Our Generation

In the article ME ME ME Generation, author Joel Stein describes many interesting reality about our generation, which I have to agree with. With the development of technology, internet addiction is very common among the major generation millennials. Many of teenagers are immersed in online games and internet social network with low self-control. For example, “millennails are interacting all day but almost entirely through a screen. You’re seen them at bars, sitting next to one another and texting. They might look calm, but they’re deeply anxious about missing out on something btter. Seventy percent of them check their phones every hour, and many experience phantom pocket-vibration syndrome”. For my case, I think it is a true portrayal of our lives. You will see that every youth is looking at their phone screen when you are riding a bus. I don’t think any of them can live without their cellphone for one day.  In addition, there is another sharp trait of millennials is narcissism, which causes them overconfident about their ability, especially for their careers. For example, “this generation has the highest likelihood of having unmet expectations with respect to their careers and the lowest levels of satisfaction with their careers at the stage that they’re at.” This is also one of the reasons why they take longer to determine their jobs, to achieve their career goals. Some of them might be so cocky that they refuse to do the hard work.

The Me Me Me Generation

  In the article, the Me Me Me Generation, the author shows us the differences between young generation and the generation that is already 65 or older. In old people's mind, young generation is always lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. Also, the incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is higher that the old generation. According to the article, " even in China, where family history is mire important than any individual, the Internet, urbanization and the one-child policy have created a generation as overconfident and self-involved as the Western one." I kind of agree with what the author says. Due to one child policy, most family only have one child, so the grow child grew up spoiled by parents. Also, parents will buy whatever their child wants. when children are in adolescence period, they already compare with others such as wearing name brand clothes and shoes. That's the big difference between young generation and old generation.

me me me generation

The "Me Me Me Generation" talks about how the people born between 1980 and 2000 act the way they do. Traditionally, older people often think the next generation is lazy. And the author has data to support the point of view. He also brings out the history of how policy of boosting self-esteem accidentally became the advocate of narcissism. Because of the new technologies like internet and social media, the millennials are more exposed to they friends or even strangers, making them a micro-celebrity. Although this millennial generation seems to be more negative than positive, the author, as a 41 years old outsider, claims that there are merits inside those narcissists. For example, they are active than others. The author gives example of how millennials impress an army recruiter by coming in, saying what they want to do and how they are going to do that as if it was all planned in advance. The confidence as well as the knowledge is what make this generation unique.
Supposedly, I am part of the me me me generation. So this article is somewhat boring as it talks about what happened to me, or most of this generation. And it does add some more proofs and statistics to explain why this generation acts the way it does. When I think about the term narcissists and the American dream, I think they are somewhat not compatible. If this generation is narcissistic, then it less likely to work  hard enough to achieve their dreams knowing they place themselves in number one priority. On the other hand, if the American dream is all about happiness, then they all have achieved that. Since they focus on themselves and they are more exposed to information, they have a better understanding of happiness than the me generation. It is more satisfying to be happy nowadays because now people are better-informed, rather than people in the past has a standard routine to be successful and happy

the me generation problem

   the high unemployment rate among 18 to 29 just make me think a lot. how come the old generation and new generation is such a big different? look at myself, and look at my friends, i think i found why this problem happened.
   i realize that the "me generation" problem is cause by lazy and selfish, and why this happen is because the circumstance of the new generation is too comfortable that they have enough food to eat, they have place to live and they can do anything they want. the old generation don't have chances to become lazy because they have to work very hard to maintain their livelihood. if they don't work hard, they will starve to dead, but the me generation don't have to worry about this problem that their life is too comfortable. parents and government will support their life if they don't have the ability to earn money.
  the conditions of our life is just too good that we don't have any passion to work for better life. i think all of us - old generation, society and new generation make a fatal mistake on our lifestyle.

The Me Generation

In this article I want to focus on how Joel Stein talks about how technology has been a great empowerment towards the Millennials and how narcissistic has played a big factor on how we portray life. We are so fixated on the fact that everything we see in the media we try to base are life on it or want to have a life like it. We all seek something greater than what is really realistic. Joel Stein states, “They are fame-obsessed: three times as many middle school girls want to grow up to be a personal assistant to a famous person as want to be a Senator, according to a 2007 survey; four times as many would pick the assistant job over CEO of a major corporation.” I feel like media has something to do with why we think we should get jobs like these or that we should have the confidence in succeeding. That means our generation is far more different then when our parent’s were growing up because we want whats better and greater then to settle for whats just good enough. Another reason is that because of narcissism. We rely so much on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Television to help us identify ourselves through other people opinions and how we view people. We start to live off of those opinions and we look at these celebrities on TV and we want to become them. "In fact, a lot of what counts as typical millennial behavior is how rich kids have always behaved. The Internet has democratized opportunity for many young people, giving them access and information that once belonged mostly to the wealthy." Television is the main source on why we want to be greater than to settle for whats just good enough.. After reading this article everything about this is pretty accurate on how our generation has become something better and more self improving. 

The Me Generation

I believe that we are molding the world into a place that makes a regular individual into a person that you want to follow and know all about. The Me Generation as this article calls it talks about how people in their 20s are becoming narcissi and you know what ...its true. Society's youth is completely consumed with creating their on spot light by making themselves an interesting individuals. Youth nowadays don't even have to have a specific talent to be admired for. Lets take for example a well known popular celeb..."Kim Kardashian". What is she known for? What made her one of Hollywood's most popular? How did she get into the business? Was it for...  Singer? Actress? Fashion Designer? Sports? etc. No none of that, most do not recognize this fact but Kim K was working as a closet organizer for the well known celebrities. She was never part of the Fabulous life until she got involved with the famous singer Ray J.. who brought her close friends with the young Eras Paris Hilton. All this attention to Kim made her popular all this Me Me Me brought her to what she is today which is a well known celebrity making millions for no real talent.
Lets look at a more simpler example about how powerful it is to have the Me Me Me mind set in youth these days. HAve you ever heard of "People care about People who care about themselves". A very narcissi quote to say but has become so true that makes it impossible to shrug off. As a young adult in her 20s I have become a victim to this saying. Why you may ask? because what happens if you don't share information about yourself to others? what happens if you don't use technology to displace your lifestyle or whereabouts? Let me answer.. you become forgotten, you become the person that fell out the face of the earth. Todays youth or Millennial are not lazy or only concerned with ourselves. We are new citizens of the world we are the new generation that are not afraid to share our daily lives with our peers/public. We have evolved into individuals who are trying to be independent, unique and outspoken about how we really feel and how we live and exress our lives.    

Me, Myself, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I

In the article, The Me Me Me Generation, various topics were brought to my attention. Some of these topics included the power of our generation. Joel Stein states, "the information revolution has further empowered individuals by handing them the technology to compete against huge organizations: hackers vs. corporations, bloggers vs. newspapers, terrorists vs. nation-states, YouTube directors vs. studios, app-makers vs. entire industries. Millennials don't need us. That's why we're scared of them.” And I completely agree. Our generation has been molded to become individuals who seek something new, something better. And although in the short-run it may be a pain in the glutes, it's the type of attitude our society needs. In other words, we don't settle for less. Maybe that's a bit harsh the way it is phrased but I don't know how else to say it. Another topic that this article touched upon was the use of social media sites. Unlike prior generations, we have the means (technology) to venture out into a different culture without even having to leave our seat. On the other hand, technology opens many other doors as well. 

One of the other doors that blown wide open are the effects of narcissism. We have apps and websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram that help us identify ourselves through other peoples opinions or if I dare say so myself, acceptance. Christopher Lasch wrote in The Culture of Narcissism that "the media gives substance to, and thus intensifies, narcissistic dreams of fame and glory, encourage common people to identify themselves with the stars and to hate the 'herd,' and make it more and more difficult for them to accept the banality of everyday existence." And it's highly true. Our generation lives through a screen. But remember, it is only a stretched out result of what used to be. “Millennials' self-involvement is more a continuation of a trend than a revolutionary break from previous generations," stated by Stein. The unfortunate thing is that the next generation only grows from us. So yes, we are powerful but not for long.