A New Book Captures (Disconcertingly) a New Generation

Jean Twenge's fascinating new book, iGen, chronicles the recent impact of smartphones on adolescents and adolescence. Partly sociology and mostly developmental psychology, Twenge uses interviews with scores of teens--boys and girls alike--to reveal that, as she puts it, "adolescence is now an extension of childhood rather than the beginning of adulthood." This shift, unique to today's teens, is reflected in myriad ways, ranging from later driving, fewer responsibilities (like working), and negative attitudes toward what is now called "adulting."Twenge's observations support what we hear anecdotally in focus groups with (mostly Boomer and GenX) teachers, and suggest quite strongly that digital devices like smartphones are at once the enabler and the medium whereby this trend has gone to scale. The likely difference for schools is that helicopter parenting is becoming normative and, more ominously, teens are welcoming the supervision.