Twenge is one of the country’s leading experts on generational study and has written many books on the subject including iGen and Generation Me. She has been featured in Time magazine, The Atlantic, Newsweek and the New York Times and has been interviewed on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox and friends, CBS This Morning and NPR.
There are currently 5 generations of Americans working and interacting in the United States today. This does not include children born after 2012. With longer life spans, this is the most generations that have interacted before and Twenge has written a book to help each generation understand each other and learn to work well together. The book is chock full of graphs and scientific research, but it is easy to read for non-researchers as well.
The book is broken down primarily by the 5 employable generations. Each section gives that generations demographics, popular names, and famous people born into that generation. Twenge describes each generation as being formed around the technology tat developed when each generation were children including the television, computers, cell phones, then social media.
I loved learning about the generational myths including the fact that the silent generation were the ones who brought on social justice changes, not the baby boomers and millennials who love to say that they had no opportunity for wealth and home ownership are actually extremely well off financially. She also gives dire warnings to the effects of social media on the mental health of the youngest generation, Gen Z.
Gen-Xers, the generation I belong to, were the last generation to have an analog childhood and have struggled to understand the following two generations who were bork into the digital world. Twenge’s book helped me to understand how best to interact with the younger generations in the workplace environment and even how to relate better to my children.
I found myself talking about this book nonstop with my coworkers after I read it. And invited Twenge to speak with me last month for Fabled’s May Book Club. Twenge recently spoke in person to Baylor Law students and her insights into intergenerational relationships in invaluable.
