Generation Selfish?

By Chiara Christian

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that every older generation must find ways to hate on those who come after them.

It’s Millennials and Gen Z’s turn to bear the brunt of disapproval. We’re a generation of selfies, of spending exorbitant amounts on avo-smashes and oat-milk lattes, of living at home until we’re 25 in our parent’s basement (and that estimate is modest).

We’re impatient and entitled. We don’t want to “pay our dues” in entry-level jobs with mediocre pay; we don’t save for house deposits. We’re a generation of instant gratification and dopamine hits from likes on our social media. We’d rather spend our money traveling to exotic locations than saving for some notion of “retirement.” If the future ecological state of the earth is questionable anyway, why should we bother?

In this generational war, we have been collectively branded as a bunch of selfish narcissists. And researchers seem determined to prove it—the debate has been going on for over ten years, yet conclusions based on actual data remain murky and undetermined. A meta-analysis conducted in 2008 collectively surveying 16,000 college students over a 30-year time frame found narcissistic personality traits had risen by 30 per cent. The same year, another group of researchers came back with a meta-analysis surveying over 27,000 college kids and found no evidence of it rising. The research continues in this back and forth ping-pong manner, with a recent study in 2017 in Psychological Science finding a small decline; “the narcissism epidemic is dead,” the researchers claim. The debate, in my humble opinion, is made redundant—the finger

The debate, in my humble opinion, is made redundant—the finger pointing and casual generalisation of an entire cohort of people deflects the very real challenges we currently face. As millennial journalist Jill Filipovic writes in her book OK Boomer, Let’s Talk, the catchphrase “OK Boomer” is more than just an imperious insult and laughable meme; it’s frustrated shorthand for the ways the same people who created so many of our problems now pin the blame on us.

The reason we don’t buy houses is not because of our excessive brunching. It’s because of an astronomical rise in the price of housing, with a simultaneous stagnation of wages. And if it’s going to be so hard to afford a house, we may as well prioritise experiences over mindless materialism—so yes, we are going to book another trip overseas. We are picky with the types of companies we work for, because we believe that supporting businesses rooted in sustainability and ethical principles will positively affect our experience of the future.

The irony is Gen Z and Millennials are on average, according to 2019 social trends found by the Pew Research Centre, more liberal and socially conscious than any generation preceding them: selfishness doesn’t fit into the equation. We’re the ones on the front lines of climate marches—the Greta Thunbergs—and fighting for social justice in rallies such as Black Lives Matter—according to a Civis Analytics poll, the largest share of protestors in the protests during June were under 35. We’re the ones who have driven the shift towards green diets like vegetarianism and veganism. We’re choosing to not bring kids into the world because we care about issues like over-population and depletion of the earth’s resources.

The truth is, as Dr. Kali Trzeniewski put it, every generation worries about the next generation and think it’s somehow unique to that generation. Does it really matter if we’re more selfish or not? Is finding the answer actually productive in the face of more pressing world issues like inequality or climate change? Perhaps we’re asking the wrong questions, using younger generations as a scapegoat to bypass what we should be addressing. Perhaps there’s common ground we can find between us. I’ll leave you to ponder this and in the meantime, one more avo-smash can’t hurt. ■