{"id":44967,"date":"2026-02-09T02:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T02:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/technologies\/techs-silent-epidemic-why-we-are-rebooting-2018s-landmark-mental-health-research\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T02:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T02:41:33","slug":"techs-silent-epidemic-why-we-are-rebooting-2018s-landmark-mental-health-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/technologies\/techs-silent-epidemic-why-we-are-rebooting-2018s-landmark-mental-health-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech\u2019s Silent Epidemic: Why We Are Rebooting 2018\u2019s Landmark Mental Health Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dataconomy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rebooting-landmark-mental-health-research-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Tech\u2019s Silent Epidemic: Why We Are Rebooting 2018\u2019s Landmark Mental Health Research\" title=\"Tech\u2019s Silent Epidemic: Why We Are Rebooting 2018\u2019s Landmark Mental Health Research\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Mental health in the tech industry has long been a hidden yet critical issue.<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, I lost 11 friends in this industry to suicide. One person, every single month, except December. After the repeated shocks had passed, I realized this can\u2019t be right. Sure, I statistically know more founders after decades in this space than I do construction workers or nurses, but it needed investigation and a better understanding of what\u2019s causing this.<\/p>\n<p>I dove into the data and found a reality that most in tech were too afraid to voice. Founders are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts and ten times as likely to have bipolar disorder compared to the average person. When I stood on stages across the globe from 2019 until the pandemic, giving my \u201cMental Health in the Tech Industry\u201d keynote, I had start each speech by telling people they should leave the room if they weren\u2019t comfortable with, or ready for the truth. <\/p>\n<p>Since then, the facade of the \u201cperfectly edited life\u201d on social media has only become more corrosive. We are still drowning in hustle porn, the toxic belief that 17-hour days are a badge of honor rather than a chemical assault on your body. Adrenaline and cortisol overproduction doesn\u2019t just burn you out; it erodes your immune system and leaves you susceptible to physical illness and mental collapse.<\/p>\n<p>Working with FlowDealer Labs, we\u2019re rebooting my original landmark mental health research to understand not only how you\u2019re doing but also what we can do to materially improve it.<\/p>\n<h3>The Crisis by the Numbers<\/h3>\n<p>The latest data shows we haven\u2019t solved the problem; we\u2019ve just gotten better at hiding it. Consider these recent findings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Widespread Exhaustion: According to 2025 reports, 42.1% of tech employees are at high risk of burnout, a rate significantly higher than other industries (Ifeel, 2025).<\/li>\n<li>Founder Fragility: Recent studies indicate that 72% of startup founders experience mental health challenges, yet a staggering only 7% of startups have formal mental health policies in place (A2DVentures, 2025).<\/li>\n<li>The Silence Gap: While 77% of founders reported a deterioration in personal wellbeing, 88% rarely or never turn to their investors for support (Founder Wellbeing Report, 2024).<\/li>\n<li>Global Impact: Depression and anxiety are estimated to cost the global economy $1 trillion in lost productivity annually (High5Test, 2025).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Reclaiming Our Humanity<\/h3>\n<p>Nature, meditation, and exercise aren\u2019t \u201cfluff\u201d or optional extras. They are the baseline requirements for a functioning human mind. Reconnecting with nature or finding laser focus through meditation allows us to work smarter, not harder. We need to stop rewarding the \u201calways-on\u201d approach and start rewarding the resilience that comes from play and presence.<\/p>\n<p>The industry has changed since 2019, but the pressures have only evolved. Restructuring, mass layoffs, and the looming uncertainty of AI have created a structural expectation of anxiety. This is why I\u2019m partnering with FlowDealer Labs to reboot this research. We need to see where we stand today to build the systemic support systems that actually save lives.<\/p>\n<p>We need data to move past the \u201ceverything is rainbows and unicorns\u201d facade. Help us understand the current state of mental health in our world. Please take a few minutes to complete our new survey. Your input is the foundation for the next chapter of this study and our collective wellbeing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take the survey, and let\u2019s beat this together.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mental health in the tech industry has long been a hidden yet critical issue. In 2018, I lost 11 friends in this industry to suicide. One person, every single month, except December. After the repeated shocks had passed, I realized this can\u2019t be right. Sure, I statistically know more founders after decades in this space [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technologies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}