Young people are not more self-absorbed than earlier generations: study

I'm far to self asorbed to bother reading this

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Originally posted by rural - Francesca:
[b]Personally I'd rather have a "Baby Boomer Bashing" session. You want to talk self absorbed!!![/b]

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Well, we might be able to have our cake and eat it too! The guy said young people were no more self-absorbed than 30 years ago - 1977.

ETA: make that 1978!

[ 22 January 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]

Well, I was sort of bullied into registering with
FarceBook, but I delivered minimal information and saw no reason to release one of those pictures of my handsome self.

It may turn out to be all part of a global, police state plot.

It's probably true that we have become a much more insular society despite the increased communication that today's technology permits.

I get the impression of many young people relating more to hand-held games than to each other.

I thought all young people were self absorbed. Something to do with their hormones.

Good excuse, hah!

[url=http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=27&t=000344]Here is a similar thread from a few months back. [/url]

Combine these two threads and what we have is a generation that is both self-absorbed and apathetic.

[url=http://feministing.com/archives/008423.html]Feministing[/url] also responded to the New York Times article that M. Gregus posted, saying:

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We've been called apathetic. We've been called selfish. We've been called cheaters. We've been called petty. We've been called appearance obsessed. We've been called Generation Y, Millenials, Echo Boomers, the Look at Me Generation, and now, well, it's all been boiled down to simply Generation Me.

I'm, frankly, a little sick of the whole thing. The New York Times just ran a story about a new study that puts into question the previous wisdom on our generation--namely that MySpace, Oprah, and Free To Be You and Me has made us all narcissistic.

SNIP

The study was done, in part, as a response to the work of Jean M. Twenge who wrote Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before. Twenge is already at work on another book, this one with an even more damning title, The Narcissism Epidemic (by the by, could we all agree on a definition for what constitutes an epidemic? It's getting a little ridiculous).

I appreciate this Yale fella's response:

Richard P. Eibach, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale, has found that exaggerated beliefs in social decline are widespread — largely because people tend to mistake changes in themselves for changes in the external world. “Our automatic assumption is something real has changed,” Mr. Eibach said. “It takes extra thought to realize that something about your own perspective or the information you’re receiving may have changed.”

Is it really us, people, or might it just be a little bit about you? Are older folks projecting their own unmet needs on an entire generation? Now that's narcissism.

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Originally posted by rural - Francesca:
[b]Thanks for the link to the other thread.

I think for a lot of our young people, they don't engage because they feel no one is listening.

The older generations screwed up the planet and now it's up to them to fix it, yet no one is listening.

I know here we are trying to get youth involved and provide activities for them and often we run into roadblocks and NIMBY issues.

Becuase the Boomers have economic clout, all the development and investment is going to service them, not to the needs of young people.[/b]

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I think it is largely true that the perspectives of young people are ignored, exactly because of Boomer clout.

the boomers have been pandered to for 60 years now. Today everything is about their health, their nostalgia, their music, their sexuality, their hobbies like restoring "classic cars", their values.

I can understand how young people can feel disenfrachised and marginalised.

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Originally posted by 1234567:
[b]
My kids used to always say that they thought we humans don't have much time. I can't recall thinking that way, nor any of my friends when I was a teen.[/b]

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I did. (Remember "The Limits to Growth", for example?) But I was a complete weirdo. Still am.

ETA: I also felt completely overwhelmed. (Again, a "complete weirdo".)

[ 23 January 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]

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Originally posted by bliter:
[b]...., compare some of today's magazines with the issues 50 or 60 years ago. There was were so many more do-it-yourself projects - everything from building a small boat to building a tube power supply for a car radio to play in the house. Cars were much easier to work on. Today, it's become a considerable task to change the plugs on some.....[/b]

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I think there are just as many (proportionally) do-it-yourself books /magazine /projects today. The topics have just changed

- astronomy and other natural science
- home recording studio
- composing music / singer-songwriter
- digital photography / movie making (You Tube and Myspace come to mind)
- diy video games creation
- graphic design (web pages for local and national companies)

I think kids are just as creative as ever, their tools have just changed. Not your grandfather's hobbyist.

Just because baby boomers and senior citizens are not interested in, or can't relate to what kids are doing today, doesn't mean that young people are not engaged in something creative. In fact young people are sometimes the onces to create new tools to approach old interests in new ways.

[ 23 January 2008: Message edited by: TemporalHominid ]

Interesting thread.  I definitely wouldn't say that today's younger generation is more self-absorbed that the baby boomer generation.  However, I suspect that they're more self-aborbed than, say, the Great Depression generation...at least self-absorbed in the sense of entitlement.  But, that's just my anecdotal observation.

I'd have to agree if not for the educamacation.

The kids are alright:

Teen activist refuses to shake PM's hand

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/07/09/14661321.html

Quote:

When Jeremy Dyer was selected to represent his province because of his human rights art, he had no idea he'd find himself in line to shake Prime Minister Stephen Harper's hand.

The notion was an affront to Dyer, an activist who vehemently disagrees with many of Harper's policies.

Dyer, 19, who hails from St. John's, N.L., was at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg, where he and 11 other young people from around the country were on hand to display their human rights-themed artwork.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were both in attendance, as the Queen unveiled a cornerstone to the museum.

Then, standing in front of cameras alongside his peers, Dyer heard rumblings the prime minister was en route.

"I didn't know until literally minutes before," said the Memorial University student. "I was pretty outraged that he was going to be there... I told them I would politely decline to shake his hand if he attempted."

More at the link about how they tried to spin this brave young man's actions.