Why It's All About Us

In Greek mythology, hubris, or pride, is the tragic flaw that often brings about the downfall of the main character. A prime example of this is Narcissus, who was known as the most beautiful man on earth. Just as Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection, “Generation Me” is slowly becoming so engrossed with themselves that creativity and individualism are falling to the side. Will we break our gaze and see the reality of our egotism, or will we become a culture of repetition and recycled ideas fuelled by our “me first” attitude? In order for us to judge this, we must first understand the different generations and how they compare to Generation Me.

The Traditionalists

The traditionalist generation was one of conflicting ideals. Innovation was key, yet society consisted of norms and boundaries. Resilient and strong, this generation pushed through unimaginable hardships. The Great Depression plagued the birth of this age bracket, and their adolescent years did not improve, with Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II going on.

However, these events would not derail this generation. Instead, they sped into a period of novelty. The introduction of the polio vaccine and the space race demonstrated the scientific and technological advancement of the age. But even amidst all this improvement, the society of the time was not advancing by any means.

Gary Ross’s Pleasantville poked fun at the typical nuclear family: a father who worked and provided, a mother who chose to be a housewife, sons who dreamt of becoming astronauts, and daughters who dreamt of marriage. Hidden beneath the surface, this cookie cutter world had problems. Depression and alcoholism usually went undiagnosed. The culture of strict conformity and willful oversight gave this generation its strengths and weaknesses both.

As the traditionalist veterans returned home from war, their dreams were simple: a comfortable house, a good wife, and lots of children. After 80 million births, the Baby Boomer generation was born.

The Baby Boomer Generation Building on the momentum of positive attitude and achievement, Baby Boomers had many successes. They pursued higher education in large numbers. They also continued to run the space race. Nevertheless, they experienced major upheavals with the Vietnam War in the 1960s and the Civil Rights movement that spanned the ‘60s and ‘70s. Although there was an increasing complexity in this bracket, class differences continued to separate people just as they had in the traditionalist generation.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 shocked the growing Baby Boomer generation. America was devastated by the death of such a young and ambitious figure. JFK’s brother, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated only five years later, on June 4, 1968. In the same year, Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 16th. This did not deter the movement but strengthened and fuelled it.

Always maintaining appearances of composure and strength took its toll on some of the Baby Boomers, who experienced depression and anxiety. Low self-esteem also swept across this generation. Today, Boomers face a troubled health care system and a large part of the population aging quickly.

The expansive Baby Boomer generation was so large that it became the parents of both Generation X and Generation Me. Early Boomers typically have very different goals and parenting styles than later Boomers. This difference in child rearing techniques has built two vastly different generations.

Generation X

The optimism of the Boomers would not continue to propagate down the generations. A new and angry group known as Generation X was born. They were resilient, independent, and shaped by the fact that they had not been coddled emotionally. Working mothers and divorce became an increasing social trend affecting Gen X. Because of this issue, Gen X believed that parents were no longer infallible—rather, they were human beings who made mistakes and could be questioned. This idea was also fuelled by their ambition.

Gen X wanted to do well in their chosen careers. They expected immediate and ongoing feedback and redefined the meaning of loyalty. Their commitment lay only with the team and boss that they worked with. They did not stick with one company; when working with a firm was no longer beneficial, they would move on. Finally, this generation was marked by increasing technology in domestic arenas, such as desktop computers, copier machines, and handheld calculators.

Generation Me

Generation X, the elder sibling full of angst and frustration, was followed by Generation Me (GenMe), a group coddled and given so much attention that it has become known for its ego and confidence. Unlike the Boomer parents of Generation X, the Boomer parents of GenMe nurtured and loved their children to the point that this generation (and even their parents) became convinced that they could do no wrong.

Born in a technological era (between 1980 and 1994) Generation Me has become accustomed to the internet, cellular phones, cable TV, and other luxuries which have created the expectation of instant gratification. We want what we want, and we want it now.

In a work setting, GenMe prefers to work in teams and, like Generation X, has a constant need for feedback and reassurance. GenMe is not only capable of multi-tasking, they have it down to a science. They are known to do homework, listen to music, text message, and chat on instant messenger all at once. A technologically advanced group, Generation Me learns quickly.

GenMe has also been affected by many tragic events, however. For example, September 11th made GenMe more aware of the world around them, forming a generation that is slightly more global and knowledgeable of the world beyond America. Additionally, the Columbine shooting, which killed 13 and injured 23, flooded the media with images of students holding their hands on their heads and rushing out of the school building. The next day, it seemed as if every school in the nation had bag checks and metal detectors. More recently, a student opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus, killing 32 people and wounding many more on April 16, 2007. The massacre ended in the student-shooter taking his own life.

These random tragedies rocked the core of this generation and brought about a frightening confusion. Somehow, innocent people died simply by going to school or work. GenMe endured these events, but also became immune and desensitized to the violence in the process.

None of these facts, however, explain how we became so self-involved. In order to get a more accurate picture, we must dig deeper under the surface.

Through the Looking Glass
When brainstorming what experts mean when they call our generation narcissistic, the 2004 movie Mean Girls suddenly comes to mind. A character named Gretchen Weiners, whose father allegedly invented toaster strudel, most memorably said, “I’m sorry people are jealous of me, but I can’t help that I’m so popular.” At first this is laughable, but on second thought, it’s dead on. Sometimes, we get so self-obsessed that we feel the world revolves around us. Sometimes, we feel like we deserve more credit and attention than others would actually care to give us.

Blogs and YouTube

The internet and its endless capabilities have catered to our apparent self-loving attitude. It has never been as easy for us to spread our opinions as it is now. Almost anyone can post a message on an online message board or create their very own blog using LiveJournal (LJ ), Blogspot, and even Facebook. If you were a little bit more ambitious, you could even design and program your own website from scratch. Never theless, according to Jean M. Twenge, author of the book, Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before, “Blogs are built around the idea that everyone wants to hear your thoughts. Had a bad day? Tell the world on LJ.”

The advent of YouTube has only added more fuel to our self-centric fire. Look at the very name of the website. YouTube enables an ordinary person to attain his 15 minutes of fame by recording and uploading any of his or her videos. Without it, how would we have ever shown the world our capability as amateur stuntmen, innovators, musicians, and filmmakers? How would Chris Crocker have earned his claim to fame by defending Britney Spears from the media?

Reality Television

Reality television has put a different spin on the same idea. As the New York Times reported, “Reality television has spawned a generation of viewers who feel entitled to be on camera.” In 2000, “Survivor” started the reality show craze, with “Big Brother,” “Temptation Island,” and “The Bachelor” quickly following suit. Eight years later, a whole slew of shows have followed suit, including “Fear Factor,” “I Love New York,” and “America’s Next Top Model.” When you really think about it, no matter how differently you dress them up, the underlying themes and messages for these shows are all the same. They’re all about love, money, and fame. Even more broadly, they’re all about one’s struggle to prove that he or she is better than the rest. Therefore, one can prove that he or she deserves to be on TV and to receive that $1 million, that recording or model contract, or that hot guy or girl. We start believing that if we can attain that prize at the end, we can get almost everything that we want.

I Want It, When I Want It

In Generation Me by Jean Twenge, this culture of self-centeredness is descr ibed as such: “Materialism is the most obvious outcome of a straightforward, practical focus on the self: you want more things for yourself.” We want movies, books, and video games that entertain us. We want clothes and accessories that complement our style. We want products that will please us; and sometimes, that isn’t enough. Brand name products have never been as popular as they are now, because we have become accustomed to having the best available. However, the problem arises when we start wanting and purchasing things we cannot afford. If we’re not careful, we become victims of credit card debt because we have become too preoccupied with our desires.

Many of us already use our hard-earned cash from our part-time jobs to pay for our cars, laptops, cellular phones, and mp3 players, instead of saving it for that rainy day our parents told us about. One might wonder how much money could be saved by avoiding such expenses.

In Dollars or In Utils...How Can Success Be Measured?

In our parents’ time, success was measured on a f iscal or inf luent ial scale. How much money you made or your impact on the world was the barometer of your accomplishments. Today, GenMe measures success by how happy you are. Sometimes, happiness is brought by how many toys you own and sometimes, it is triggered by something more substantial.

Shinay McNeill, a third year Visual Media major, admits that the job market does not look good. According to McNeill, even professors have commented on the current job market for photographers, “More than half of us will not have photo jobs when we graduate.” Many will be forced to edit and do other behind-the-scenes jobs and never get to shoot. “Even if there is that risk out there that you are not going to be making billions of dollars, you still want to do it,” said McNeill. Emily McKean, a second year Photojournalism major, is also undeterred: “If I want it, I will do it.”

Sculpting Our Own Future

Nowadays, students have more freedom in what they decide to take in college. Children no longer have to aspire to be lawyers, doctors, and bankers. They can choose whatever makes them happy, and even if a college doesn’t have your dream major, you can now build it. Many colleges have a multidisciplinary studies program which allows students to take a variety of classes and concentrate in a certain area. While in some cases this works for students who have changed their majors or will be furthering their degrees anyway, that cannot outweigh the sneaking suspicion that it is a way to avoid the effort to earn a more specified degree.

One Major Pitfall

Even though we have become so confident with ourselves and have become so driven to succeed, there is still at least one major drawback. When all our lives we are made to believe that we can do anything, we develop higher expectations. We feel that we are entitled to and deserve so much more; and when we don’t get what we want, sometimes we don’t know how to deal with it.

In the 1999 film Fight Club, Tyler Durden was frighteningly accurate when he said, “We were raised on television to believe that we’d all be millionaires, movie gods, rock stars, but we won’t. And we’re starting to figure that out. And we’re very, very pissed off.” At times, it seems that we were given false hope that just because we try hard enough for something, it will come. Although being rich and famous is not impossible, we fail to see how difficult the journey itself could really be.