A discussion of life in this interesting article in the Globe and Mail on the weekend.
Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, explored the root of this conflict in her new book, Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled - and More Miserable Than Ever Before.
In it, she uses three decades of psychological surveys to compare the assets, personalities and priorities of the baby boom generation when they were in their late 20s with those of a group she calls "Generation Me," men and women born in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The latter group, she found, have higher self-esteem, assertiveness and narcissistic tendencies, but also report higher anxiety levels and are more likely to suffer depression.
Ms. Twenge, who is 35 and considers herself part of Generation Me, understands this profile, saying people her age were encouraged to be individuals without thinking about where it may lead them.
"We grew up in a world where we could take it for granted that the self came first," she said. "The downside is that a lot of people spend their 20s doing things they think will make them happy, but end up lonely and depressed."
And
A Pew Research Center poll released in January showed that 81 per cent of 25-year-olds in the United States said getting rich is their generation's most important life goal. Fifty-one per cent said the same thing about getting famous.
While researching her play, Ms. Duncan was told by several straight-faced subjects that they had expected to be a movie star or millionaire by age 30. Others seemed genuinely upset they had not become legends by their late 20s.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...portsBaseball/
If you are 20 and under, do you expect to be a rock star and marry a famous celebrity before you are 30, the same expectations your parents used to have?
If you are nearing 30 or a little beyond right now, are you surprised you're not a rock star yet and you haven't married a famous celebrity?
What happened to your life?
What will happen to your life?
And remember, if Jerry Rubin, a member of the Chicago 7 protest group who once famously opined,
"Never trust anyone over 30," hadn't been killed by a taxi cab, he'd be 69 this year.
Cowperson