Generation Me

In Generation Me, by Jean Twenge, the attacks on the generations’ ways of life and standards for living are far-fetched, in my opinion. Twenge remarks on how generation me is self-absorbed, politically uninvolved, too direct and to the point, against tradition, and all about personal happiness. These things have little to do with major problems such as global warming or the oil crisis, and are more about Twenge’s own personal pet peeves. Yes, we want to be happy, but who doesn’t? Doing well by ourselves doesn’t mean we have a complete lack of understanding and compassion to others around us. My generation is the one who is going “green”, working to solve global issues, which were not caused by our generation, but we are the ones left to clean up the mess, and trying to protect our environment. We put ourselves out there, striving to live in what we feel makes us happy and fulfills our personal needs. If you are not happy with yourself and your life, then what was the purpose of anything you did while living that life? To be who you are and to know what is truly important to you, gives you a true understanding of what makes you happy. Rather than being cold, cut-off, and self-centered as Twenge states, generation me is caring and open to ideas and change as evidenced by our out reach to global poverty and the want to preserve our world for generations to come. Generation me has opened its eyes to the possibilities of living a better life for us, for the now and for our future. We are the generation of “individuality” and making a change for the better. We might be a little in your face, stating our opinions without regard as to how they will affect someone, but at least we are trying. Twenge states that “GenMe’s focus on the needs of the individual is not necessarily self-absorbed or isolationist; instead, it’s a way of moving through the world beholden to few social rules and with unshakeable belief that you’re important” (49). So we think we are important, why

Cited: Richert, Mary. "The Things I 've Outgrown." NoTitles. 05 Aug. 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2010. <http://www.notitles.com/>. Twenge, Jean M. Generation Me: Why Today 's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable than Ever before. New York: Free, 2006. Print.