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Psychology and the Me Generation

jerikson40

New York

Clearly there are a number of people here who get visibly annoyed when others discuss psychology and/or analyzing stripper behavior. Not sure why, other than maybe they don't understand it and can't look smart in the discussions so they denigrate it, but anyway...

I find it real interesting to figure out why people do what they do. And I have a topic for discussion that involves some psychology, so if it annoys you don't bother reading. And there's a lot of stuff to read, so if reading stuff gives you a headache it's probably best you just move on to another thread.

Anyway, some of us were raised in the Baby Boomer generation, which was also called the "Me Generation". Which, IMO, was a fairly well deserved label. We had the hippies who were all about "self-fulfillment" and communal living, where they welched off of someone with money and didn't do any work, and cared only about taking drugs for their own benefit.

After the Baby Boomers (born in the '40's, '50's, and 1960's) were the Generation X'ers (born in the 1960's thru 1980's), followed by the Millenials (born in 1980's thru 2000's). Which means the current crop of strippers are Millenials, probably born around the late 1980's or early 1990's.

Now what I've noticed in the years since the internet and cellphones and technology became super important in the Millenial generation is the widespread belief that people who are really into this technology (which makes Facebook and texting and networking possible) are seen as very social and networked and with lots of "friends".

I've always felt that the opposite is true. I've always believed that if Baby Boomers are the "Me Generation", then Millenials are the "You mean there are other people??" Generation. People spend hours and hours alone at their computers or with their noses buried in their cellphones, not interacting with people in person.

And in reality, in my view, all of this technology gives them nothing more than entertainment. Ways to goof online, and share stupid videos of a cat playing the piano, and joking with your 'buddies' via text about what a dork your Science teacher is. It's not about getting personal and connected with real friends, nor is it about using the internet for learning and other honorable endeavors. It's about goofing around with people you've never met so you don't have to get off your butt and deal with real people in real life. And it's about having an outlet where everyone can say stuff and give their opinions, which nobody else really cares about or listens to.

Anyway, there is a recent book entitled "Generation Me" which cites a number of studies that conclude that, according to the author, "Pop­u­lar views of the mil­len­ni­al genera­t­ion, born in the 1980s and 1990s, as more car­ing, com­mun­ity-oriented and pol­i­tic­ally en­gaged than pre­vi­ous genera­t­ions are largely in­cor­rect, par­tic­u­larly when com­pared to ba­by boomers and Genera­t­ion X at the same age,” said the stu­dy's lead au­thor, Jean Twenge, a psy­chol­o­gist at San Die­go State Uni­vers­ity and au­thor of the book Genera­t­ion Me. “These da­ta show that re­cent genera­t­ions are less likely to em­brace com­mun­ity mind­ed­ness and are fo­cus­ing more on mon­ey, im­age and fame.”

Now my intent is not to rag on young people, just to point out that there seems to be an interesting trend that might help our understanding of how and why young people, including strippers, act. Especially when you see conclusions like this:

"...the pro­por­tion of stu­dents who said be­ing wealthy was very im­por­tant to them rose from 45 per­cent for ba­by boomers (sur­veyed be­tween 1966 and 1978) to 70 per­cent for Genera­t­ion Xers (sur­veyed be­tween 1979 and 1999) and 75 per­cent for mil­len­ni­als (sur­veyed be­tween 2000 and 2009)."

So if you notice that strippers seem self involved, acting rude because they're locked into their cellphones, and only interested in money, then you might understand why.

Again, I'm not ragging on young folks. In fact, we all know of some wonderful young folks, including strippers. But this is merely a discussion of generational trends across many people.