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Connect with Kids real and relevant focus on a cultural shift toward narcissism and materialism in today’s youth is now making national news headlines.
The CWK documentary Living from the Inside Out profiles research from Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. and Keith Campbell, Ph.D., along with their perspectives on these generational trends.
Drs. Twenge and Campbell are also quoted in a recent Time Magazine cover story The Me Me Me Generation, as writer Joel Stein grapples with whether this is a “lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow” generation, or if recent data and perceived entitlement is “an adaption to a world of abundance.”
Dr. Twenge recently published results of a new study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, showing that there is, in fact, a growing gap for today’s young adults between materialism and the desire to work hard.
In Living from the Inside Out, Twenge suggests that to protect against the anxiety and depression that can result from this trend toward narcissism and entitlement, we should work to develop the intrinsic values of social connectedness — too often missing in our online relationships of today. “To have those close relationships that you value and that are very stable, and that seems to be what we’re missing now in modern life,” she said.
Sure to be reflected in upcoming commencement messages as well, President Obama reminded Morehouse College 2013 graduates that while “no one expects you to take a vow of poverty… it betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do.” He implored graduates to use the power of their education for “something larger than yourself.”
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