While reading GenerationMe I was very intrigued with Twenge’s view on everything. There were some things that I completely agreed with. How she talked about raising very self-centered children with narcissistic tendencies. I completely agree that children and young adults are too focused on themselves. We need to help children see that they are a very valuable part of our society but the world does not revolve around them. I also agree with how GenMe is a very sexual minded society, from everything on TV to how GenMe talks and dresses. I also at times am a little bit offended with how other generations view GenMe. I’m a little bit ashamed of the view that older generations have of us.
I think the two main issues that I agree with Twenge on are the two issues that I would like to write about. I would like to look deeper into how we could maybe get children to have a healthier view of themselves and others. We as a society and a generation do need to make sure that we care about each other. We don’t want to have to work with completely selfish narcissists when we have our careers. I think that sounds horrible! As far as GenMe being a very sex based generation, this is more of a personal opinion. I don’t like that having sex in high school is a norm. I think we need to make sure that kids are staying educated and that they aren’t deemed “weird” if they want to wait until they are older. I’m just afraid that having sex so early with multiple people can cause some lasting emotional damage.
When I write my paper I hope to maybe come up with some ideas on how to help children care about others and have self-confidence so they can be happy functioning adults. I am going to school to be a teacher so maybe by reading Twenge’s book and the view of GenMe and realizing that this is a big issue and that we need children to be able to going into the work place with real expectations. The other issue of having sex at a younger and younger age and sex just being in our faces every where we look, maybe there is a way to show sex in a healthier and more adult way, so kids can be adults and able to make that choice for themselves.
I'm not sure if I fit into the GenMe generation since Twenge changes her mind on what the generation boundries are, but not everyone views the current generation as awful. I think the GenMe group is of extremes, while some are extremely narcissistic there are others who are the polar opposite and bring whole new levels of generosity to the world, and in doing so help to overcome the narcissism.
ReplyDeleteI was very enlightened by your post. It was very well though out and brought out a lot of very good points. Enough to make a great paper. The only thing is that much like Twenge it show the more negative side on GenMe.
ReplyDeleteWhat ideas do you have on how to better direct our children toward being less self-centered? What can we do to reverse this path we're already very set in?
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