Thinker Thoughts: “iGen”

It’s been a busy summer, but we’re excited to be back and grateful for all your support and emails as ATG continues to evolve! 
We’re delving back into our Thinker Thoughts this week, bringing you an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal book review entitled, “An Aversion to Adulting” (August 24, 2017). The book under review is Jean M. Twenge’s iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood: 

More than any other influence, technology is central to understanding this generation’s experience. Across all races and classes, they spend, on average, six hours a day with new media. Ms. Twenge is not indulging in hyperbole when she tells us that this is the first generation (those born between 1995-2012) that prefers virtual to real relationships. ‘With the advent of social media and smartphones, teens’ social lives shifted decisively away from in-person interaction. They spend much less time with their friends in person than teens in previous decades did.’

Thus they don’t date as much or hang out with their friends as often. Yet they don’t spend their time reading in any serious or systematic way either. Indeed, they are ‘much less likely to read books than their Millennial, GenX, and Boomer predecessors,’ Ms. Twenge writes. Their academic skills lag behind those of millennials by ‘significant margins’, and they are ‘less informed’ about current events.”

Keep thinking with our previous Thinker Thoughts on:
ethical principles
social media behavior
likability vs. status
civil discourse
homo prospectus
names and identities
lifelong learners
star sanctuaries
artificial intelligence
the intellectual life
learning from early humans
and the importance of generosity of spirit
“Thinker Thoughts” is an initiative intended to help us THINK more deeply and deliberately amid the hurried pace of life’s existence. Every Friday, we’re posting our “Thinker Thoughts”, a short quote to reflect on from a recent commentary. Give it a think and let us know your thinker thoughts!

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