iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us

by Jean M. Twenge

In the past few years, college campuses have erupted in protests, many of them focused around equality issues. But there are other themes as well. Many protests focus on eliminating not just discrimination but offensive speech, which has drawn criticism that iGen’ers exhibit a hair-trigger sensitivity. This is where the movement for equality collides with the First Amendment. To the distress of free speech advocates, campuses have “bias reporting systems” that allow students to report incidents that offend them. Faculty members have been suspended for leading discussions about race. Controversial speakers are increasingly “disinvited” or their talks disrupted. Is this really a cultural change, or have college students always been this way? The over-time data show that things really have changed: iGen’ers are more likely to support restricting speech