Profesora

English 110
Instr. M. Van Blaricom, Ph.D.
3 October 2012
Essay #2
Unrealistic, Materialistic, and Antisocial
Word Count: 997
When children are taught to believe in themselves they do not expect others to doubt their words. Children are gullible and will think that every word that comes out of the parents, teachers, older siblings, grandparents, and other family members are true.Children look up to and know that these people are the ones who know what is best for them. After these children grow up to be adults, their mentality is set on phrases such as “you can accomplish anything you want to.” In the article “It’s all about ‘Me’” by Jenifer Goodwin, Jean Twenge claims there is a generation between the years 1970 to1990 called “Generation Me.” Gen Me members are a group ofpeople who have struggled in life because they grew up with an extremely high self –esteem. When individuals are taught to feel good about themselves, the consequences are that they set unrealistic goals, they tend to be materialistic, and become antisocial; these consequences may lead to lifelong unhappiness. .
Gen Me members seem to set their goals too high. They expect too much out of theirlives, and at a young age, they already picture themselves working and living a prosperous life. This creates unhappiness because they may become disappointed when they reach a point in their lives where everything they had planned turns out differently. They go to school and work very hard, so they can finish fast and start their career. They only take classes that they are required to take.They do not want to waste time with classes they would actually enjoy. In the end, Gen Me members end up working in places they do not enjoy and regret choosing that major in college. As well, they dread to waking up every morning and going to work because of the money, not the passion. The way that Gen Me members should think about their educational goals is in a more realistic way. Theyshould make their goals as short-term and not make them long-term goals. Once they start thinking about how far away their long-term goal actually is they will get discouraged easily. If they make short-term goals they will become easier to accomplish, and when this happens they will be encouraged to make more goals, because they already know they are able to meet the ones they made before. When theysee how easy it is to reach their goals they will become happier people.
Another factor in creating unhappiness for Gen Me members is because they worry only about the material things in life. They forget about the important things that life has to offer. A lot of women in the “Generation Me” have been unhappy because they have waited to be with someone and create a family until they finishgetting an education and find a stable job. Doing this makes women feel, depressed, and it slows them down emotionally. As well as making them hard to find what they need when they are looking for that person since they have no past experience with love. It takes them longer to find that right person that they will be whiling to share their success and life with. In the article Goodwin writesabout Twenge’s experience with unhappiness caused by selfishness inflicted by being a member of Gen Me, “first marriage failed because neither was willing to sacrifice professional goals to live in the same city...” they both know that their actions were made out of selfishness and because they are materialistic. Gen Me members need to become less selfish and more empathetic. They need to learnto put themselves in other’s shoes, so that they can see and feel what other people have to go through. By doing this Gen Me members will change their own paradigm and their views on life will change helping them live happier lives.
The last factor leading up to Gen Me members unhappiness is that they have become antisocial people. They choose to have conversations with a cell phone,...