Emotional suspension: how generation Z navigates intimacy in a polycrisis era

How do Generation Z youth approach emotional and romantic intimacy in a context marked by digital mediation, emotional insecurity, and intergenerational instability? This article develops the concept of emotional suspension to capture how young people withhold, delay, or strategically manage intimacy rather than outright reject it. In offline contexts, adolescents describe anxiety, fear of judgment, and hesitation in face-to-face encounters, postponing intimacy until conditions feel emotionally safe. In digital environments, intimacy is suspended through selective disclosure on spam accounts, aestheticized expressions of sadness and anxiety on TikTok, and careful management of visibility. Drawing on a five-year qualitative study in Southern Italy (2020-2025), this study contributes to current debates on youth, intimacy, and digital life by showing that Generation Z's romantic caution is not apathy or detachment, but a protective stance shaped by fragile intergenerational transmissions of intimacy and the hyper-reflexive emotional labor demanded by digital life. It is a form of emotional intelligence adapted to contemporary risks. This research suggests a shift from the ‘crisis of intimacy' to a new ‘culture of emotional suspension,’ in which the capacity to love is put on hold, managed carefully in a world perceived as unpredictable and emotionally unsafe.