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 for the Rest of Us

By: Jean M. Twenge PhD PhD

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby

“We’ve all been desperate to learn what heavy use of social media does to adolescents. Now, thanks to Twenge’s careful analysis, we know: It is making them lonely, anxious, and fragile—especially our girls. If you are a parent, teacher, or employer, you must read this fascinating book.”—Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation

Born after 1995, the smartphone generation grew up with cell phones, had an Instagram page before high school, and cannot remember a time before the Internet. They are iGen, and this essential book reveals how these teens and young adults differ from millennials and every other generation in their mental health, social behaviors, and attitudes toward politics and religion.

With generational divides wider than ever, parents, educators, and employers have an urgent need to understand today’s rising generation of teens and young adults.

Born in the mid-1990s up to the mid-2000s, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person—perhaps contributing to their unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality.

As this new group of young people grows into adulthood, we all need to understand them: friends and family need to look out for them; businesses must figure out how to recruit them and sell to them; colleges and universities must know how to educate and guide them. And members of iGen also need to understand themselves as they communicate with their elders and explain their views to their older peers. Because where iGen goes, so goes our nation—and the world.

*As seen in Time, USA TODAY, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and on CBS This Morning, BBC, PBS, CNN, and NPR*

insightful somewhat tunneled

while generational labels are US-centric in essence, but the traits that may be identified in later generations seems to be more common across the world and hence finding this book not only relevant but insightful on many aspects that influence this generation especially with the intrinsic impact of technology on them. The author seemed at times focused on delivering in a specific theme excessively, namely; heightened sense of safety, fragility and slow growth into adulthood.. still valuable information and advice on how to understand them and thus how to best engage them .

Great book!

Me being an iGenner myself I was able to understand the norms of my generation and the things I can relate to and differ on. I love how to book were purely scientific on unbiased, truly a great listen.

Eye Opening!

A serious and social scientific look at the emerging generation, iGen highlights the unique characteristics of our kids and how they impact the way they think, act and communicate. This is a wonderful breakdown of the social, political, emotional and spiritual views of those born in the late 90s to 2000s.
On a personal level, having kids that are born during those years, this book has helped me to see my kids’ world and perspective much better and gave me tools to help them avoid some of the pitfalls of their generation. As a pastor, this has helped me understand the generation we are trying to reach and how to encourage them in their growth.
Overall, this has been a very eye-opening read and has shifted my thinking and my approach to iGen.

Don't buy your kid a smartphone...

.... until you read this book! Such important information far exceeding just that aspect. I have 3 daughters under age 11 and this was so thought provoking!

The book is great and iritating

While the trends and outcomes described in this book have become commonly familiar, reding the book, with its deep analysis and many examples added significantly to the understanding of the I-gen.
However, the book explores the behavior and trends of high school and college students, but mostly ignores young people of same age who do not attend post high school education colleges.
Regarding the solutions the author offers, I totally agree with her.
In my country, Israel, about half of the young boys and girls serve in the military (Arabs and orthodox Jews are exempt) or in national service. Some, like my daughters, do both.
This service really helps them to grow up, develop self confidence and view the world in a much more mature way when they arrive post high school college or university.
Therefore, while the trends of I-gen described in the book are not un-familiar in Israel, I believe they are of much lesser effect.