iGen – those born after 1995 – are the first generation to spend their entire adolescence with smartphones. What does this mean for young people today? iGen is growing up more slowly as adolescents, taking longer to engage in adult activities such as working, driving, dating, having sex, and drinking alcohol. iGen spends more of their leisure time with digital media and less time seeing their friends face-to-face; they also spend less time sleeping. Perhaps this is why they are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Overall, iGen is physically safer but more mentally vulnerable.

Orygen and UNSW Centre for Ideas are pleased to invite you to an important conversation about the future of young people and the impact technology is having on their lives. Join Dr Jean Twenge, author of iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.

Dr Twenge will be joined with a panel including Professor Patrick McGorry, Executive Director of Orygen and Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, and to give us a view from iGen themselves, 20-year-old Amelia Morris, who is studying a Batchelor of Law and Arts at Monash University. The discussion will be facilitated by journalist Hamish Macdonald.

The talk is part of the UNSW Grand Challenge on Living with 21st Century Technology.

Tickets: $15 – $35