24 Quotes by Jean M. Twenge

All in all, in-person social interaction is much better for mental health than electronic communication.

No matter what the cause, the result is the same: iGen teens are less likely to experience the freedom of being out of the house without their parents – those first tantalizing tastes of the independence of being an adult, those times when teens make their own decisions, good or bad.

Another study of adults found the same thing: the more people used Facebook, the lower their mental health and life satisfaction at the next assessment.

Wanting to feel safe all of the time can also lead to wanting to protect against emotional upset – the concern with “emotional safety” somewhat unique to iGen. That can include preventing bad experiences, sidestepping situations that might be uncomfortable, and avoiding people with ideas different from your own. That’s where things get dicey – both for iGen and for the older generations struggling to understand them.

Kids need to learn that you need to feel bad sometimes. We learn through experience, and we learn especially through bad experiences.

Adolescence – the time when teens begin to do things adults do – now happens later. Thirteen-year-olds – and even 18-year-olds – are less likely to act like adults and spend their time like adults. They are more likely, instead, to act like children – not by being immature, necessarily, but by postponing the usual activities of adults. Adolescence is now an extension of childhood rather than the beginning of adulthood.

A stunning 31% more 8th and 10th graders felt lonely in 2015 than in 2011, along with 22% more 12th graders.

If an activity involves a screen, it’s linked to less happiness and more depression. If it doesn’t – particularly if it involves in-person social interaction or exercise – it’s linked to more happiness and less depression.

We have the most complete and instant access to information in all of history, and we’re using it to watch funny cat videos.