Audiobook12 hours
Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before
Written by Jean M. Twenge, PhD
Narrated by Randye Kaye
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
In this provocative new book, psychologist and social commentator Dr. Jean Twenge documents the self-focus of what she calls "Generation Me"-people born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Dr. Twenge explores why her generation is tolerant, confident, open-minded, and ambitious but also cynical, depressed, lonely, and anxious.
Dr. Twenge reveals how profoundly different today's young adults are-and makes controversial predictions about what the future holds for them and society as a whole. But Dr. Twenge doesn't just talk statistics-she highlights real-life people and stories.
With a good deal of irony, humor, and sympathy she demonstrates that today's young people have been raised to aim for the stars at a time when it is more difficult than ever to get into college, find a good job, and afford a house. Dr. Twenge also presents the often-shocking truths about her generation's dramatically different sexual behavior and mores.
Engaging, controversial, prescriptive, and often funny, Generation Me will give Boomers new insight into their offspring, and help GenMe'ers in their teens, twenties, and thirties finally make sense of themselves and their goals and find their road to happiness.
Dr. Twenge reveals how profoundly different today's young adults are-and makes controversial predictions about what the future holds for them and society as a whole. But Dr. Twenge doesn't just talk statistics-she highlights real-life people and stories.
With a good deal of irony, humor, and sympathy she demonstrates that today's young people have been raised to aim for the stars at a time when it is more difficult than ever to get into college, find a good job, and afford a house. Dr. Twenge also presents the often-shocking truths about her generation's dramatically different sexual behavior and mores.
Engaging, controversial, prescriptive, and often funny, Generation Me will give Boomers new insight into their offspring, and help GenMe'ers in their teens, twenties, and thirties finally make sense of themselves and their goals and find their road to happiness.
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Reviews for Generation Me
Rating: 3.682243005607477 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
107 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best books that I've read in a long time. I say that a lot but this entire book is easy to read and fun to see on paper a book of studies that I've thought a lot about through the years. I don't know if that makes any sense but I look forward to reading the other book by her. And she's very hot BTW, although I know that's horrible to say nowadays.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What the author, a professor of psychology, calls “Generation Me” has also been referred to as “Millennials” and “Generation Y” – people born primarily in the 1980s and 1990s. She compares studies of three generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X and “GenMe”, with the focus on GenMe, and brings those statistics to this book. The statistics speak to averages and she also offers anecdotes that illustrate those averages she’s found in the statistics. GenMe-ers have always been told they are special, to pursue their dreams and that they can be anything they want to be. But, the reality is that it’s now harder for that to realistically happen. So, people of this generation are disappointed, sometimes to the point of anxiety and/or depression when they do not actually realize those dreams. Additional chapters in the book also look at sex, equality, and work. This was originally published in 2006, but I read the “Revised and Updated” edition, published in 2014, so there was more up to date info. I found this very interesting. It is a lot of stats, but I thought the author made it very readable. I think it might be even more interesting to parents, teachers, etc, as she also offers advice at the end of the book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A must-read. I want to underline every sentence. She sums up so perfectly what we Baby Boomers have done to the current generation. Basically, they are an exaggerated distortion of the ideals we held about self-actualization. So isn't the Christian ethos, so powerful in this country, standing as a force against this trend? Not according to Twenge, who sees evidence of the self-orientation in most popular Christianity. Of course, the real gospel does provide the only counter and hope to these trends, but most of us are so entrenched in the "if it feels good or right for me" way of evaluating anything that it is very hard to be free of it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book gives a synoptic view into why it is difficult to relate, teach or even help today's youth. Their attitude is not innate but rather the result of a society that dwells on the systematic need to gratify whether it is warranted or not.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Awesome. She's so right on the money, and her analysis should be the starting point for other research on this generation. She incorporates a lot of examples from different disciplines. Funny and smart. The end some might consider very politicized, but while that might stray from the overall book, I'm glad she included it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is not, thankfully, a "kids today!" diatribe. The author is firmly rooted in Gen-Me (anyone born post 1960, it seems) and examines her own prejudices, expectations, entitlements as she asks the reader to do. If you grew up accepting "Free to Be You and Me" as nothing new--perfectly obvious that mommies are people and can be firemen and that you shouldn't put your horse in a dress--then this book is about you. Gen-Me is not necessarily about selfishness (tough can be a result), but it's about a focus on the self to the exclusion of community. While this leads to some great things (a belief that everyone is unique, special, valuable, lovable, capable--does anyone else remember having to recite "I am loved and capable" in a class; tolerance, a celebration of diversity, optimism that anything is possible, etc.), it also leads to an inflated sense of entitlement, unrealistic expectations of success, and a misunderstanding of your own talents/limitations (see William Hung). This creates a generation of adults who have been told that there are no restrictions on what they can be, and find a huge disconnect from the feel-good treatment they were brought up with and the professors and employers who then judge them on their actual talents and behavior. I found this book pretty interesting because so many things she called into question DO seem like self-evident truths to me (self esteem? what's wrong with self-esteem?), but her analysis helped me look at the pros and cons of the Gen-Me inheritence and think a bit about what tools I want to send with my daughter into the world.