You don’t hate millennials. You hate 21st-century technology.

A favorite observation about millennials, both in the workplace and in their daily lives, is how wired in they are with their preferred technologies. Why can’t they just pick up the phone and talk? Surely, their obsessive use of technology is driving this generation to be more isolated and cynical (and more eye contact–averse) than those that preceded it. But new research published in Psychological Science shows that over the years, people across generations have become more individualistic and less trustful of institutions and political leaders. That makes a lot more sense than imagining one group changing with the times while the rest somehow remain unaltered, as though they exist in a cultural vacuum. If you’re a boomer or Gen Xer, you’re probably doing and feeling the same things, at least to some extent: It’s definitely not just millennials I see ignoring the world, enraptured by their screens on the train. And maybe you hate it when you look up and realize you’ve spent an hour doing nothing on the Internet. And maybe that same day, you’ll criticize millennials for doing it because you wish we’d all just stop. —Slate.

Post was last modified on 26 Dec 2014 3:25 pm

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Dennis G. Jerz

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