March 2, 2007
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0302/p01s01-ussc.html
Excerpt:
A little smug self-absorption might be a time-honored trait of at least some subsets of the under-30 crowd. But over the past few decades the prevailing disposition among college students - today labeled Generation Y or Millenials - has slid into full-blown narcissism, according to a study released this week. The "all about me" shift means much more than lots of traffic at self-revelatory websites such as YouTube and Facebook. It points, says the study's author, to a generation's lack of empathy, its inability to form relationships- and worse.
[...] For some, the study validates their suspicions of educational and parenting techniques that put undue emphasis on the positive: tot-level self-esteem boosterism, luxury-as-necessity entitlement, and what one calls "instant fame-ification."
"I can't imagine you can do a study on Gen-X, Gen-Y, Gen-Z and not have the takeaway be an inappropriate application of self-esteem," says James Twitchell, an English professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and an author of books on cultural shifts in the US. The trend is apparent even in student grading. "Grade inflation is just [another] adaption of the Lake Wobegon to everyday life. Everyone is 'above average,'" he says.
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