Generation Me | Teen Ink

Generation Me

February 10, 2009
By Serena Virani BRONZE, Plano, Texas
Serena Virani BRONZE, Plano, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Though I applaud psychology professor Jean M. Twenge, Ph. D. of San Diego State University on her extensive research and knowledge of the subject of this generation, I found 'Generation Me' to be filled with not much more than a collection of fun facts. As a student interested in psychology myself, many of the things Twenge had to say interested me, but I found myself struggling to finish after reading over 200 pages that spelled out every single aspect of my generation.

When I first picked up the book, I was fascinated. As a member of Generation Me, everything was so completely accurate and relatable. Why yes, I do infact do my own thing and I happen to also have parents of different races. (Fun fact: 1 out of every 17 marriages today is interracial). Yet the statistics went on and on. I quickly became bored in the fact that '6% of college freshmen said they expected to participate in protests' (Twenge 141) or that '33% of high school students were in a physical fight in the last year' (Twenge 213). Although these are interesting findings, the specificity is overbearing. At the end of the book, it's nearly impossible to remember even one of these numbers, rendering them futile.
However, Twenge's lighthearted and casual tone kept the book bearable and the numerous anecdotes were often entertaining. Her common references to pop culture and inclusion of pictures, advertisements, and cartoons caught my attention more than the numbers did. Overall, the book was filled with many interesting, yet useless, facts that I could have probably lived without knowing. At least now I know why my generation is 'more confident, assertive, entitled ' and more miserable than ever before.'


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