If you’ve read media portrayals of this generation, these views might surprise you; aren’t today’s young people increasingly interested in finding meaning? For example, a 2013 New York Times op-ed cited a survey finding that young adults named meaning as the most important thing they were looking for in a career. However, that survey queried only recent young people, with no comparison to previous generations when they were young—or even to older people at the moment. Data comparing the generations tell a different story.
