“We’ve all been desperate to learn what heavy use of social media does to adolescents. Now
thanks to Twenge’s careful analysis we know: It is making them lonely anxious and
fragile—especially our girls. If you are a parent teacher or employer you must read this
fascinating book.”—Jonathan Haidt author of The Anxious Generation Born after 1995 the
smartphone generation grew up with cell phones had an Instagram page before high school and
cannot remember a time before the Internet. They are iGen and this essential book reveals how
these teens and young adults differ from millennials and every other generation in their mental
health social behaviors and attitudes toward politics and religion. 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 up to the
mid-2000s iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the
smartphone. With social media and texting replacing other activities iGen spends less time
with their friends in person—perhaps contributing to their 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. As this new group of young people grows into
adulthood we all need to understand them: friends and family need to look out for them
businesses must figure out how to recruit them and sell to them colleges and universities must
know how to educate and guide them. And members of iGen also need to understand themselves as
they communicate with their elders and explain their views to their older peers. Because where
iGen goes so goes our nation—and the world. *As seen in Time USA TODAY The Atlantic
The Wall Street Journal and on CBS This Morning BBC PBS CNN and NPR*
