Smartphones
Twenge believes that the cause of many of the characteristics of Generation F lies in the way they use smartphones. The time that Generation F-ers spend on their smartphones is at the expense of face-to-face contact. Think of meeting friends offline (half the time less compared to fifteen years ago), going to parties or clubs, going to the movies, part-time jobs and romantic dates. According to Twenge, this does not mean that young people do not appreciate face-to-face contact, they even long for it. It just happens much less often because of the smartphone.
The most offline contact that Gen F-ers have is with their parents. However, young people prefer to retreat to their rooms, alone, to be online. Twenge links the psychological problems of young people to their frequent use of their smartphones. According to research, young people who are online for more than two hours feel unhappier and are more likely to have depression and attempt suicide. A group of activist shareholders that is in close contact with Twenge is even trying to persuade Apple to start a more thorough investigation into this connection .
Twenge argues that Gen F parents are wrongly malaysia phone number list led by the idea that the world in which young people grow up is less safe than it used to be. Today's parents protect their children wherever they can. They manage their children's finances, know where their children are, give compliments, do their homework, take their teenagers to the movies or shopping, and make sure their children have fun. Although parents work more, they still make sure to be home more with their children. They try to keep as much responsibility away from their children as possible. Even when their children are adults, they still treat them like children, according to Twenge. In this way, parents enable their children to be children for longer.
Young people from previous generations would rebel against such forms of parental patronage. Generation F-ers are extremely satisfied with it, because it guarantees their need for safety. As a result, young people expect adults to protect them until they are very old. When young people are confronted with a situation of emotional insecurity, they prefer to ask adults for help, rather than confront it themselves.
Dutch youth
The picture that Twenge sketches is the best substantiated picture that we currently have of the current generation of young people. Unfortunately, it concerns only American young people. Much less long-term data is available on current Dutch young people. This makes it difficult to say exactly on the basis of data how the Dutch Generation F differs from previous generations in the Netherlands. However, on the basis of this data we can compare Dutch Generation F-ers with their American counterparts.