iGen Book Review

A highly readable and entertaining first look at how today’s members of iGen—the children, teens, and young adults born in the mid-1990s and later—are vastly different from their Millennial predecessors, and from any other generation, from the renowned psychologist and author of Generation Me.

About iGen

With generational divides wider than ever, parents, educators, and employers have an urgent need to understand today’s rising generation of teens and young adults. Born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s and later, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smart phone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person—perhaps why they are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality. iGen is also growing up more slowly than previous generations: eighteen-year-olds look and act like fifteen-year-olds used to.

But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality. iGen is also growing up more slowly than previous generations: eighteen-year-olds look and act like fifteen-year-olds used to.

My Thoughts

Our children are growing up in a difficult time period. Everything is so different from when I was in my teens! They are growing up with technology I would never have even dreamed of. This technology has to have had an impact on their childhood and the way they connect with family, friends and others.

This book examines just how drastically this generation has changed (and looks at statistics from a broad range of cultures, ages and numbers). It looks at several areas where this generation has differed from their predecessors, such as religion, politics, family, work, sex and attitudes. It is amazing to see how the iGen generation has shifted with their thinking and mind-set.

As a parent with children growing up in this iGen generation, I think this book is a must read. It points out so many important facts that really make you think about your own parenting. Do I focus too much on safety at the risk of not allowing my child to learn and grow? Am I preventing independence and necessary life skills by doing things for them? Is my child spending so much time socializing online that they are lacking the necessary communication and verbal skills required for later on in life? What are the implications of all of this?

This book was a definite eye opener for me as parent. I can see my children in this book and it really made me focus on what I can do now as a parent to help my child prepare for their future. There are so many skills that I learned in my teen years that are not being passed down to my children. I loved that this book offered hope and suggestions on how to change behaviour now before children spiral out of control. The most shocking (although we see it in the news all the time) is the mental health aspect. This culture is hurting them with depression, anxiety and loneliness and this book tackles the whys of this.

iGen is well written and expressed in a manner that parents can understand and apply in their own homes. It is a definite must read parenting book especially for parents raising young children, teens or even planning families.

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Jean M. Twenge credentials: Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 90 scientific publications and three books based on her research, Generation Me, The Narcissism Epidemic, and The Impatient Woman’s Guide to Getting Pregnant. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, NBC Nightly News, Fox and Friends, Dateline, and NPR. She received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband and daughters.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.