# iGen *By Jean M. Twenge. New York: Atria Books, 22 August 2017. Twenge is a psychology professor at San Diego State University who studies generational differences. Here she names Americans born 1995–2012 "iGen", the first generation to go through adolescence with smartphones. Using four long-running national surveys, she describes ten trends: they grow up more slowly, spend far more time online and less with friends in person, are more anxious, depressed and lonely, are less religious, more focused on safety, more worried about money, slower to date and marry, more tolerant, and politically independent. She argues that smartphones and social media, arriving around 2011–12, are the most likely cause of the sudden mental-health decline. That claim made the book the opening move in a long scientific argument that is still going on.* > **What I actually read.** The book is in copyright and there is no legal free copy. The two Internet Archive scans are print-disabled only, and Open Library "search inside" returned nothing from them. What I did read: > - **The whole Introduction** ("Who Is iGen, and How Do We Know?", pp. 1–16), as the publisher's excerpt supplied through Syndetics (the ProQuest catalog-enrichment service). It covers the birth-year cutoffs, the name, the four data sets, the 15-item "How iGen are you?" quiz, demographics, the interviews and the caveats about causation. > - **Twenge's adapted excerpt in *The Atlantic*,** "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?" (September 2017 issue), read in full via the Wayback Machine. It draws on chapters 1–4. > - **The book's 48-page online appendices** (Appendices A–I, "Extra Stuff" for each chapter), a free PDF on the author's site. I read Appendix A (methods) and parts of D, F and I in full and skimmed the figure list. > - **The chapter list with page numbers** from Syndetics, matching the Library of Congress contents note in the SFPL MARC record. > - **Reviews that follow the book chapter by chapter:** Yaron Zoller (written for *The American Journal of Psychology*), Sonia Livingstone (*Journal of Children and Media*), and Joshan Rodrigues (*Church, Communication and Culture*, through a search summary only). Also Annalisa Quinn (NPR), Steve Donoghue (*The National*), and Ken Homa's chapter notes. > > I did **not** read chapters 1–10 or the Conclusion. The chapter descriptions below come from the Atlantic excerpt, the appendices and the reviews. Quotations come from the Introduction excerpt, the Atlantic piece, or as a named reviewer quotes them. Page numbers come only from the contents list or from Zoller and Livingstone. Related in this vault: the source talk [[Spotify/Pixels & Priorities/High Fructose Content - J Schuh 2019]], which also produced [[Book Summaries/Brodie, Richard/Virus of the Mind - Richard Brodie|Virus of the Mind]]. Jaron Lanier's [[Book Summaries/Lanier, Jaron/Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now - Jaron Lanier|Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now]] (2018) makes a parallel case against social media from the technologist's side. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *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*. The jacket sets the last clause as a footnote marked with an asterisk (Wikipedia). The LC record transcribes it as "…and completely unprepared for adulthood (and what this means for the rest of us)". The publisher's excerpt footer gives an apparent working title, *iGen: The 10 Trends Shaping Today's Young People—And the Nation* | | Author | Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. (Jean Marie Twenge, b. 24 August 1971), professor of psychology, San Diego State University | | First edition | "First Atria Books hardcover edition." New York: Atria Books, 2017 (on sale 22 August 2017). viii + 342 pp., illustrations, 24 cm. ISBN 978-1-5011-5198-9 (list price $27.00 in the SFPL record). LCCN 2017015986; OCLC 965140529; LC class HQ799.7 .T95 2017; Dewey 305.2350973. "Includes bibliographical references (page 317-333) and index" (SFPL MARC via [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26931059M)) | | Other editions | Trade paperback, Atria, 2018, ISBN 978-1-5011-5201-6 (same chapter pagination per Syndetics; retail listings give 4 September 2018 and 352 pp., which I did not confirm). Ebook, Atria, 22 August 2017, ISBN 978-1-5011-5202-3 | | Audiobook | **Yes, unabridged.** Simon & Schuster Audio, 22 August 2017, read by Madeleine Maby, 9 h 52 min. Digital ISBN 978-1-5082-4506-3; CD (with Blackstone Audio) 11 December 2018, ISBN 978-1-5082-8162-7 | | Structure | Introduction; ten chapters, each named for an "I" trend; Conclusion; Acknowledgments; Notes; Index. The book has "more than a hundred graphs" of survey data (Introduction). Appendices A–I are published online, not in the printed book | | Sales | About 173,000 copies, per Twenge's own 2025 CV | | Cover | [Open Library cover](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/14477804-L.jpg) (hardcover) | **Where it came up.** - Talk: J Schuh, ["High Fructose Content: Why People Crave It"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3BCA9FXZE), a conference talk from his time as a UX/design strategist at Sabre. It was uploaded to the Pixels & Priorities YouTube channel on 2026-07-22; the note title dates the talk to 2019. At [33:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3BCA9FXZE&t=1982s) he says: "Dr. Jean Twenge came up with a book, the iGen, where she said the kids are using their cell phones way too much and it's putting their mental at risk." He continues: "Self-reported, 7,000 study of 7,000 teens felt that they were addicted to their phones", and adds that "positive correlation does not equal causality", but that the data on emergency-room visits for suicide attempts "gives you pause" (Whisper transcript on the box, 33:02–34:09). Just before, at [32:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3BCA9FXZE&t=1934s), he says 78% of kids and teens check their phones every waking hour. Both figures are checked in the fact-check. - Requested by Video Summaries on 2026-11-06, with *Virus of the Mind* from the same talk. - Vault note: [[Spotify/Pixels & Priorities/High Fructose Content - J Schuh 2019]]. ## 2. Book resources **Reference and catalog pages.** - Publisher: Simon & Schuster, for the [hardcover/paperback](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152016), [ebook](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152023) and [audiobook](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781508245063). - Author's book page: [jeantwenge.com/igen](https://www.jeantwenge.com/igen-book-by-dr-jean-twenge/), with the contents and the **free appendices PDF** ([igen-appendix.pdf](https://www.jeantwenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/igen-appendix.pdf), 48 pp.). - Open Library: hardcover work [OL19717928W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19717928W) / edition [OL26931059M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26931059M), with the contents; paperback [OL26677974M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26677974M); audio CD [OL31976086M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL31976086M). - Google Books: [50MyDwAAQBAJ](https://books.google.com/books?id=50MyDwAAQBAJ). The Google Books API was over quota, so I read no preview pages. - WorldCat: [OCLC 965140529](https://search.worldcat.org/title/965140529). - Syndetics (contents with pages, summary, author note, Introduction excerpt): [contents](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501151983/toc.html&client=sfpl), [excerpt](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501151983/dbchapter.html&client=sfpl). **Free (legal).** - **No legal free full text.** The book is in copyright (2017). Project Gutenberg: not applicable. Sites offering "read online free" copies are pirated; I did not use or link them. - **Free companion material:** - the official [online appendices](https://www.jeantwenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/igen-appendix.pdf); - the publisher's Introduction excerpt via [Syndetics](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501151983/dbchapter.html&client=sfpl); - Twenge's adapted Atlantic essay ["Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?"](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/), which may hit the Atlantic's paywall ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/2017/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/)). - **Internet Archive lending / Open Library borrow: not available.** Both scans, `igenwhytodayssup0000twen` and `igenwhytodayssup0000twen_o7f8`, are restricted to print-disabled readers (IA availability API: not lendable). - **Libby/OverDrive: yes, ebook and audiobook.** Ebook [OverDrive 3046545](https://www.overdrive.com/media/3046545) (Kindle Book / OverDrive Read / EPUB); audiobook [OverDrive 3272842](https://www.overdrive.com/media/3272842/igen) (Madeleine Maby). Whether your library has them varies; check in Libby. - **Hoopla: yes, ebook.** [Hoopla 12641490](https://www.hoopladigital.com/ebook/iGen-Jean-M-Twenge-Ph-D/12641490). I found no Hoopla audiobook. **Paid.** - **Amazon print: yes.** Hardcover [1501151983](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501151983); paperback [1501152017](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501152017). - **Kindle: yes.** [B01N6ACK3B](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6ACK3B). - **Audible: yes (unabridged).** [iGen, B073XTH3ZV](https://www.audible.com/pd/iGen-Audiobook/B073XTH3ZV), read by Madeleine Maby, 9 h 52 min. Also on [Apple Books](https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/igen-unabridged/id1439469913). ## 3. Author biography **Education and career.** Jean Marie Twenge was born on 24 August 1971 (LC authority record, via [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Twenge)). Her CV lists these degrees: - B.A. in psychology and sociology and M.A. in social sciences, University of Chicago, both 1993 (Phi Beta Kappa); - Ph.D. in psychology, University of Michigan, 1998, with a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship. Her dissertation was a cross-temporal meta-analysis of assertiveness, sociability and anxiety, 1928–1993. She was a visiting assistant professor at Gustavus Adolphus College (1998) and a postdoctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University (1999–2001), where she worked with Roy Baumeister on social rejection. She then joined San Diego State University: assistant professor 2001, associate 2005, full professor since 2009. She was a visiting professor at the University of Florida in 2025 ([CV, May 2025](https://www.jeantwenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Jean-Twenge-vita-2025.pdf)). The CV counts 195 publications and lists her on Clarivate's highly-cited list for 2021–2024. The Introduction says she began studying generational differences as a 22-year-old Ph.D. student at Michigan, comparing her own Generation X with Boomers. **Books.** - *Generation Me* (Free Press 2006; 2nd ed. Atria 2014), on Millennials. - *The Narcissism Epidemic* (with W. Keith Campbell, 2009). - *The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant* (2012). - *iGen* (2017). - *Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents* (2023). - *10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World* (2025). - Textbooks: *Social Psychology* with David G. Myers, and *Personality Psychology* with Campbell. Her CV gives approximate sales for each trade book: *Generation Me* (1st ed.) about 134,000 copies, *iGen* about 173,000, *Generations* about 83,000. In 2010 she named her speaking business "iGen Consulting" (Introduction). Wikipedia says she meant to call her 2006 book *iGeneration* but changed the title to *Generation Me* at her publisher's insistence. **Since *iGen*.** She has become one of the most prominent academic voices for the view that smartphones and social media drove the post-2012 decline in teen mental health. She co-wrote with Jonathan Haidt, including the 2020 *Nature Human Behaviour* reply to Orben & Przybylski cited below, and was a co-author of the 2024 *Lancet Psychiatry* Commission on youth mental health (CV). The Introduction says she has three daughters, born in 2006, 2009 and 2012. In a 2023 C-SPAN interview she described delaying smartphones for them: a flip phone until 16, a "gab phone" at 13, and no phone at 11 ([C-SPAN Q&A, May 2023](https://archive.org/details/CSPAN_20230508_000000_QA_Author_Jean_Twenge_on_the_Differences_Between_Americas_Six_Generations...)). ## 4. Author interviews and talks - **PBS NewsHour, 7 August 2017:** William Brangham interviews Twenge about *iGen* and the Atlantic article; social media and teen isolation ([PBS](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/smartphones-making-generation-unhappy)). Page description read, not watched. - **NPR *Shots*, "How Smartphones Are Making Kids Unhappy", 7 August 2017:** less time with friends, more anxiety ([NPR](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/07/542016165/how-smartphones-are-making-kids-unhappy)). Page description read, not heard. - **Radio Atlantic, "Are Smartphones Harming Kids?", August 2017:** a podcast discussion of her Atlantic essay ([The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/radio-atlantic-are-smartphones-harming-kids/537981/)). Not heard. - **NPR *1A*, "The Smartphone Generation: Less Sex, Fewer Drinks, More Depression", 2 September 2017:** a weekend bonus podcast on "saving the smartphone generation" ([NPR](https://www.npr.org/2017/09/02/548035734/the-smartphone-generation-less-sex-fewer-drinks-more-depression)). Page description read, not heard. - **Forbes, Dan Schawbel, "What Employers Need To Know About iGen", 21 September 2017:** a workplace-focused Q&A ([Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2017/09/21/jean-twenge-what-employers-need-to-know-about-igen/)). Not read (cited by Wikipedia). - **Psychology Today exchange, August 2017:** Sarah Rose Cavanagh's critique "No, Smartphones Are Not Destroying a Generation" and Twenge's reply "Making iGen's Mental Health Issues Disappear". In the reply she says use "of up to an hour or two a day is not linked with mental health issues… It's two hours a day and beyond that that's the issue" (as quoted by [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Twenge)). Not read directly. - **C-SPAN *Q&A*, 7 May 2023, on *Generations*:** she still dates the break between Millennials and Gen Z to smartphones around 2012, and describes the limits she sets on her own children's phones ([Internet Archive TV record](https://archive.org/details/CSPAN_20230508_000000_QA_Author_Jean_Twenge_on_the_Differences_Between_Americas_Six_Generations...); [C-SPAN person page](https://www.c-span.org/person/jean-m-twenge/9263916/)). Transcript excerpts read. - **J Schuh, "High Fructose Content" (Pixels & Priorities upload, 22 July 2026):** not by the author; this is the source of the queue entry ([YouTube, 33:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3BCA9FXZE&t=1982s)). Transcript read. ## 5. Summary **Thesis.** "Around 2012, I started seeing large, abrupt shifts in teens' behaviors and emotional states. All of a sudden, the line graphs looked like steep mountains" (Introduction, p. 4 per Livingstone). Many of the changes "began around 2011 or 2012. That was too late to be caused by the Great Recession… Then it occurred to me: 2011-12 was exactly when the majority of Americans started to own cell phones that could access the Internet" (Introduction). The *i* stands for the iPhone and the Internet, but also for "the individualism its members take for granted" and "the income inequality that is creating a deep insecurity" (Introduction). iGen'ers are "physically safer than ever, yet they are more mentally vulnerable", and they are growing up more slowly: "18-year-olds now act like 15-year-olds used to, and 13-year-olds like 10-year-olds" (Introduction). She closes the Atlantic essay: "There is compelling evidence that the devices we've placed in young people's hands are having profound effects on their lives—and making them seriously unhappy." **Method.** The book draws "from four large, nationally representative surveys of 11 million Americans since the 1960s" (Introduction): - Monitoring the Future (12th graders since 1976; 8th and 10th since 1991; about 1.4 million participants); - the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (since 1991; about 175,000); - the American Freshman Survey (entering college students since 1966; about 10 million); - the General Social Survey (adults since 1972; about 60,000). The participant totals are from Appendix A. She compares young people at the same age across decades, so that generational differences are not confused with age. She argues that one-time polls "tell us nothing about cultural change". On causation, she proposes a two-step test: two things must be correlated, and they must change at the same time in the right direction. This "can't fully rule causes in, but it can provide evidence that points toward something as the culprit" (Introduction). Graphs mostly show percentages rather than means, without error bars (Appendix A). She also interviewed 23 young people aged 12–20, surveyed 250 SDSU introductory-psychology students, and posted online questions (e.g. on MTurk). She says these "are not a replacement for the survey data" (Introduction). **Outline.** Chapter titles and hardcover page numbers are from Syndetics; the LC contents note gives the same titles. Except for the Introduction, which I read, descriptions come from the named secondary sources. - **Introduction: Who Is iGen, and How Do We Know?** (p. 1). *Read in full.* It opens with Athena, 13, in Houston, who goes to the mall with her mother and says "I think we like our phones more than we like actual people." The book's birth-year span is 1995–2012, set as "a solid place to start" after a GenX-length 14–17 years; "Any generational cutoff is arbitrary" (p. 6 per Zoller). The chapter also covers: - **The name.** She argues that "Generation Z" is "dead on arrival" because hardly anyone says "Generation Y", and rejects "Homelanders" (Neil Howe) and "Founders" (an MTV poll). "As far as I know, I was the first to use the term iGen, introducing it in the first edition of my book Generation Me in April 2006." - **The 15-item "How iGen are you?" quiz** and the demographics: 74 million Americans, about 24% of the population; one in four Hispanic; non-Hispanic whites at 53%. - **Caveats.** The numbers are averages, which is not stereotyping. Some changes are good and some bad, and "using words such as fault and blame doesn't really make sense" (p. 14 per Zoller). - **1. In No Hurry: Growing Up Slowly** (p. 17). Teens go out without their parents less, date less, have sex later, drink less, and get driver's licences and paid jobs later. "12th-graders in 2015 were going out less often than eighth-graders did as recently as 2009." Only about 56% of seniors in 2015 dated, against about 85% for Boomers and GenX'ers, and more than one in four lack a licence at the end of high school (Atlantic). "Adolescence is now an extension of childhood rather than the beginning of adulthood" (p. 41, per Rodrigues). The developmental trajectory "has slowed" (p. 41 per Livingstone). Twenge presents this as neither better nor worse, just slower. Appendix B adds that individualism, prosperity and small families "encourage a slow life strategy": across 58 countries, and in the US over time, more individualistic cultures reach adult work and family roles later (after Twenge & Campbell 2017). - **2. Internet: Online Time—Oh, and Other Media, Too** (p. 49). Teens text, use social media, browse and game for several hours a day: roughly 2 hours each of texting, internet and gaming/video chat, per Rodrigues, or "5-6 hours a day" of internet activities, per Zoller. Reading of books, magazines and newspapers declines, and SAT reading and writing scores dip (Zoller, Rodrigues). Appendix C shows that the trends cut across sex, race and class. - **3. In Person No More: I'm with You, But Only Virtually** (p. 69). Fewer teens see friends nearly every day: down "by more than 40 percent from 2000 to 2015" (Atlantic). There are also fewer parties, mall trips, movies and cruising in cars (Appendix D). In Monitoring the Future, "all screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness". Eighth-graders using social media 10+ hours a week are "56 percent more likely to say they're unhappy" (Atlantic). Loneliness "spiked in 2013" (Atlantic). Appendix D reports that controlling for gender and in-person time barely changes these relative risks, and that with full controls the link to depression is "a small effect". - **4. Insecure: The New Mental Health Crisis** (p. 93). "iGen is on the verge of the most severe mental health crisis for young people in decades" (p. 93 per Zoller). The Atlantic version gives these figures: - Boys' depressive symptoms rose 21% and girls' 50% from 2012 to 2015. - Twice as many 12–14-year-old boys, and three times as many girls, killed themselves in 2015 as in 2007. - Teens with 3+ hours a day on devices were 35% more likely to have a suicide risk factor. - Sleep deprivation rose 57% from 1991 to 2015. She concedes that the data "can't definitively show that the shift toward screen time has caused more mental health issues", but adds "It seems clear that at least some of the sudden and large increase in depression has been caused by teens spending more time with screens" (p. 112, quoted by Livingstone). The two experiments she cites are Tromholt's 2016 Danish Facebook break and Sherman et al.'s 2013 study of friends bonding in person versus by text (identified by Livingstone). - **5. Irreligious: Losing My Religion (and Spirituality)** (p. 119). iGen prays less, attends services less, and believes less in God, an afterlife or the Bible, and it is *not* "spiritual but not religious" (Zoller, Rodrigues, Homa). Prediction: "religion will survive, but it will be a flexible, open, equal religion that gives people a sense of belonging and meaning and that reaches less than half of Americans" (p. 142 per Zoller). Appendix A separates generational from time-period effects in adult religiosity. - **6. Insulated But Not Intrinsic: More Safety and Less Community** (p. 143). The chapter starts with physical safety: fewer car accidents, less binge drinking, fewer fights and more seat-belt use (Appendix G). It moves on to "emotional safety": safe spaces, trigger warnings and speaker disinvitations on campus (Zoller; Livingstone calls this the book's most speculative stretch). Civic involvement declines ("less community"). The title also points to life goals. "In brief: money is in, and meaning is out" (p. 167 per Livingstone), and "Another likely influence on the desire for wealth is screen time" (p. 169 per Livingstone); both pages fall in this chapter. Twenge also judges iGen'ers for wanting to help others while giving less to charity than earlier generations (Livingstone). The LC contents note has "less intrinsic" where the contents page has "Not Intrinsic". - **7. Income Insecurity: Working to Earn—But Not to Shop** (p. 179). iGen'ers are practical about work, value salary and stability (extrinsic rewards), and are less entrepreneurial and less optimistic about becoming professionals or managers. College is seen as a route to a job ("earning beats learning", Homa's notes; wording not verified in the book). The chapter includes tips on marketing to iGen: focus on individuality, safety and security (Zoller). - **8. Indefinite: Sex, Marriage, and Children** (p. 203). iGen'ers have less sex and do so later, and teen births and STDs are lower. Hookups without "catching feelings" are preferred to "clingy" relationships; marriage and children are delayed. A "Generation Porn" section covers sexting and online pornography (Zoller, Homa, Livingstone). - **9. Inclusive: LGBT, Gender, and Race Issues in the New Age** (p. 227). iGen'ers strongly accept same-sex marriage and LGBT people, and have growing but less settled acceptance of transgender people. They hold egalitarian gender views but are less supportive of affirmative action. They are quick to take offence and more willing to restrict speech than to defend the First Amendment (Zoller, Rodrigues). - **10. Independent: Politics** (p. 259). iGen'ers distrust both parties and government, and more of them call themselves independents. They combine libertarian views (legal marijuana, pro-choice, against the death penalty, against some gun limits) with wanting free college. High-school seniors trend slightly more conservative. Sanders and Trump are read as "independent-like" candidates (Zoller; Appendix I). - **Conclusion: Understanding—and Saving—iGen** (p. 289). She calls for "striking a balance between solutions and acceptance" (p. 290 per Zoller). Her advice, per Zoller and Rodrigues: - Delay smartphones, and limit use to about two hours a day or less. - Get more sleep, exercise and face-to-face time. - Treat anxiety and depression through lifestyle change and, where needed, therapy and medication. - Encourage independence: driving, jobs, relaxed curfews, even a gap year. - Teachers should mix lecture with discussion, videos and polls. - Employers should give frequent feedback, clear career paths, safety and flexibility. **Key ideas.** - **A cohort defined by technology.** The smartphone changed how teens spend their days, not just their attitudes, and so shaped a new generation fast. - **Slow life strategy.** iGen'ers delay both the pleasures and the responsibilities of adulthood. - **Safer bodies, more fragile minds.** Fewer accidents, drinks and fights, but more depression, loneliness and suicide. - **The 2012 break.** Sudden shifts that do not fit gradual cultural drift or the Great Recession point to the smartphone. - **Dose matters.** The risk concentrates in heavy use (2+ hours a day), especially social media and especially for girls. - **Ten "I"s:** In no hurry, Internet, In person no more, Insecure, Irreligious, Insulated, Income insecurity, Indefinite, Inclusive, Independent. **Reception.** - **Supportive.** Jonathan Haidt's blurb: "thanks to Twenge's careful analysis, we know: It is making them lonely, anxious, and fragile—especially our girls" (Apple Books publisher description). Marilyn Gates (*New York Journal of Books*) called it "an important barometer of youth mental health", while noting cherry-picked data and correlation treated as causation (per [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGen_(book))). Zoller found it "a good read" but methodologically weak. - **Critical.** - Annalisa Quinn (NPR) wrote that "Twenge draws her conclusions first and then collects evidence that supports those conclusions". She gave the "I love me" Google Ngram as an example of "a grammatical shift [disguised] as a cultural one", and objected to the plug for iGen Consulting and to the girls in the book being called "pretty" and said to "gush" or "chirp". - Steve Donoghue (*The National*) argued that her own charts, "read with optimism", show a generation "far less given to prejudice, and far, far sharper than their parents". - Sonia Livingstone (LSE) checked the graphs. She found that many trends are long, gradual declines, some date to 2008 rather than 2011, and the "Generation Porn" figures omit a 2010 follow-up showing a drop. She agreed that the recent mental-health downturn is real and "concerning". - Zoller, citing Verbruggen (2017), says 91 of the book's 124 graphs have y-axes that do not start at zero. ## 6. Fact-check Claims are the book's, as read in the Introduction or Atlantic excerpt or as quoted by the named reviewers. Later data are from the cited primary sources. **The central causal question is still disputed among researchers.** | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Teen depressive symptoms and suicide rose sharply after about 2011–2012 | **Supported (trend).** The proportion of 12–17-year-olds with a major depressive episode rose from 8.7% (2005) to 11.3% (2014), mostly after 2011 (Mojtabai et al. 2016). In CDC YRBS high-school data, persistent sadness or hopelessness rose from 28% (2011) to 42% (2021), then fell slightly to 40% (2023); for girls it was 57% in 2021 and 53% in 2023. The suicide rate for ages 10–24 rose 56% from 2007 to 2017, and for ages 10–14 it nearly tripled | [Mojtabai et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1878); [CDC YRBS 2011–2021](https://www.cdc.gov/yrbs/dstr/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf); [CDC 2024 release](https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0806-youth-mental-health.html); [Curtin & Heron 2019](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db352.htm) | | Smartphones and social media are the "most likely" cause and have caused "at least some" of the rise (pp. 93–112; Atlantic) | **Disputed. Researchers remain divided.** Orben & Przybylski (2019), analysing the same MtF and YRBS data plus a UK cohort (n = 355,358), found the association negative but explaining "at most 0.4%" of variation in well-being, about as much as eating potatoes. Twenge, Haidt, Joiner & Campbell (2020) replied that six analytic choices hid larger effects for heavy social-media use among girls. Orben & Przybylski answered that the concerns were addressed or refuted. Daly (2018) estimated that social media explained only about 4% of girls' rise in depressive symptoms. The National Academies (2023) found the evidence did not support a population-level causal conclusion. The US Surgeon General's 2023 advisory urged precaution anyway. Odgers (2024, reviewing Haidt's *The Anxious Generation*) argued the causal case is not established | [Orben & Przybylski 2019](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1); [Twenge et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0839-4); [Orben & Przybylski 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0840-y); [Daly 2018](https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617750869); [NASEM 2023](https://doi.org/10.17226/27396); [Surgeon General 2023](https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf); [Odgers 2024](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00902-2) | | "Experiments that randomly assign people to… less screen time… have… found that more screen time causes more anxiety, depression, loneliness" (p. 112) | **Partly supported; overstated in 2017.** The two experiments cited were adults (Tromholt 2016, mean age 34) and a five-minute bonding task in a lab (Sherman et al. 2013), not teens or long-term effects (Livingstone). Later experiments support small benefits from cutting use: Hunt et al. (2018), limiting social media to 30 minutes a day, cut loneliness and depression; Allcott et al. (2020) found four weeks of Facebook deactivation raised well-being. Ferguson's meta-analysis of 27 experiments found no significant effect (d ≈ 0.09), a result itself disputed by Haidt and colleagues | [Tromholt 2016](https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0259); [Sherman et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2013-2-3); [Hunt et al. 2018](https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751); [Allcott et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20190658); [Ferguson 2024/25](https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000541) | | A Facebook study texting students five times a day found more use predicted later unhappiness, but not the reverse (Atlantic) | **Supported.** This is Kross et al. (2013), with 82 young adults over two weeks. It is a small sample and is correlational within persons | [Kross et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841) | | The underlying journal paper: depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes and suicide rose after 2010, linked to new-media screen time | **Supported for the trends; the links are disputed.** Ophir et al. (2019) argued that the correlations were negligible and the measures crude, and Twenge et al. replied with YRBS hour-based data | [Twenge et al. 2018](https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376); [Ophir et al. 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702619849412) | | 2011–12 "was exactly when the majority of Americans started to own" smartphones (Introduction); the share "surpassed 50 percent" in 2012 (Atlantic) | **Partly supported.** Pew measured 46% of US adults in 2012 and 56% in May 2013, the first majority. 73% of teens had access to a smartphone in 2014–15 (Pew). The break is close but not exact | [Pew 2013](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/06/05/smartphone-ownership-2013/); [Pew teens 2015](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/) | | The sudden 2011 break shows up across many trends | **Disputed in part.** Livingstone found that many of the book's own graphs (teen sex, pregnancy, drinking, religion) show long, gradual declines starting decades earlier. The drops in driving and movie-going begin around 2008, not 2011. The suicide rise begins in 2007 (CDC). Mental-health indicators do show the sharper recent turn | [Livingstone 2017](https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/89730/); [Curtin & Heron 2019](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db352.htm) | | Teens are delaying adult activities: dating, sex, driving, working, drinking, going out without parents | **Supported.** Twenge & Park (2019), analysing seven national surveys, document declines in all of these from 1976 to 2016 across demographic groups. The cause (smartphones, parenting, economics or a slower "life history") is debated | [Twenge & Park 2019](https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12930) | | "The teen birth rate hit an all-time low in 2016, down 67 percent since its modern peak, in 1991" (Atlantic) | **Supported.** 20.3 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2016, against 61.8 in 1991 (NVSR 67/1) | [CDC NVSR 67(1), 2018](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr67/nvsr67_01.pdf) | | "In 2011, for the first time in 24 years, the teen suicide rate was higher than the teen homicide rate" (Atlantic) | **Supported for 2011 onward; "24 years" unverified.** For ages 15–19 (and 10–24), the suicide rate was significantly higher than the homicide rate from 2011 to 2017 and lower through 2009/2010. I did not check the pre-2000 series | [Curtin & Heron 2019](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db352.htm) | | 57% more teens were sleep-deprived (under 7 hours) in 2015 than in 1991, and heavy device use predicts short sleep | **Supported as survey findings.** The decline in self-reported sleep is published (Twenge, Krizan & Hisler 2017, MtF/YRBS). The direction of causation is uncertain, as the Atlantic piece itself says | [Twenge et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2017.08.013) | | iGen is "the least religious generation in US history" (Zoller's summary of ch. 5); religion will reach "less than half of Americans" (p. 142) | **Trend supported; the prediction is on track.** Twenge et al. (2015) found declines in adolescents' religious attendance and importance from 1966 to 2014. Gallup found US church membership fell below 50% (47%) for the first time in 2020 | [Twenge et al. 2015](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121454); [Gallup 2021](https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx) | | "As far as I know, I was the first to use the term iGen… in April 2006" (Introduction) | **Unverified / contested.** Wikipedia reports that Twenge intended *iGeneration* as her 2006 title and that "others also claim to have coined the name". Larry Rosen used "iGeneration" for his 2010 book *Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn* | [Wikipedia: Generation Z](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z); [Rosen, Psychology Today 2010](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rewired-the-psychology-technology/201003/welcome-the-igeneration) | | "Generation Z" is "dead on arrival" as a label (Introduction) | **Disputed by events.** Pew adopted "Generation Z" in 2019 (Dimock), and Twenge's own *Generations* (2023) uses "Gen Z". As she said in 2023: "in my previous book… I called them iGen" | [Pew/Dimock 2019](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/); [C-SPAN 2023](https://archive.org/details/CSPAN_20230508_000000_QA_Author_Jean_Twenge_on_the_Differences_Between_Americas_Six_Generations...) | | The graphs show real change | **Partly supported.** Zoller, citing Verbruggen (2017), says 91 of 124 figures have truncated y-axes, which can make modest changes look dramatic. I could not see the figures to check | [Zoller review](https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/0/158/files/2017/10/iGen-Book-Review-for-the-American-Journal-of-Psychology-FINAL-yts7w1.pdf) | | Rising narcissism / "I love me" in books (Ngram) | **Disputed as evidence.** Quinn showed that "I love myself" gives a flat or opposite pattern, which suggests a grammatical rather than cultural shift | [Quinn, NPR 2017](https://www.npr.org/2017/09/17/548664627/move-over-millennials-here-comes-igen-or-maybe-not) | | Monitoring the Future has surveyed seniors "every year since 1976" (Introduction/Appendix A) | **Minor slip.** MtF's first senior survey was the class of 1975, which the Atlantic version itself says. The book's 12th-grade graphs start in 1976 | [Atlantic 2017](https://web.archive.org/web/2017/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/) | | Source talk: 78% of teens check their phones every hour | **Supported** as Common Sense Media's 2016 finding: 78% of teens check devices at least hourly (telephone survey, 620 teens aged 12–18) | [Common Sense 2016](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/2016_csm_technology_addiction_executive_summary.pdf) | | Source talk: "a study of 7,000 teens" self-reported feeling addicted to their phones | **Unverified.** I found no 7,000-teen study in the book's sources. The closest is Common Sense 2016, in which 50% of 620 teens said they felt addicted. The figure may be garbled in the talk or the transcript | [Common Sense 2016](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/2016_csm_technology_addiction_executive_summary.pdf) | | Source talk: emergency-room visits for suicide attempts and self-harm rose | **Supported.** ED visits for self-inflicted injury among girls aged 10–14 rose about 19% a year from 2009 to 2015 (Mercado et al. 2017) | [Mercado et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.13317) | **Since 2017.** The book's descriptive trends mostly held up through about 2021: later puberty milestones, less in-person socializing, falling religiosity, rising adolescent depression and self-harm, especially among girls. Some indicators eased slightly after the pandemic (YRBS 2023). The causal claim became the centre of a decade-long fight. Twenge and Haidt (*The Anxious Generation*, 2024) say phones and social media are a major cause. Orben, Przybylski, Odgers, Ferguson and the National Academies say the evidence shows small average associations and has not established causation at population level. Policy moved ahead of the science anyway: school phone bans, US state laws and Australia's under-16 social-media ban all cite this debate. Read *iGen* as a carefully sourced description of US survey trends, combined with a contested, still-unresolved causal explanation. ## 7. Citations and references **The book's main data sources** (Introduction; Appendix A): - Monitoring the Future (University of Michigan Institute for Social Research; NIDA-funded). - Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (CDC). - American Freshman Survey (Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA). - General Social Survey (NORC, University of Chicago; NSF-funded). - Also cited: CDC Fatal Injury and NVSS data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Current Population Survey, and Google Books Ngram (per appendix figure captions). **Works cited in the book, as identified by reviewers:** Tromholt (2016); Sherman, Michikyan & Greenfield (2013); Jones, Mitchell & Finkelhor's UNH youth internet surveys; Juliet Lapidos (*New York Times*); Nancy Jo Sales, *American Girls* (2016); Haidt & Lukianoff on campus "coddling". **Responses and context.** - Sonia Livingstone, "Book review: iGen…", *Journal of Children and Media* 12(1) (2018): 118–123. - Yaron J. Zoller, "The costs of overprotecting the young", review of *iGen* written for *The American Journal of Psychology* (final manuscript). - Joshan Rodrigues, "Smartphones: fundamentally reshaping today's teenagers", *Church, Communication and Culture* (2018). - Annalisa Quinn, NPR (17 Sept 2017); Steve Donoghue, *The National* (23 Aug 2017). - Amy Orben & Andrew Przybylski (2019, 2020); Twenge, Haidt et al. (2020); Candice Odgers (2024); National Academies, *Social Media and Adolescent Health* (2023). - Jean M. Twenge, *Generations* (2023) and *10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World* (2025); Jonathan Haidt, *The Anxious Generation* (2024). **Links used in this dossier.** - Source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3BCA9FXZE (32:14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3BCA9FXZE&t=1934s ; 33:02: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3BCA9FXZE&t=1982s) - Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19717928W ; https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26931059M ; https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26677974M ; https://openlibrary.org/books/OL31976086M ; cover https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/14477804-L.jpg - Internet Archive (print-disabled scans): https://archive.org/details/igenwhytodayssup0000twen ; https://archive.org/details/igenwhytodayssup0000twen_o7f8 - SFPL MARC (bulk MARC on IA): https://archive.org/download/marc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary/sfpl_chq_2018_12_24_run06.mrc - Syndetics: https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501151983/toc.html&client=sfpl ; https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501152017/toc.html&client=sfpl ; https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501151983/summary.html&client=sfpl ; https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501151983/anotes.html&client=sfpl ; https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=1501151983/dbchapter.html&client=sfpl - Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=50MyDwAAQBAJ - WorldCat: https://search.worldcat.org/title/965140529 - Simon & Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152016 ; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152023 ; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781508245063 - Author: https://www.jeantwenge.com/igen-book-by-dr-jean-twenge/ ; appendices https://www.jeantwenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/igen-appendix.pdf ; CV https://www.jeantwenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Jean-Twenge-vita-2025.pdf - The Atlantic excerpt: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/ ; archived https://web.archive.org/web/2017/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/ - OverDrive: https://www.overdrive.com/media/3046545 ; https://www.overdrive.com/media/3272842/igen - Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/ebook/iGen-Jean-M-Twenge-Ph-D/12641490 - Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501151983 ; https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501152017 ; Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6ACK3B - Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/iGen-Audiobook/B073XTH3ZV ; Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/igen-unabridged/id1439469913 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGen_(book) ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Twenge ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z - Reviews: Livingstone https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/89730/ (PDF https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/89730/1/Livingstone_iGen_Accepted.pdf ; DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2017.1417091) ; Zoller https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/0/158/files/2017/10/iGen-Book-Review-for-the-American-Journal-of-Psychology-FINAL-yts7w1.pdf ; Rodrigues https://doi.org/10.1080/23753234.2018.1429223 ; Quinn (NPR) https://www.npr.org/2017/09/17/548664627/move-over-millennials-here-comes-igen-or-maybe-not ; Donoghue (The National) https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/book-review-jean-twenge-s-latest-spotlights-dangers-of-being-a-part-of-the-smartphone-generation-1.622251 ; Gates (NYJB) https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/igen ; Homa notes https://homafiles.info/2017/09/26/igens-what-makes-them-tick/ - Interviews: PBS https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/smartphones-making-generation-unhappy ; NPR Shots https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/07/542016165/how-smartphones-are-making-kids-unhappy ; Radio Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/radio-atlantic-are-smartphones-harming-kids/537981/ ; NPR 1A https://www.npr.org/2017/09/02/548035734/the-smartphone-generation-less-sex-fewer-drinks-more-depression ; Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2017/09/21/jean-twenge-what-employers-need-to-know-about-igen/ ; C-SPAN https://archive.org/details/CSPAN_20230508_000000_QA_Author_Jean_Twenge_on_the_Differences_Between_Americas_Six_Generations... ; https://www.c-span.org/person/jean-m-twenge/9263916/ - Orben & Przybylski 2019: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1 ; OII release https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/technology-use-explains-at-most-0-4-of-adolescent-wellbeing/ - Twenge, Haidt, Joiner & Campbell 2020: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0839-4 ; Orben & Przybylski reply 2020: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0840-y - Twenge, Joiner, Rogers & Martin 2018: https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376 ; Daly 2018: https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617750869 ; Ophir et al. 2019: https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702619849412 - Mojtabai, Olfson & Han 2016: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1878 - Mercado et al. 2017: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.13317 - Twenge & Park 2019: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12930 - Twenge, Krizan & Hisler 2017: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2017.08.013 - Twenge, Exline, Grubbs, Sastry & Campbell 2015: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121454 - Kross et al. 2013: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841 - Tromholt 2016: https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0259 ; Sherman, Michikyan & Greenfield 2013: https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2013-2-3 - Hunt et al. 2018: https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751 ; Allcott et al. 2020: https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20190658 ; Ferguson 2024/25: https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000541 - National Academies 2023: https://doi.org/10.17226/27396 ; Surgeon General advisory 2023: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf ; Odgers 2024: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00902-2 - CDC: YRBS 2011–2021 https://www.cdc.gov/yrbs/dstr/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf ; YRBS 2013–2023 https://www.cdc.gov/yrbs/dstr/pdf/YRBS-2023-Data-Summary-Trend-Report.pdf ; 2024 release https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0806-youth-mental-health.html ; NCHS Data Brief 352 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db352.htm ; NVSR 67(1) https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr67/nvsr67_01.pdf - Pew 2013 smartphone ownership: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/06/05/smartphone-ownership-2013/ - Gallup 2021 church membership: https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx - Common Sense Media 2016: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/2016_csm_technology_addiction_executive_summary.pdf - Rosen 2010 (Psychology Today): https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rewired-the-psychology-technology/201003/welcome-the-igeneration - Pew: teens 2015 https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/ ; Dimock 2019 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/