No, Jeremy Paxman – We’re Not All ‘Self-Obsessed And Hedonistic’

Why Jeremy Paxman Is So Wrong About ‘The Younger Generation’

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by Rebecca Holman |
Published on

Another day, another baby boomer complaining about the ‘self-obsessed and hedonistic’ yoof. The boomer in question this time was Jeremy Paxman – full-time politician botherer and part-time World War One enthusiast.

Speaking at a literature festival in Dubai, Paxman, who presented BBC One series Britain’s Great War last month – and also wrote a book on the subject – said ‘what would the younger generation fight for? The right to use your iPhone? What are the great noble causes? Ideas of duty, clearly strong felt by many people, have diminished as the international significance of the country has diminished.’

He went on to claim that society today is ‘materialistic, self-obsessed and hedonistic. It’s hard to imagine circumstances under which people would say that “it is worth it, I am willing to risk my life and well-being for this.”’

His basic argument seems to be that technology, culture and, presumably, the fact that we’ve grown up in a period of relative peace and prosperity, makes us vapid, self-obsessed narcissists, who are incapable of empathy or taking one for the team.

Maybe he’s right – after all, it’s well documented that instances of narcissistic personality disorders among 20-somethings are far higher than for older generations – we’re the Me, Me, Me Generation, so fixated on our Facebook feeds and Instagram selfies, we have no perception of what’s going on in the wider world.

Except that view ignores all the ways in which social media and technology have enriched the way we live our lives, making us more adventurous and far more interested in the world around us.

A survey carried out by Expedia last year revealed that Millenials travel more than anyone else – up to nine times a year, including business trips. And let’s not forget that the dreaded social media keeps us in touch with friends and colleagues from all over the world.

Yes, we might be heads down on Facebook half the time, but what’s on your timeline right now? Mine is filled with stories my friends have posted and shared on the latest in Ukraine, the Paralympics in Sochi, and the updates from Syria. We’re constantly reading and learning – and, more to the point, we care.

Change.org is an online petition site, which launched in 2012 and now gets roughly 4.5 million users a month, launching 1,500 new petitions. Topics range from campaigns to ban Female Genital Mutilation to calls to get P&O Ferries to install CCTV on passenger decks and last week alone seven petitions on the site were successful (incidentally, men and women launch the number of petitions, women are 10 per cent more likely to be successful in winning their campaign).

Because it's not the baby boomers (who all have iPhones and Facebook accounts too now) who are using the Internet as a tool for change – they’re too busy using it to complain about us. Instead it’s Millenials who are galvanising themselves online, protesting, sharing and talking about the biggest injustices in the world – trying to make a change and register their protest. We’ve grown up having this much information at our fingertips, and course it has its down sides (Twitter-related RSI, or nits from Instagram selfies anyone?) but, fundamentally, it makes this generation of 20-somethings better connected, and better informed than we’ve ever been before.

Comparing our generation to those who fought in World War One is like comparing cats and dogs – 100 years later, the world we live in is unrecognisable.

What might be more useful is to compare Millennials to Paxman’s generation of baby boomers, as they contemplate the recession they’ve missed, the housing crisis they’ve skipped over, and the final-salary pension they’ll be enjoying in the next few years.

Follow Rebecca on Twitter @rebecca_hol

Picture: Getty

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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