Have Smartphones Destroy A Generation Summary

“The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers’ lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health” (Twenge). In her article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, Jean Twenge discusses how the new generation of teenagers is becoming highly dependent on their smartphones. Twenge calls this new generation born between the late 1990s and early teens “iGen” after a recent survey found that the majority of teenagers owned an iPhone. She argues that with every new generation, new habits form, both good and bad. The technological developments that have occurred throughout the last ten years, Twenge argues, is not a bad thing; it is how the “iGen” teenagers are becoming reliant on their phones and use them to avoid social interactions. According to her article, teenagers choose to stay home alone in their rooms and talk to their friends virtually on social media versus actually leaving the house and doing something face-to-face with their friends. Twenge argues that if teenagers decide to leave the house, phones still have a strong presence, often not leaving the hands of its owner for longer than a couple minutes with social media like Snapchat and Instagram tagging along. Twenge worries that the strong dependency on smartphones and increasing rates of obsession with social media are a couple of the largest contributors to the rise of depression and suicide among the teenagers of “iGen”.

While reading Jean M. Twenge’s “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? ,” I couldn’t help feeling attacked by an out-of-touch old lady who simply doesn’t understand those of us who were born into a time of unprecedented accessibility to technology, which Twenge comically names “iGen.” Many factors contributed to this feeling, including Twenge’s brief description of Snapchat and her nostalgic appeal to “those of us who fondly recall a more analog adolescence” (which I saw as an acknowledgement by Twenge that her audience would be just as old and out-of-touch as she was), but my feelings are probably more of a reflection of the individualism that emerged with the Millennial generation and the new fear of being “put in a box,” or more precisely in the context of this article and its accompanying studies, a trend or group that supposedly classifies the majority of today’s teens.

In “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” written by, the Psychology Doctor, Jean M. Twenge, she presents the results produced after twenty-five years of research (Twenge para3). Her research was carried out to understand the new generation and explain how it differs to the previous generations (Twenge para9). Although her style is indeed formal, she utilized a heavy amount of credentials, logos, emotional appeal and a factual tone, to enforces her appeal on the parents of the kids of this new generation. Furthermore, she underlays her stand on the topic throughout her analysis, rather than having a direct approach and states actual percentages to compare previous generations to the new one, which leads to a sense of validity. It is not until the very end, that she finally states her stand in a more direct sense, since she has now gained the trust of her audience.

In her article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, Jean Twenge discusses how the new generation of teenagers are becoming highly dependent on their smartphones and need them alongside them at any given point in time. Twenge calls this new generation born between the late 1990s and early teens “iGen” after a recent survey found that majority of teenagers owned an iPhone. She argues that with every new generation, new habits form, both good and bad. The technological developments that have occurred in the last ten years Twenge argues are not a bad thing, it is how the “iGen” teenagers are becoming reliant on their phones and using them to avoid social interactions. They would choose to stay home alone in their rooms and talk to their friends virtually on social media versus actually leaving the house and doing something face-to-face with their friends. Twenge argues that if teenagers decide to leave the house, phones still have a strong presence, often not leaving the hands of its owner for longer than a couple minutes with social media like Snapchat and Instagram tagging along. Twenge worries that the strong dependency on smartphones and increasing rates of obsession with social media are a couple of the largest contributors to the rise of depression and suicide among the teenagers of “iGen”.

The world has changed greatly in the last few centuries due to remarkable inventions. In the article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?,” Jean M. Twenge argues that the smartphone in particular has made a significant impact on the world, specifically in adolescents growing up at this time. Twenge’s argument that cell phones have drastically changed the way today’s adolescents think and behave is not entirely effective because she overlooks certain aspects in her claim that teenagers are physically safer than ever. She also only includes one piece of evidence that somewhat contributes to her claim that smartphones are decreasing the mental health of teenagers. Additionally, her substantial presumptions that decreased social ability results

Teens today branded as iGen, the generation born in between 1995 through 2012, has grown with smartphones at their complete disposal. According to, Jean Twenge, writer of “Have Smartphones Destroyed A Generation,” the rise and sway smartphones and social media have over teens has negative contributions over the emotions and behaviors of iGen, and they are “on the brink of a mental crisis.” “There is compelling evidence that the devices we have placed in young people’s hands are having profound effects on their lives—and making them seriously unhappy.”

Technology is everywhere and continues to advance every single day. The use of social media and smartphones is said to be destroying a generation, but is it really? Jean M. Twenge informs readers on her research on the effects of new technology and smartphones on the current “iGen” generation in her article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation”. Twenge’s article tells readers that smartphones have “radically” changed this generation in every form of their lives. Although I do believe that smartphones have changed the way people live and can be a cause for change in mental health, I do not believe they are the only cause to this change in people’s lives.

    (Introduction) “Put down the phone, turn off your the laptop, and do something-anything-that doesn’t involve a screen” (Twenge 63). It is astonishing the amount of time teens spend on phones. Jean Twenge discusses the effects smartphone usage has created among the younger and past generations in the article, “Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation”. The purpose of Twenge’s article is to aware readers about the many consequences the smartphone usage has impacted generations.

In her article “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, Jean M. Twenge discusses the effects on “generation i” with rising smartphone and social media usage. In the article, she provides multiple statistics to support her claims on what’s happening with the “i generation”, and generations past through social media use. She concludes that while smartphones have some positive social impact on the generation (like lower teen pregnancy rates), there has been real damage to the generation as well. I have concluded that, our generation has been more negatively impacted through smartphone usage than positively impacted. This is a strong point to make but, through my own experiences and, after reading Twenge’s article I find myself thinking about what smartphones have done to us as a growing generation. I have witnessed firsthand numerous downsides to having a smartphone that Twenge reports on.

Jean M. Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of Generation Me and iGen wrote the article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, published by The Atlantic in September 2017, arguing that the influence of smartphones negatively impact the generation we now call iGen. Born between 1995 and 2012, the iGen are continuously exposed, influenced, and shaped by smartphones and the rise of social media. Twenge pointed out the positive and negative effects on the use of smartphones “from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health”(Paragraph 8). Twenge has been researching generational differences for 25 years and she found that smartphones has radically changed every aspect of teenager’s lives

“Put down the phone, turn off the laptop, and do something-anything-that doesn’t involve a screen” (Twenge 63). It is astonishing the amount of time teens spend on phones. Jean Twenge discusses the negative effects smartphone usage has created among the young and past generations in the article, “Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation”. The purpose of Twenge’s article is to aware readers about the many issues the smartphone usage has created on generations. Twenge narrates different stories about young teen’s experiences with phones and social media. Twenge also provides readers with statistics and some studies of many effects caused by smartphones. Twenge gives emphasize to differences between generations. According to Twenge, today’s

In her article “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, Jean M. Twinge discusses the effects on “generation i” through rising smartphone and social media usage. In the article, she provides many statistics to support her claims on what’s happening with the “i generation” and generations past through social media use. She concludes that while smartphones have some positive social impact on the generation (like lower teen pregnancy rates), there has been real damage to the generation as well. I have concluded that, our generation has been more negatively impacted through smartphone usage than positively impacted. This is a strong point to make but through my own experiences and after reading Twinge’s article I find myself truly thinking about what smartphones have done to us as a growing generation. I have witnessed firsthand many downsides to having a smartphone that Twinge reports on.

Jean M. Twinge proved that showing the bar graph of using smartphones during the day and night; they found lots of impact. Smartphones have defined the characteristics of the millennials; this is why it has led to changes in the society. The author has been researching the use of smartphones with this generation for 25 years and has found that this characteristic has come to define this generation. This generation has been increasing since the “baby boomer “era that occurred after World War II, which started in 1939. Twinge was interested in studying the millennial generation to find as much information as she could. She explains that she found out that the excessive use of smartphones changes teen behaviors and emotional states. She also showed us her analyses data to show us the differences. She explains there is a big difference between the millennials and the predecessors like the way they view the world. It is not about only their behavior they had that was the difference but also how they spent their time. “In 2012, Americans

The generation growing up in today’s society behavior has changed since the day smartphones have come into play. Mrs. Twenge has come up with a name, iGen, for the generation growing up with smartphones. “The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers’ lives, from nature if their social interactions to their mental health,” (Paragraph 9). For teens, it doesn’t matter what type of background they have, when you see a cell phone tower you are guaranteed there is teenagers who have a

In today's world, you see that teens have probably been around smartphones since they were born. They depend on them and are more attached to phones than actual people. We see in everyday life that teens are glued to their smartphone screens. There are many effects that smartphones are causing on teens now. Jean M. Twenge persuades people to see that smartphones are affecting people negatively by traumatizing young teens.