iGen
Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood
Jean M. Twenge · 2017 · Psychology
11 min · 11 chaptersNarrated in your voice
What it's about
Drawing on decades of survey data from millions of American teenagers, psychologist Jean Twenge argues that the generation born after 1995 diverges sharply from every generation before it, and that the hinge is the smartphone. She tracks slower paths to independence, less time with friends in person, more anxiety and depression, and a retreat from risk of every kind, arguing these are not minor generational quirks but a coherent shift in how young people experience growing up.
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Who it's for
- Parents trying to make sense of a teenager who is rarely off their phone but rarely leaves the house either - Teachers, counselors, and youth workers who want data behind what they are observing in classrooms and clinics - Anyone in media, marketing, or policy who needs a grounded picture of the post-1995 generation rather than anecdote
What’s inside
- 1A Generation Defined by a Device1 min
The generational break Twenge documents is not gradual drift but a sudden discontinuity that appears in the data right around 2011 to 2012, when smartphone ownership among teens crossed 50 percent.
- 2Growing Up on a Longer Timeline1 min
iGen teens are delaying the traditional markers of independence—driving, working, dating, drinking—not because they are lazier but because childhood itself has been extended by risk-averse parenting and shrinking unsupervised time.
- 3The Group Chat Replaces the Hangout1 min
Face-to-face socializing has been substituted, not supplemented, by screen-based contact, and this substitution—not screens per se—is what erodes teen well-being.
- 4The Mental Health Turn After 20121 min
A measurable, historically unusual rise in depression, anxiety, and suicide among teens—concentrated especially in girls—begins at the same moment smartphone use became near-universal, and the timing argues for more than coincidence.
- 5Safety First, Resilience Second1 min
A culture-wide shift toward physical and emotional safety at nearly any cost has produced a generation more anxious about risk and less practiced at tolerating discomfort.
- 6Losing Religion, Keeping Spirituality1 min
iGen is walking away from organized religious practice faster than any prior generation did at the same age, even while retaining private spiritual beliefs, which weakens religion's traditional role as a source of structure and belonging.
- 7Politically Cautious, Not Clearly Left or Right1 min
iGen holds more consistently tolerant views on race, gender, and sexuality than any prior generation, but this tolerance coexists with a cautious, safety-oriented approach to speech and debate that does not map neatly onto traditional political labels.
- 8Uncertain About the Future, Careful With Money1 min
iGen approaches careers and money with anxious caution shaped by growing up in the shadow of the Great Recession, even though many were too young to be directly affected by it.
About Jean M. Twenge
Jean M. Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University who has spent her career analyzing large longitudinal surveys of American youth, including Monitoring the Future and the American Freshman Survey. She is also the author of Generation Me and has published widely in academic journals on generational change, narcissism, and mental health trends.
