A Deep Dive into the Generations and the Case for Optimism

Commentary on ‘Generations’ by Dr. Jean Twenge

Note: All cited quotations and references are from ‘Generations’ by Dr. Jean Twenge.

I recently finished Dr.

Jean M. Twenge

’s book, Generations. In it, she breaks down the available data on various characteristics and attitudes of the six currently living generations (Silents, Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and Polars/Gen Alpha). I’ll paint the broad strokes of each generation until we arrive in Generation Z—my own—and offer my perspective on some of Gen Z’s cultural attitudes, particularly those regarding mental health and pessimism.

To kick us off, Twenge takes us through the early civil rights movements and post-war sky-high fertility rates of the Silent generation (1925-1945), which sets the scene for the Boomers to arrive from 1946-1964. The Boomers then began living out what the Silent generation put into action: greater equality and individualism.

As Twenge puts it, the “Boomer brand of individualism” was “not only the widespread rejection of outdated prejudices but the centering of individual choice.” She then cracks the data on what made this increased centering on individual choice possible: Technology. Boomers were the first to grow up with an expanded notion of what life could be like via TV, as well as to experience the dawn of birth control, labor-saving appliances and advances in medical care.¹ This generation started reading and writing self-help books and emphasized self-expression. They broke traditional roles: men grew their hair long, more people got divorced, and more women sought to build careers before having children. The Boomers then yielded to Generation X in 1965 (until 1979), who then grew up in what Twenge calls “the shadows of the ‘60’s…after Woodstock, after Vietnam War protests, and after the civil rights and feminist movements.”² Dubbed the “middle child” of generations, both literally and figuratively, the average Generation X’er (this book deals in averages) was a lover of TV and pop culture, and let themselves into their empty house after school—latchkey kids, as they were called, were a product of higher numbers of working mothers and little available childcare. Gen X’ers had, on average, largely unsupervised childhoods and parents who adopted a ‘come back home when it’s dark’ attitude. The 90’s, when Gen X was in their teens and twenties, brought rap music, cynicism, and skepticism toward authority. Gen X is where we begin to see a decline in trust in government and medicine, as well declining confidence in the press and media, which has continued into present day. The political apathy and low voter turnout of Generation X was countered with a broader interest in “saving the environment” and a more than 50% likelihood of being accepting of homosexuality—a monumental number, at the time.³

Millennials came next, born 1980-1994, whom Twenge describes as “the most planned and wanted generation in American history.” The steadily increasing individualism their Boomer parents took mainstream led Millennial children to a “relentlessly positive [upbringing]” which in turn led to rocketing self-confidence and high expectations for Millennial futures.⁴ Thus began the era of “Everyone gets a trophy” and extra efforts were taken to boost childhood self-esteem. Though, broadly, more Millennial high school and college students believed they were ‘above average’ compared to their peers, academic performance largely remained the same as previous generations who had lower levels of reported self-esteem. ⁵

Though the 2008 recession brought many Millennials disappointment, and many still did not achieve the high expectations they set out for, Millennials as a whole remain an exceptionally educated and high-earning generation. Overall, more Millennials went to a four-year college and made more money than previous generations at the same age (adjusted for inflation, at that).⁶ Here is where we start to see more evidence of the social impact of an increasingly technological modern landscape: Millennials, despite the data showing objective stability and increases in income and equality, reported perceiving themselves as doing worse than any other generation. As Twenge breaks down for us, this effect may very well be due to social media, which was becoming more popular: as we know, social media has a tendency to skew perceptions of how happy, wealthy, and put together the average similar-aged American is, often leading us to see ourselves as ‘behind’ or not doing as well as others. Further, negative news gets more views (if it bleeds, it leads) which affects what people see on the internet. As Millennials spent more time online, more experienced the effects of “group polarization”, a psychological phenomenon which explains how beliefs and attitudes tend to get more and more extreme as they are discussed within a group of people. In Twenge’s words, “social media became a Millennial echo chamber for economic complaints…which has downstream effects on political attitudes and values.”⁷ For the record, Twenge ‘steel man’s’ alternate or contributing theories for why this more negative, “we got screwed” Millennial perception of reality took place, including those of college loan debt, cost of childcare for working parents, and cost of housing.⁸ However, the data most closely supports social media and technology as being a primary cause.

To round out the Millennials, we see trends supporting a declining birth rate (waiting longer to have children and then having fewer), less religiosity (moving away from organized religion) and more political involvement (higher voter turnout). Interestingly, and setting the stage for Generation Z, the data for Millennial mental health show higher happiness as teens in the 90s, but more depression as they aged into adulthood. There are many theories of why this happened, such as political polarization and being disappointed by “adulting” (a popular Millennial term), but as Twenge concludes with overwhelming evidence, technology is most likely to explain the drastic changes in mental health. Technology, as we all know, changed the way young people interacted with each other and the markers for which they compared their lives to others. The rise of social media has led to less in-person social interactions, and high use is connected to higher rates of depression. This trend, as we have unfortunately seen, has only settled more deeply in Gen Z.

As a 1998 baby, Generation Z is my generation—one that spans from 1995-2012, by most accounts. We have been the first generation to grow up with smartphones and social media—I was 9 when the iPhone came out—and have experienced the expansion of social media while under the age of 25. Notably, Gen Z is, as Twenge says, “the most racially and ethnically diverse generation of American adults to date,” and this generation pays close attention and care to inclusivity across many other demographic variables.

Generation Z has, so far, grown up even more slowly than any other generation: fewer teens are getting their license, and are less likely to date, drink alcohol, and work for pay. Overall, they are postponing the independence their Gen X parents experienced in the free-roaming era of the latchkey kid.⁹ In Twenge’s words, this is “a clear manifestation of the slow-life strategy that has rolled out over the course of the last five American generations: When technology extends the life span and requires more education to attain economic independence, parents have fewer children and those children grow up more slowly.”¹⁰

I can attest to this slowing of growing up—many of my peers consider both marriage and children, a traditional marker of adulthood, with a “maybe later, maybe never” mindset. The data support this: there is a steady decline of U.S. 12th graders who value marriage and family as being extremely important.¹¹ The average Gen Z’er may not only be postponing these typical trajectories, but evading them altogether: time will tell if this trend away from marriage and children continues as Gen Z ages into their 30s.

I will admit to reading parts of this section with more indignance than the previous chapters: “that’s not me!” I kept thinking. But this book deals in averages, and since averages constitute a large part of the population, averages are a big deal. There has been, in recent years, a generational attitude shift toward restricting free speech, demanding more regulation, and banning controversial speakers: to older generations, this seems a far-cry from the individualist pillars America stands upon. Further, Gen Z is—on average—invested in staying “emotionally safe” as well as physically safe, which translates to a greater interest in protecting other people from hearing offensive things, issuing “trigger warnings” for potentially distressing content, and seeking refuge in “safe spaces”. Other writers have written extensively about this trend and the potential impacts of it in books such as The Coddling of The American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff.¹²

Twenge goes on to discuss what she calls “The Depressing State of Gen Z Mental Health”—referring, of course, to the worsening state of mental well-being we see reflected in many, many graphs. Overall, Gen Z reports having lower self-esteem, and being more lonely, depressed, and dissatisfied with life—trends that began well before COVID and thus cannot be explained by the pandemic.¹³ Nor, as Twenge argues compellingly, can it be explained by “over diagnosis […] by mental health professionals” or decreased stigma around reporting mental health issues—no, as shown by data, these changes in reported mental health also translate to behaviors of poor mental health, like suicide and ER self-harm admissions.¹⁴ In other words, Gen Z isn’t just saying they’re struggling because there’s less stigma to do so—they actually are struggling.

Of course, most of you can guess—especially if you have been around this weekly newsletter for a while—at what is surmised to be the greatest factor in the sorry state of our *on average* mental health: more time online. I have written before about my personal thoughts on The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness as well as responded to writers who claim that social media is making us worse people.

Basically, I generally agree that social media and more time spent online makes your mental health worse. I’ve experienced it, as have many of my peers. For reasons associated with smartphone use like social comparison, increased exposure to divisive and inflammatory news, less sleep, less time spent socializing in person, and more infrequent regular exercise, social media and smartphones have broadly affected young people’s mental health in a not-so-fine way. The data is there to support it—and I highly recommend reading The Anxious Generation for more in-depth evidence.¹⁵ In Generations, Twenge presents extremely compelling data that pushes the trend outside of the U.S., too: increases in unhappiness in young people has been recorded in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand during the years social media was also making gains, starting in 2010. Similar spikes in poor mental health have been recorded in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and other European countries.¹⁶

One of Twenge’s final points on Gen Z is perhaps what I felt the most dismay while reading: Pessimism. Perhaps due in part to suffering mental health, Gen Z is more pessimistic about the world than other generations have been. More are likely to have less hope for the world and to wonder if there is a purpose to life¹⁷ and are generally more uncertain about the future. We are, *on average*, less likely to be proud to be an American,¹⁸ and more likely to perceive that women are discriminated against,¹⁹ despite recorded gender discrimination in education and career going down, not up. It’s more common in Gen Z to view the world with an external locus of control, or with the belief that one does not have much of an impact on the outcomes in their life—instead, it’s other people and systems that determine results.²⁰

Despite the pessimism running rampant, Gen Z’ers are decidedly not politically apathetic: in other words, while we may be more likely to perceive the world as being dark and dismal, Gen Z is also more likely to strive for social change and take action against societal ills. Both young liberals and conservatives are interested in making changes to systems they feel are no longer working. This trend, while likely impacted by multiple factors, also can be traced to technology’s influence.²¹

There is so, so much more to be said on the cultural attitudes and values of each generation, and about the way technology will continue to influence us. I barely even touched some key players in this discussion! If you want an incredibly well-resourced compilation and commentary on generational differences and why they occur—read Generations by Jean Twenge. Your understanding of our current political and social climate will almost certainly be more informed, and your opinions may very well shift.

I’d like to leave this discussion with a bit of positivity—a little Gen Z optimism, anyone? It’s disappointing to see strong data that reflect a dominance in pessimism, especially in my generation. Other generations are not immune to this way of life, either: I’m sure every one of you knows a pessimist in almost every age group.

But, allow me to go to bat for the realistic optimist, from a rather philosophical perspective. On my to-read list is The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, where I know he breaks down other data-grounded reasons why optimism is a solid approach to life.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about human agency and free will, and what we actually have control over in this unpredictable life. More and more, I think that the most powerful aspect we can influence is our perspectives. Yes, it’s true that there are terrible things in the world, that tragedy occurs, that people sometimes treat other people horribly. And, it would be a huge disservice to ourselves to not acknowledge that the opposite is also true: that there are so many beautiful things in this world, and that there are deeply good people doing deeply good things. For as many awful things we can despair over, there are more things we can rejoice over.

If it’s true that we can have any small influence over this life and our world by the way we look at things—isn’t it our responsibility to believe that there is goodness, kindness, and beauty? Doesn’t the act of ignoring what is right and worth living for disrespect the gift of life we have been given?

Sometimes I think that my optimism is born from mental illness—early on, I faced a kind of despair and distress that forced me into a place of genuinely wanting to experience something different. My recovery has propelled me to look for things worth living for, to see beauty and goodness and opportunity instead of resigning myself to feeling hopeless and bad.

Other times I think my optimism is born from a love of children—my current job is an infant education specialist for children ages 0-3, so I spend a lot of time with toddlers. Children have a kind of intuitive love for life that many of us lose in adulthood. Knowing and loving a child has the power to change a whole person’s life trajectory: Many substance-use recovery stories cite wanting to provide a good life for their child as a reason for getting sober. To know a child is to know that there is something worth living for. To watch a child discover snow, or a roly-poly, is to witness the essence of what we all come here with the capacity for—joy, awe, excitement. Yes, sometimes toddlers push each other over, but they also help each other up. They remind us that for as many falls we take, there will always be someone to help us get back up again.

My optimism no longer feels like a choice, but an imperative for living. It is bolstered by a desire to see the good in the world, by a trust that positive change is possible, and by a love for humanity that sits deep in my bones. I’m optimistic because I want to be, because I can be, and because I consider it my responsibility to this world. It also feels better than pessimism.

I cannot speak on behalf of my own generation, but I can say that from my little slice of life, optimism is not all lost. Many people I know share a staunch commitment to optimism and seeing what is good. Though we may be a generation glued to our phones, we are also a generation who is beginning to wake up to the reality that life is better when we disconnect from the online world and look at each other. We are a generation who desires positive change, and are going to have to figure out how to work together. Divisiveness, hatred, and depression are not sustainable ways of living, and I have faith that things will continue to change. It might seem worse in some ways before it gets better, as many things often do. And, I will continue to champion the perspective that not only can things change for the better, but a lot of things are actually already good, already beautiful. Choosing to see the good and beautiful does not mean turning a blind eye to what is wrong, but widens our capacity for nuance, compassion, and belief in humanity.

As we continue to build our future for ourselves and the next generations, may we remember that we have choice in the perspectives we hold. May we use that responsibility wisely.

Maggie

1. Generations, p. 79

2. Generations, p. 149

3. Generations, p. 208-214

4. Generations, p. 231

5. Generations, p. 244

6. Generations, p. 260

7. Generations, p. 277

8. Generations, p. 268-270

9. Generations, p. 372

10. Generations, p. 374

11. Generations, p. 377

12. Generations, 387

13. Generations, p. 396

14. Generations, p. 398

15. Generations, 407-418

16. Generations, p. 406-407

17. Generations, 420

18. Generations, p. 422

19. Generations, p. 425

20. Generations, p.429

21. Generations, p. 446