Kids these days. They've got these things called blogs and
Myspace, and they post nekkid photographs and videos of themselves
doing crazy things on the Internets. I don't get it. It frightens
and confuses me...
Okay, I'm not that old. On occasion I blog myself. My girlfriend
has a Myspace page. Who hasn't seen a Ted Kennedy in his cups call
the junior senator from Illinois "Osama bin Ladin" on YouTube?
On the other hand, I'm one of the last of the Boomers -- or
first of the Gen Xers -- so I wasn't part of that millennial
generation raised on an overdose of self-esteem and self-promoting
technology that have combined to create a perfect storm of
narcissism.
Nor was I surprised to read that a study led by San Diego State
University psychologists finds that about two-thirds of college
students have above average scores in self-adulation. That's thirty
percent more than when I was in college in 1982. These millennials
make Narcissus look like a self-hating Greek.
But while millennials are more confident, assertive, and head
over heels in love with themselves, they have less reason to be.
The study's authors note that Gen Y is shallower than its parents'
generation and less well educated. It is emotionally challenged.
And more miserable.
Perhaps the biggest clue to its shallowness can be found in its
priorities. Asked what they most want out of life, most millennials
answer "wealth and fame." Riches are most important to
more than 80 percent of college students, and fame came in a near
second. Ironically, today's generation has become the little
materialists and "fame whores" (New York Magazine's term)
their boomer parents so reviled.
And despite MTV's Rock the Vote efforts, they are the least
socially aware generation in decades. The study contradicts the
common view that millennials are civic-minded, public-service
do-gooders who volunteer en masse to help hurricane and
tsunami victims, who, rather than booze and sex it up on spring
break, prefer to donate their time vaccinating poor children in
sub-equatorial Ecuador. Instead, researchers noted that much of
that community spirit is due to the fact that high schools require
"mandatory" volunteer service, which also conveniently serves as a
way to pad one's resume.
I HAVE NEVER BEEN a great fan of the Baby Boom Generation, which
was no slacker in the Ego Overload Sweepstakes; Tom Wolfe, after
all, dubbed it the "Me Generation." But at least that gang's number
one priority, according to a 1967 college survey, was to find "a
meaningful philosophy of life." Unfortunately, that "meaningful
philosophy of life" entailed overly permissive parenting and
systematic ego inflation. The millennials have had every aspect of
their lives recorded and photographed and documented from the time
they were pulled screaming from the womb. And it was the boomers
who stressed self-esteem over learning, who lavished excessive
praise on their kids and presented them awards for everything from
their first bowel movement to just showing up. No wonder that this
overindulged generation's heroes are vacuous celebrities like
Britney Spears and Paris Hilton who is famous for a reality TV show
and a sex video.
Oh, and you'll probably want to be careful when criticizing your
younger employees. Millennials don't take criticism very well, the
report says. They also tend to have less stable relationships and
are to be more prone to violent behavior than their parents'
generation. Why? According to the report, people with an inflated
sense of self are more likely to have romantic relationships that
are short-lived, at risk for infidelity, and lack emotional warmth,
and to exhibit game-playing, dishonesty, and over-controlling and
violent behaviors. "I'm concerned we are heading to a society where
people are going to treat each other badly, either on the street or
in relationships," the report's lead researcher Dr. Jean Twenge, of
San Diego State University, told
the Los Angeles Times.
Of course not everyone agrees. For an alternative view, some
researchers regard narcissistic behavior not as the fault of bad
boomer parenting, but as an adoptive mechanism in a culture that
prizes the bottom-line over learning and cooperation.
"This is a bottom-line society, so students are smart to seek
the most direct route to the bottom line," Marc Flacks, an
assistant professor of sociology, said in the Times. "If
you don't have a me-first attitude, you won't succeed....The old
model was a collegial one in which students and professors alike
sought knowledge for knowledge's sake. The new model is 'I paid my
money, give me my grade and degree.'"
So next time you are stuck on an elevator with a young person
who is screaming into his cell phone, try to remember that he isn't
just some rude, vacuous millennial, he is rather a new model of
bottom-line, free-market capitalism. And grin and bear it.
topics:
NATO
