iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy - and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood - And What That Means to Us (2017) by Dr. Jean Twenge.
I got fascinated by Dr. Twenge's thesis in
The Narcissism Epidemic (my post
here) so I decided to go ahead and read her book on the generation that is now entering adulthood. She calls it iGen just to indicate the differences with Millennials, and to avoid some confusion (and possibly for some marketing). I really liked this book, and I think that everyone that has to deal with the workplace (heck, or even society) should read it.
Despite the title, and some sensationalist reviews, this book is not really alarmist. Dr. Twenge analyzes a variety of sources - including decade long surveys - to come up to the conclusion that iGen will be substantially different than anything we've seen so far, including Millennials. She doesn't really say that it's bad, and she doesn't really say that it's good. She points some obvious problems (less social interaction, risk of mental health), she points to some important pros (more tolerance, better work ethic etc.), and she argues about the reasons (more protective parents, less need to grow up faster, smartphones etc.).
As for social media, Twenge's point of view is quite brutal, and as a parent and even as an individual I must agree with her on the serious damages that social media and permanent entertainment is doing to society as a whole, but most especially to iGen. It is very difficult to understand the various generations, and it's always easy to end up in gross generalizations, but this book makes a compelling case that
some things will need to change before we end up with a generation in total mental health meltdown.
(
@ThisBougieLife I know you're interested about this book)
iscovery, that would tie in with season 2 of it. Section 31 was a major player in the season.
