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

The Safety of Home, Everywhere In October 2015, the administration at Yale University suggested to students that they not wear Halloween costumes that might be considered offensive. Resident master Erika Christakis then wrote to the students in her dorm suggesting they decide for themselves what costumes to wear rather than having the administration tell them what to do: “American universities were once a safe space not only for maturation but also for a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience; increasingly, it seems, they have become places of censure and prohibition. And the censure and prohibition come from above, not from yourselves! Are we all okay with this transfer of power? Have we lost faith in young people’s capacity—in your capacity—to exercise self-censure through social norming, and also in your capacity to ignore or reject things that trouble you?” Students called for her resignation, saying she was not creating a safe environment for minority students. A group of protestors then confronted Christakis’s husband, Nicholas, on campus, surrounding him on a walkway. One student began saying Christakis should create “a safe space here for all students,” and when he tried to respond, she barked, “Be quiet!” She went on, “It is your job to create a place of comfort and home for the students who live in Silliman . . . . By sending out that email, that goes against your position as master.” “No, I don’t agree with that,” Christakis responded. The student...