Generation Me By Jean M Twenge

In the book, Generation Me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled and more miserable than ever before, author-researcher Jean Twenge explores the nature of the Generation Y, people who were born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The phenomenon that Twenge sought to explore in detail was how the Generation Y became the "Entitlement Generation" or, as she eventually coined the term, the "Generation Me." From the title itself, she described the Generation Me as a group of individuals who are "confident, assertive, entitled" but "miserable." Indeed, the book's thesis highlights how the youth of Generation Me are highly individualist and primarily centers on the "self." As in the words of Twenge, ""¦GenMe doesn't just question authority we disrespect it entirely" (28). This statement ultimately sums up the GenMe's attitude and viewpoint about respecting institutions, traditions, beliefs and values that held previous generations and societies together.

Coming of age is a recurring theme that is universally known throughout many different pieces of literature. Whether it’s influenced on true experiences, childhood memories, or even based on one’s current juvenile reality, many of theses works have a correlation between them that include many similar ordeals and struggles that the character goes through in order to metamorphosize into taking their first step out of childhood. One prominent theme that often appears is how one experiences and faces a time of tribulation and other walls that stand in one’s path. In effect, hardships mature and enlighten one, causing the loss of something such as childhood innocence. Lastly, these three combined points finally lead to one’s metamorphosis out of childhood. All in all, these three factors take one out of childhood, and slowly allows one step out into the reality of this world.

My childhood was mostly spent in Ohio around snow. But it all changed when I moved to California. Frank Conroy’s essay “My Generation”, Conroy explains on how and why his generation got the name “Silent Generation”. In this essay I will be explaining on how my life leads up to college and why the students of 2014 will be remembered by the social media users.

“Recent data estimate the overall prevalence of depression at about 11.1% of the American population, or nearly 35 million individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). A predictive models suggest that up to 50% of the population will experience at least one episode of depression during their lives” (Life Extension, 2014). Depression has negatively affected the lives of many individuals throughout the world. Look around you there may even be someone close to you that is demonstrating signs of its stifling affects. Depression does not discriminate with its suffocating

John Lubbock wrote, "Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it." This is a great opinion, but I also have an opinion of my own. I personally feel that experiences shape you into who you are. Every situation you go through impacts your life in many different ways. One small decision can change your life forever.

Arlie Russel Hochschild adheres to a variety of assertions in his article, “Gen Fill in the Blank” concerning what he thinks a generation means. It was proposed that generations are solely branded by the pivotal impact they undergo as a cohort during historical events; hence, sharing a common response to those events. Hochschild furthers this idea by introducing generational identity and how that’s defined by the conceptions that society invokes upon a generation. Furthermore, he includes that an important factor making up modern day’s generation is the external burden of American Individualism; this universal pressure has robbed us of our ability to care and resulted in a profound deficiency of “cultural expression”.

At every turn there are talks about millennials. Whether it be a meme on the internet mocking them or a serious article addressing possible issues that involve their futures. As David Brooks argues in his article, ‘It’s Not About You’, if millennials are going to be successful in life then they have to realize that not everything is about them. Brooks’ claim effectively appeals to the audience’s emotions, yet he fails to explain the logic in his argument and build his credibility. Pointing out the many problems that millennials may face as they start life on their own, Brooks elicits many emotions from his audience.

Jean M. Twenge was born in 1971, in United State of America and She lives in San Diego, California. Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., is a professor of Psychology and The majority of Twenge 's psychological research focuses on how culture shapes each generation 's personality, attitudes, and behavior. Jean M. Twenge, her first book Generation Me, concludes with ways this generation and their elders can understand each other and work to overcome generational obstacles.Twenge gives, awareness the Boomers those who looking for solution about their self-esteem.Twenge, describes the self-esteem and the generation gap between the boomers and the Millennials. Twenge said, "If Boomers were making their way in the uncharted world of the self, GenMe has printed step-by-step direction from Yahoo! Maps and most of the time we don 't even need them, since the culture of the self is our hometown" (490).Twenge says that the boomers struggle with their self to get the self- respect, self-focus and the self-esteem while the GenMe has high levels of self-esteem and is related to the narcissism category. Twenge said, "Generation Me is the first generation raised to believe that everyone should have high self-esteem" (494).

In his article Rich and Poor, Peter Singer argues that we have a moral obligation to give assistance to people in absolute poverty. He derived this conclusion from three premises. The first states that if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, then we ought to it. The second premise is that absolute poverty is a bad thing. The third premise is that we are able to alleviate some portion of absolute poverty without giving up anything of comparable moral significance. To illustrate the urgency of our duty to assist the poor, he believes that in a case where we happen to walk pass a child drowning in a shallow pond, the vast majority of people would agree that it would be seriously morally wrong to not rescue the child. Connecting this scenario to Singer’s argument, we can say it is seriously morally wrong to not assist the poor because the lives of these people in need are of greater moral importance than the excess income we would otherwise spend on luxury goods. Thus, Singer is correct in saying that we have a moral obligation to assist the poor, and that failing to do so is equally as morally wrong as failing to rescue the drowning child.

In her article “Depressingly Easy” Dr.Lamberts discusses why depression is a serious issue. She argues that younger people are more likely to experince depression, since rates continue to increase. Our brains are the same size as the earliest humans, but our day to day tasks have changed drastically. Researchers have yet to find convincing evidence that serotonin imbalances is the cause of depression, and despite the numerous treatment options available today, depression rates are higher than ever.

The excerpt from the novel, Generation Me by Jean Twenge is a very opinionated piece about my generation, The Millennials, and those chronologically after us. Twenge clearly does not like my generation and the way we live our lives. I am not saying I completely disagree with many of her claims, such as my generation is narcissistic and undeserving; however, I believe her statements are very one-sided, narrow-minded, and uninformed.

The current generation, the Millennials, who are born between nineteen ninety and two thousand and ten are known to have the highest rate of depression. 2% of Americans in nineteen fifteen had depression whereas fifteen to twenty percent suffer today from the illness. A staggering rise in depression can be seen throughout the generations of the past century. All the people born and living about the same time are an individual generation; they have all taken part in the shift of increased depression. Millennials have had a rise in depression due to the media and financial difficulty dating back to the recession.

A book that had an impact on my life was The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. This book is about an average teenage girl named Cassie Sullivan from Ohio whose world is destroyed by alien invaders. They unleashed 4 waves of attacks from their ship floating in the Earth's skies. The waves included all power shutdown, tidal waves that devastated the coasts and a plague. The last wave is they sent assassins to earth to get rid of the last humans.

In Jean M. Twenge’s book Generation Me, Twenge uses various researches to analyze the social and psychological differences between Generation Me and past generations. Although this generation has many positive qualities: confidence, assertiveness, and open-mindedness, they also have their own downfalls. One concept is that Generation Me tends to be narcissistic, believing that they are entitled to all their wants. They are also oblivious to the real world, how the world truly doesn’t revolve around them, and how reality will intercept their expectations.

The generation is identified as one that came of age after rapid growths of the internet. My generation is identified with the current transformations experienced in the society. It is also the most resilient in navigating change. One of the most identifiable attributes about my generation is its capacity to appreciate diversity and inclusion. I am also amongst the most educated members of the group based on the availability of learning materials and other components that are considered useful for study. A significant attribute about members of my generation is that we demonstrate willingness to work hard. My parents played key roles in instilling the virtues of setting goals to help attain the lifestyle I