Reply
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,120
Registered: ‎03-29-2019

The thread title is said tongue-in-cheek.

 

 

 

From "Business Insider"

 

 

Baby boomers are the most sensitive generation, new study says — and it shows exactly what the world is getting wrong about millennials

 

 

Hillary Hoffower

 

 

 

 

Baby Boomers are more sensitive than milennials, , suggests a new study published in the Journal Psychology and Aging.

 

 

The study is the largest on narcissism to date and focuses on both generational and individual trends in narcissistic behaviors, unlike previous studies of its kind, reported Julia Naftulin for Business Insider.

 

These findings are the opposite of how the world typically views millennials: As special "snowflakes" who are sensitive, sheltered, and selfish.

 

 

Millennials are known for being  "sensitive"  but society may be applying the label to the wrong generation.

 

 

Turns out, older generations are more hypersensitive than younger generations, according to a new study published in the Journal Psychology and Aging. This suggests that millennials, those ages 23 to 38, are less hypersensitive than baby boomers, those ages 55 to 73 reported Julia Naftulin for Business Insider. 

 

The researchers defined "hypersensitivity" as being unreceptive to others' feedback and lashing out at any criticism toward one's self, Naftulin wrote.

 

The study - the largest on narcissism to date - examined six previously collected data sets that included nearly 750 people ages 13 to 77 to better understand how narcissistic traits vary among generations, and how levels of narcissism change as people age. It examined both generational and individual trends in narcissistic behaviors, unlike previous studies on narcissism that focused only on one or the other, according to Naftulin.

 

Narcissistic personality disorder, according to Mayo Clinic, is a mental state that involves an inflated sense of self-importance, need for excessive attention and admiration, lack of empathy, and low self-esteem vulnerable to criticism. These traits exist on a spectrum and can exist even if the person doesn't have the disorder.

 

Researchers found that as individuals in the study aged, they became less sensitive, with hypersensitivity sharply declining at age 40. But when they looked at generation-specific trends, they found that younger generations are less sensitive than their parents.

 

 

 

Millennials have a reputation as "snowflakes"

 

 

 

 

The findings are the opposite of how the world views millennials. 

 

 

In a 2017 interview with Forbes, generational expert Neil Howe said that news organizations often referred to millennials as "generation snowflake" - a disparaging term for being sheltered, politically correct, and sensitive.

 

 

While this stereotype has "kernels of truth," Howe said, the criticism paints a distorted picture. "To focus just on these traits in a negative way typically leads to associated claims about millennials that have no basis in fact," he said. "And it tempts us to overlook genuine millennial strengths that will likely hugely benefit our country in the years to come."

 

 

For example, millennials are earnest, positive, accepting of others, and optimistic, qualities that have greater influence in the long run, according to reporter Joel Stein. In a 2013 cover story for Time magazine, Stein explored the stereotype of millennials as lazy and entitled.

 

 

Baby boomers, he said, are known as the "Me Generation," but they produced millennials, the "Me Me Me Generation." However, he found that there's a much bigger picture beyond the stereotype.

 

"A generation's greatness," he wrote, is "determined by how they react to the challenges that befall them. And, just as important, by how we react to them."

 

 

 

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,665
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I don't see how narcissism and sensitivity are the same thing.

Laura loves cats!
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,916
Registered: ‎03-14-2010
Im not surprised at this judging from folks I know my age and older and the folks I know in my daughter's generation.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

@2blonde wrote:

I don't see how narcissism and sensitivity are the same thing.


 

Yes, first thing that came to my mind too. 

 

Let's face it, every generation tells the one above them how badly they screwed it all up. 

 

Their kids are coming, and they are going to be told the same thing. 

 

It's the cycle of life. 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,341
Registered: ‎04-19-2010

I think it would be great if we stopped putting labels and stereotypes on ourselves.  


-- pro-aging --


Rochester, New York
Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,736
Registered: ‎02-19-2014

Most accusations are projection of some kind. Anything negative you say about someone else can probably be said about you, just in a different context. Everyone (including Millenials) can be hypersensitive about certain topics. The topics just differ from person to person. If you think you're immune from a certain negative label ever applying to you, you're probably just foolling yourself.

When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.
"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,967
Registered: ‎05-23-2015

Okay, is ok boomer always fair, no, but boomers  ( I 'm one ) have always thought they were special.  Sometimes Ok Boomer is fair, and I can take it. We can be incredibly mean and insensitive about the younger generation, so if they clap back, well , we should be able to  handle it.

" You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts."
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,221
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

From long experience, I find "studies" such as this to often be suspect.  Often don't necessarily accept the premises of the people doing the "studying".  Beyond a certain point, slicing and dicing people up into different generational, artificially warring "camps" is tiresome and not useful, I think. 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,916
Registered: ‎03-14-2010
Love how some of the commentary here validates the study. 🤣 Snowflakes indeed.
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,685
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Okay, Boomers

[ Edited ]

Well, after reading that article, I feel like lashing out at any criticism coming my way - but then I am 70 years old Smiley LOL