Is Generation Me Really so Bad?

Hard data and statistics show that persons born between the 1980 and the year 2000 have propensities of self-regard than any other group. People born in previous years were more society-oriented than self-oriented as compared to the current generation. All the same, the trend towards self and individualization began long ago; it has just climaxed with the current young generation. In the history of man, society, and family, it is clear that human beings have been revolting towards self-actualization and satisfaction. Every generation seems to contain many excesses from its preceding generations. In fact, they are different and view life differently from their predecessors. This paper will show that generation me is no more selfish than its predecessors, and that it consists of people who are self-motivated, creative and born of a bad economy.

Generation Me has just gone a step high in what baby boomers started. As Serjoie and Stein state, “self-involvement is more a continuation of a trend than a revolutionary break from previous generations” (5). The most remarkable change from societal thinking to individual thinking took place in the 1950s and 1960s. This is the time when the family structure changed as well as gender roles, all in pursuit of individualization. Everything from families to workplaces, all depended on the level of self-satisfaction that people were getting. Generation Me is doing the same thing. There is nothing new in their pertinent search of personal joy, contentment, and satisfaction. The only difference is that Generation Me has many channels and mediums of expressing their pursuit of individualization. Baby boomers faced an increased number of divorces in the history of family; while Generation Me is facing delayed marriage. Both the divorces and the late marriages are the result of seeking to get satisfaction in the marriages through financial, emotional, and psychological comfort. Therefore, Generation Me is no different or more selfish than the previous generations. Similarly, baby boomers pursued glee via making their families merry; Generation Me is pursuing contentment via engrossing in doings that delight them. As Perman quotes, “Baby boomers needed immovability for their family. Gen Yers want growth. If they’re not growing at the pace they want to, then they’ll find something else” (1). They are propagating further, what their predecessors started but in different styles.

Generation Me behaves the way it behaves in response to their environments. The world has gone digital, carrying out research is no longer manual, nor is communication. Generation Me is living in a time when the use of the internet is almost basic as well as the use of social media. With rising cost of living, social media are a cheap way of connecting with lots of people all the world. With tight schedules of learning, family, and work, it has become increasingly difficult to socialize face to face or in close contacts. Therefore, the obsessive use of social media and the internet makes communication, reading, research, and socializing easy tasks. In addition, using the internet ensures wide reach on customers or the target group, just as Tim Tieu said, one who lags behind technology is at a disadvantage (Perman 1). Being greatness obsessive is in response to the competition in the job market and the current world. Every employer is seeking for the best, therefore, one has to be confident that he or she is the best, in order to fit and survive in the competitiveness. As Twenge says “a generation’s enormity isn’t governed by data; it’s controlled by how they retort to the encounters that transpire them” (Serjoie, & Stein 5). Thus, Generation Me, or the millennials, are not slothful, bad or self-regarding, they are just responding to changing line of their time.

Generation Me is a result of constraint economic situations all over the world. All the trends of Generation Me are catalyzed by economic situations in their life. Initially, living standards were quite affordable than they are currently; therefore, people could get married at early ages and manage with the little income they had. Currently maintaining a family is quite expensive; therefore, one needs several years of stable earnings before getting into marriage. Secondly, there was little pressure to climb the ladder of occupation since there was no much difference between salaries in different levels. Presently, there is a giant disproportion with reference of incomes between various levels in businesses and among dissimilar premises. Young individuals are inclined to the establishments presenting better-waged settings and salaries. The pursuit of greener pastures in one’s career is one motivating factor of job shifting over short periods. Lastly, the world has taken a capitalist approach to wealth and good living (Dalton, and Linder 235). It is no longer possible to think of the welfare of society, while one’s welfare is uncertain. Therefore, the young people seek to secure their welfare first, before a thing about others. This approach to life may seem selfish but in the real sense, everybody is doing the same thing. Although this generation is deep in looking for greener pastures, they seek to do exploit than to make money. As Twenge says, “They want new experiences, which are more important to them than material goods” (Serjoie, & Stein 4).

There is a need for a common ground between Generation Me and other generations. Generation Me needs to come to a sense of accepting their present atmosphere, in order to act as the circumstances require. The young persons have the liberty to be themselves, but they need not surpass that autonomy. When dealing with older people and their seniors, they should recognize that they are not only pursuing their individual satisfaction, but also acknowledging the other person. Most universities working to bring to their realization that they need to limit their use of personal language when in official environments (Binkley 28). On the same note, some companies are engaging university students while in school, making them come to terms with the adult world and at the same time maintaining their ambitions of self.