This question was sparked from a conversation I was having with friends online, we were talking about the show "GIRLS".

First off, for the record, I actually love "GIRLS" but it's no secret that the plot revolves around a group of white, privileged, self-centered, entitled girls. I am sure Lena Dunham herself intended this as she has no problem calling herself out and poking fun at herself. But that's besides the point. I don't actually want to talk to you about GIRLS. I want to talk about our generation.

Let me also say that I don't claim to know the answer to the question this title poses but simply have been dissecting it and have a lot more questions that bubbled to the surface as I explored the initial one.

Disclaimer: I am only referring to the youth in first-world countries.

For my own sake and yours I am going to go ahead and make a bullet-point list of the questions to keep this organized:

• Is it true that even the worst off person in a first-world country better off than most of the world's population?

This one came to me when my friend said how I have endured so much abuse and am entitled (there's that word) to say that my life has been bad. It's true that I have been through a lot of horrific abuse but I responded by saying that though I have endured much abuse my life is still infinitely better than that of many people in third-world countries. There are girls who are raped for their entire lives until death, literally and families doing everything they can to try to feed their families (including eating mud) and still watching their children, piles of bones, starving to death. So, even I am in some light pretty fucking privileged.

Is the culture of social-media making people vain and self-centered?

Almost every young adult has at least one social media account and most people more than that. Platforms that are run on "likes" and unlike here on steemit the likes are not based on valuable content but just likes to stroke one's ego. People obsessing over how many likes their new profile photo got or how many people are interested in the photo of their lunch that they posted. It's not hard to imagine that people may be becoming a bit more self-centered and vain. Especially since many people live their social lives more online than offline. I am on of those people.

• Are we really that entitled or are we simply afforded more freedoms that previous generations?

I was full-on hating myself for being such a privileged fuck when this question popped into my head. I am often referred to as lazy simply for pursuing a creative avenue. Perhaps, the youth now just has more freedom to explore their passions than previous generations did. Maybe it's some sort of subconscious resentment that makes the previous generations think we are lazy and spoiled. Or, perhaps, we really are lazy and spoiled as a whole. Again, I am not claiming to know the answer to this question. Even after much deliberation I am simply left with more questions.

• Is focusing on shallow portions of one-self just an escape mechanism?

We live in an age where, if we want to, we can easily look up what's going on in the world outside of our country and in parts of our country we would never see otherwise, via the internet. We can now watch documentaries on sex-trafficking in Bangladesh or easily find a video of the Haitian food crisis and see people eating mud cakes to stay alive. We can see the places our country is bombing and if we dig deep we can find out the ulterior motives for our country doing so. Perhaps, it's simply easier to post cat memes on facebook and count likes than it is to admit all these atrocities going on in the world around us that we are not equipped to deal with emotionally. Sure, that isn't always going to be the case but I do have plenty of friends that use the internet as a form of escapism and I am wondering if I do that myself.

Obviously this goes beyond the internet too. For example, capitalism, people often focus on material items and shopping trips to escape reality. Or one might become entirely captivated by video games, comics, TV shows. There are many ways people escape their reality. I am also not saying it's inherently a huge deal if people play games or watch movies, I am talking about excess here. My point is simply that it may just be easier to focus on things that are less "heavy" and that may end up making a person seem shallow or self-centered.

Well, those are just some thoughts I had on this subject and am open to a deeper discussion and different view-points. Let's have a discussion!

Photos:

Selfie girl:
https://www.pexels.com/search/selfie/

Girl with headphones:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/smartphone-windows-phone-nokia-device-7423/

We are all connected, yo:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/auspices/14892685406