Narcissism and Generation Essay

My generation, also known as Generation Y, is defined as a technology based generation. We have grown up surrounded with all sorts of technologies that make our lives easier. In some ways this has been beneficial to us. It has enabled us to get information about something at the touch of a button or keep us from getting sick. In other ways it has caused us to grow up lazy and wanting to do the least amount of work as possible. Many adults believe that Generation Y feels entitled to certain privileges and that most luxuries are necessities. According to Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before, â€Å"Teens feel entitled and are coddled, disrespectful, narcissistic and impatient†. I agree with this because many people my age are very self-centered. see more:does technology make us lazy The main thing that defines Generation Y is our technology based upbringing. We have grown up with televisions , microwaves, dishwashers, and other gadgets that entertain us or make our lives easier. We are so consumed with technology that issues such as â€Å"nomophbia† or â€Å"no mobile-phone phobia,† (Vicky Kung, CNN) and other psychological problems have recently been discovered when Generation Y was separated from technology. As one of the examples of excess attachment to technology, researcher, Michael Carr-Gregg, stated that â€Å"Many of my clients go to bed with their mobile phones while sleeping just like how one will have the teddy bear in the old days.† This just goes to show how attached Generation Y is to technology. There are two main characteristics that Generation Y have: they are feelings of entitlement and the belief that luxuries are necessities. We believe that having a television, hair dryer, coffee maker and other such amenities are necessities when staying in a hotel, while our parents consider them luxuries. This is because we have never been without these utilities and have grown up in homes that use them every day. The other characteristic that Generation Y has is that we feel entitlement to certain privileges due to the fact that technology has made life easier for us and we haven’t had to work as hard for the things that we want compared to our parents. Generation Y thinks that because we know more about the current day and age (basically technology) that we should be entitled to greater or equal benefits to that of our superiors. As far as â€Å"fitting into the mold† I believe that in certain aspects I do fit into Generation Y and in others I do not. I fit into Generation Y when it comes to technology and being â€Å"tech savvy†. I understand how many computers and other such technological appliances work because I have grown up around them. I don’t â€Å"fit the mold† when it comes to the psychological issues of technology such as nomophobia. I have never been super attached to a phone or other technology based appliance. One thing that has helped me not become so attached is that I don’t have internet on my phone. This helps because I interact more with people and I don’t have the temptation to check my Facebook all the time. I don’t fit the mold with the feelings of entitlement because my parents have taught me to respect my elders and that just because I may know a little bit more about technology than they do doesn’t mean that they aren’t smart or that their advice is worthless. Other characteristics that I do fit the mold in are thinking that luxuries are necessities. Growing up, I always had a dishwasher, microwave, computer, television and other necessities that my parents consider the comfortable luxuries of life. In conclusion Generation Y is a technology based generation because that is what we have grown up with and evolved with. Generation Y has also grown up thinking that luxuries are necessities because we have never been without them. Many of us also have feelings of entitlement because technology has made life easier for us and we haven’t had to work as hard as our parents did growing up. I believe that I personally fit the mold in some areas and don’t in others because of the generation and technology age that I have grown up in and the way that I was raised. Works Cited ————————————————- Armour, Stephanie. â€Å"Generation Y: They’ve arrived at work with a new attitude.† USA Today. USA Today, 06 November 2005. Web. 17 Sep 2012. <http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm>. ————————————————- ————————————————- Chang, Katherine. â€Å"What Defines Our Generation?.† Inside Beat. Inside Beat, 29 September 2010. Web. 17 Sep 2012. <http://www.inside-beat.com/film/what-defines-our-generation-1.2349047>. ————————————————- ————————————————- Kung, Vicky. â€Å"Rise of ‘nomophobia’: More people fear loss of mobile contact.† CNN. CNN, 07 March 2012. Web. 17 Sep 2012. <http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/06/tech/mobile/nomophobia-mobile-addiction/?hpt=hp_c3>. ————————————————- ————————————————- Twenge, Jean. Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled -and More Miserable Than Ever Before. New York City: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2006. 279. Web.