The Tethered Generation By Kathryn Tyler

As generations go by, our predecessors assume we are skipping out on important aspects of life just to get a few extra minutes on our devices. In Catherine Rampell’s “A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much”, it is said the older generations believe Generation Y is “coddled, disrespectful, narcissistic, and impatient” (Rampell 388). In all reality our generation is just doing what it has to in order to thrive in the world we live in, where technology is one of the largest parts of our everyday lives. If the older generations that criticize Generation Y had grown up in Generation Y they would realize the world we live in requires the use of technology. The advancement of society with technology has shaped Generation Y to be the people that they are, relying on technology; however, older generations believe Generation Y is lazy.

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.

Many times our fears of what is unknown to us are often the strongest fears we hold as human beings. However, what if it was the fear of things we already know that were the most powerful and influential in our lives? In modern society, many hold within themselves a deep-seated fear of the technology that the world has become so revolved around. Additionally, it has recently become debatable whether or not this technology has become a hindrance to members of the so-called iGeneration, born between 1995 and 2012, who have grown up in a world surrounded by technology. Truly, the members of older generations, including millennials who have had themselves split off from the apparent technology obsessed generation of the youngest millennials, have expressed their concern as to whether or not these vast differences in generations have to do with the unhealthy use of technology. Among those to have analyzed this phenomenon is writer Jean M. Twenge who in her article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?,” utilizes the study of a modern 13 year old girl named Athena to exemplify a plethora of determinants that technology has imposed on young people and the slow deterioration of everything from independence and social skills to a decline mental health due to technology use. Many of Twenge’s statements reveal the belief that many members of iGen are unequipped to handle adulthood and are even less happy because of the technology that has played a significant role in their lives

Jean M. Twenge despises smartphones! That is the initial reaction to the title of her article “Have Smartphones Destroyed A generation?” . This will be an analysis of the effectiveness of the article written by Jean M. Twenge about the effects of smartphone usage on younger generations. With modern reliance growing more heavily on smartphones and younger generations being born with these devices around them, Twenge has gathered information pertaining to this new generational adaption that began to show signs around 2012. “Around 2012, I noticed abrupt shifts in teen behaviors and emotional states. The gentle slopes of the line graphs became steep mountains and sheer cliffs, and many of the distinctive characteristics of the Millennial

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 becoming to be a large part of society and has a growing impact on our personal lives. Jean Twenge uses this reasoning to effectively discuss the mental issues arising in “iGen” and how social media, sleep deprivation, and usage of technology are negatively affecting teenagers of this generation. This is an important topic to discuss because in 2011, statistics showed that the teen suicide rate was higher than the teen homicide rate for the first time in 24 years (Twenge). Twenge uses facts like this to appeal to parents to try to make them recognize that their own kids could be in danger of depression and hurting themselves and what could be large contributors. Twenge backs up her argument by using her background as a professor at San Diego University and her studies of generational differences to support her claim. Although Jean Twenge tries to use her power to make parents embrace their parental

Within the decade, people can agree that technology has gradually impacted lives every day. Whether people believe it is progressive or destructive, it is established that for some, the impact of technology is quite concerning. An ongoing topic is whether teenagers are in fact addicted to their smartphone devices and social media. In Sherry Turkle's’ piece “Growing up Tethered” she provides student testimonials that only proves that teenagers from the ages sixteen to eighteen feel the need to be on their smartphones at all times. Although, technology does have positive outcomes and uses, Turkles’ points that teenagers are too tethered to their devices and are not as safe while using their device is correct because society is able to recognize

Kids, teens and adults are now constantly navigating the internet or using some sort of technology. In the article “Is the Onslaught Making Us Crazy” by Tony Dokoupil, different psychologist claim that technology has a bad influence on the human mind. Throughout the text, real life examples, showing psychological breakdowns, are used to support the statement.

The Tethered Generation, written by Kathryn Tyler, a self-identified member of Generation X, published this article in HR Magazine, a magazine for HR Professionals. In this piece, Tyler elaborates on what she believes to be the most dependent generation to exist: Millennials. A “frequent contributor” to the publication as a freelance writer, she has quite the background in human resources and training, which reflects in the style of this particular article. In the beginning Tyler discusses the effect that tethering to technology, peers, and parents has had on this generation. Towards the end, she writes a sort of “how to” guide on dealing with those effects in the workforce, and how to make the transition into the workplace for those individuals (and other employees) as smooth as possible. Her thesis is evident in the beginning of the article. Tyler argues that because millennials are too attached to technology and dependent on other people that are close to them (like parents and peers), they lack the skills and traits that previous generations possessed, as well as autonomy, and in the process created an epidemic of very overbearing parents that may be too concerned and involved in the life of their children, which could be detrimental to the new young adult’s development of their professional life. This rhetorical analysis is going to dissect the writer’s use of logos, pathos, and ethos in her argument.

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?, by Jean M. Twenge, was published in the September 2017 Issue of The Atlantic. Twenge discusses the impacts of smartphones in teens (also referred to as “iGen’s”) today and attempts to determine if smartphones have caused a generation to falter in their mental and physical health. The author interviews a 13 year old girl about issues teens are developing due to these devices. She examines the spike in teen suicide rates since the invention of the smartphone, how teens no longer go out and socialize with others, and the lack of sleep teens may be getting due to smartphone activity.

Smartphones are at the hands of over millions of people and many of them will never know life without smart phones. The article “Have smartphones destroyed a generation” by Jean M. Twenge is about “iGen” a generation which the author describes as “a generation shaped by the smartphone and by the concomitant rise of social media” (Twenge). Jean M. Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and contributed in researching generational differences for 25 years. Twenge is claiming smartphones have completely uttered the lives of teenagers. Twenge argues in the article, “Have smartphones destroyed a generation” that teenagers in the generation “iGen” has been shifted for the worst. Teenagers today are less likely to be independent; for instance, teens are less likely to date or find employment. Furthermore, teenagers are more likely to face depression, along with suicide and cyberbullying. Finally, teens have fewer social interaction making them lonely and not spending time enough with family.

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 versatile article, “The Tethered Generation”, published in HR Magazine in May 2007, educated freelance writer Kathryn Tyler expresses her opinion of technology and its effects on the millennials generation (those born in the United States between 1978 and 1999). Tyler’s intended audience includes the many readers of HR Magazine, those who probably work in the Human Resources (HR) Department themselves. Her purpose is to educate other HR professionals on how they should become aware and prepared to a millennial generation too soon start working in the same workforce they are in. She shows this by arguing that since the reliability of technology, millennials have slowly started to drift away from their own responsibilities, causing a changed etiquette in professionalism while in a workforce environment. Tyler, a member of Generation X (those born in the US between 1960 and 1977) and a former Human Resources generalist, often writes passive, two-sided articles, addressing that neither side of the argument is to blame, according to her previous work in HR Magazine. This conversant piece continues that pattern of examining the cultural change from the perspective of human resource issues. what follows, I will try to reach out to my audience of classmates in order to have them agree with me that Tyler’s persuasive appeal is not strong enough to appeal to her audience.

During Kathryn Tyler’s first section she talks about how millennials are connected and how the connectivity of technology has changed our generation. One of her first points in this section was about how students today are able to talk with their parents while away from college, “Now, students may be going across the country, but they call their parents on the cell phone three to five times per day” (Tyler 478). She really emphasizes the difference between the generation from today and the previous generation, “Years ago, most college dorm rooms had one land line, and, if parents were lucky, kids called home once a week” (478). Right away she stats facts of the generations are changing which gives the reader a very good a clear understand of how

Millennials are so dependent on thing such as laptops, calculators, and cell phones to give the answer instead of relying on knowledge and instinct in finding the answer. Here is where previous generations have a problem with millennials, this dependency forces us not to use our own thoughts and skills and we are not meeting the intellectual challenges that life offers and past generations experienced first-hand. Many believe that technology in a way has made millennials more prone to be lazy and not goal