iGen: Guiding the Smartphone Generation

Psychologist Jean Twenge is one of the foremost researchers exploring the lives of kids and teens today. Her up-to-the-minute studies tying the rise of mental health issues in teens to the explosion of smartphones have widely influenced key cultural figures and educational policy from coast to coast. A professor at San Diego State University and popular speaker, her talks and seminars about generational differences are based on an impressive dataset of over 40 million people, which keeps her in the center of both the intellectual debates and cultural maelstrom surrounding technology and teens. Among her 180 scientific publications and seven books are Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents – and What They Mean for America’s Future and Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. A frequent network news media guest, she writes the Genration Tech substack

In this talk, Twenge will delve into the latest findings about how being the first generation to spend their adolescence with smartphones is affecting today’s teens. Has it really made them more likely to experience unhappiness, anxiety, and depression? And if so, what can therapists do to help?