the Me generation and the Web generation collide

Last year, I read a book called "Generation Me" by Jean M. Twenge. Dr. Twenge's book is about "Generation Me," or, as other people call it "the Entitlement Generation." This generation consists of people born during the 80s and 90s, many of whom are just now entering college. Basically, and this book includes me in this generation, since I was born in 1981, we want everything (high-paying flexible jobs, lots of free time, etc.) and don't want to work for it. (This perplexes me personally, and I would hate for a prospective employer to consider that I had these traits.) Anyway, Dr. Twenge's book, published just last year, has a conspicuous chunk missing: the Internet. The index does list a few occurrences of the word "Internet" in the book, but most of them are in passing.

I'm re-reading this book right now to prepare to teach college freshmen how to write essays. I start tomorrow, and I'm pretty nervous, and this book isn't helping. According to this book, my students will be spoiled brats that have never worked hard. The last chapter has sections on how employers and marketers can use this information about this generation, butt nothing specifically for educators. There is a section that says parents shouldn't brow-beat their Gen-Me-er into college, and a section that says parents shouldn't be obsessive about their child's self-esteem being high at any cost. Yesterday in my faculty orientation, we had a discussion about FERPA. FERPA says that professors are not allowed to discuss grades (or other information) with a students' parent without permission. Apparently, lots of parents get the professor's phone number from the syllabus and call professors, demanding information about their children's grades or attendance. While it would be illegal for the professor to do so, the parents don't quit.

These are the parents obsessed with what their kids are doing on MySpace and Facebook. These are the parents watching the Dateline "To Catch A Predator" specials in fear. These are what college administrators call "helicopter parents," and why others call the cell phone "the world's longest umbilical cord." Where was this parental paranoia ten years ago when I was getting ready for college?

I believe there IS a connection to be made from the Internet to this phenomenon. It's clear. Because of the Internet, these parents see their children as taking freedoms before they really deserve them, so the parents, in turn, hold on to the freedoms they should be letting go of.