Understanding Millenials Through The Concepts Of Empathy, Authenticity, And Purpose

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Understanding Millenials through the concepts of Empathy, Authenticity, and Purpose
In our modern society, studies show that millenials are among the largest portions of population and significantly, they are less empathic than their predecessors and previous generations. It is generally theorized that millenials are like that because they are from a generation that was raised to prioritize their individual needs and always think about themselves first. In many literature and popular beliefs, millenials are called as the “ME generation” due to their belief and behavior of prioritizing their own sense of security and need. From a young age, millenials are usually brought up by their parents in a way that subconsciously programs them to believe that they are privileged and special. Through this, they are able to gain an impressive sense of self confidence at the cost of not learning the practical skills and social interaction that garner true recognition and respect. Some psychologists say that too much of unearned praise make the millenials incapable of truly gaining knowledge and skill that makes them fit in the world of adults and the system of the cultural and interacting society. A well respected doctor, Dr. Konrath theorized that a rise in social and cultural isolation is directly responsible for the decrease of empathic abilities of millenials. In the United States of America, varying norms of living and new forms of lifestyles can be blamed to the decline of mental health and social interaction of millenials such that there is a rising trend of living alone making them susceptible to less social interaction and feelings of belongingness. Through it, millenials are not getting the chance of learning to adjust individual attitude and behavior toward other people. CITATION Cha16 \l 1033 (Baker)
To expound the ideas of this composition, let us first define empathy and how it is essential to our society especially in the modern setting where millenials are the dominant majority of the population. According to the psychological definition, empathy is the ability to relate to other people’s feelings by knowing the feeling of another through their point of view. It is simply putting oneself in the shoes of another and analyzing what they are feeling through that person’s certain perspective. A study by the University of Michigan, headed by Dr. Sara Konrath, has recorded a significant decline of empathic abilities of college students since the year 2000. CITATION Joe13 \l 1033 (Stein) In the research, the team analyzed the psychological capabilities and societal skills of about 14,000 students and observed how their scores varied through the years. The test was made in the year 1979 and the analysis show that almost ¾ of the subjects reported that they feel that they are less empathic when compared to the average scores of students 30 years prior. CITATION The16 \l 1033 (The Open Forest Team) In this sense, there is a question being begged to be answered: What is causing this decline of empathy in the members of Generation Y, or Millenials?
In other scientific studies made in the recent decades, many assumptions rise when it comes to the search for the answer...