on Broadway. Partially to get through a long uneventful plane ride, but also to see if it matched the high anticipation for the movie’s approaching release. Though I expected the novel to be a reflection of the lyrics that many had become familiar with, it was a moving reminder that mental health issues in youth are not reserved for any specific gender nor clique.
In particular, Dear Evan Hansen led me to wonder about the effects of social media on mental health: What is the reality of dealing with mental illness in a world of social media and its distractions?
The truth is, apps like Instagram and Tiktok can feel like an overcrowded subway station where voices of praise, claims to success and critique are simultaneously, undeniably distracting. As Evan Hansen described, it is like being ‘surrounded by voices, hundreds of them’ and they form a wall that cannot be broken through. This is unsurprising since statistics claim people spend up to 145 minutes per day on social media. Undeniably, spending that much time in a space of constant comments, trends, and influencers almost signifies that youth are growing up in two different worlds: one being online and largely uncontrollable, and one in physical space.
The most significant issue to me is the false representation and co-comparison that arises with the expectation of perfection from influencers. As a university student, it is easy to say that there is a filter for every blemish and app for anything that could possibly be enhanced. It is easy to be swept into the idea that everyone is doing well, that everything is perfect. However, that distracts from the truth that many, like Evan Hansen, feel alone. *Spoiler alert* Even as Evan Hansen fabricated a false reality by forging emails, those emails distracted him from the truth: that he was alone and his ‘relationship’ with the late Connor Murphy was a lie. Even thinking back to my high school experience, it was easy to peer into social media’s oversaturated world and get lost in its madness. This, rather than focusing on real world ambitions.
Therefore, I feel that many can relate to the raw and relatable first-person narration of Evan Hansen as he depicts the inner turmoils of feeling invisible. In reality, you cannot close the app when the anxiety of navigating the first day of school sets in. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, one in five people will personally experience a mental health problem or illness. Irrespective of gender, this is an issue that affects everyone, and as Dear Evan Hansen urges, everyone matters.
Yet, being online doesn’t always mean being alone. Mental health awareness campaigns, voices from organizations like Next Gen Men, and other helpful sources shed light on the positive aspects of being connected online. Educating each other through infographics and forming online communities that support one another reminds me that social media is not an all bad environment, much like real life. After all, even Evan Hansen acknowledges that the phone is a way to learn about the world.
Maybe connecting offline with others more often in this digital age provides a genuine connection that can be as rewarding as online expression and connection. Maybe, rather than only waving from a phone screen, it is also important to wave at those around us.
From the Future of Masculinity weekly newsletter, where our community’s hearts and minds come together each week to do the work, tell the stories, and build the blueprint for a future where men and boys experience less pain and cause less harm.