什麼是 ”ME” GENERATION?

在1980年之後出生的人(後稱「80後」)跟社會一起步入物質新時代。與他們的父母不同，他們沒有兄弟姐妹，自出生起就被傾注了太多的關注。他們被評價為“自私，任性，自我中心”，儘管過著時髦而鮮亮的生活，但與物質極大豐富相對的卻似乎是精神的極度孤獨。

不僅我們在關注他們。《時代週刊》曾在2006年把「80後」作家春樹放上封面，把「80後」的中國年輕人與美國1960年代“垮掉的一代”相比，覺得他們另類而頹廢。而在今年的另外一次對「80後」的專題報導中，《時代》乾脆給他們起名叫“Me Generation”，翻譯成中文就是“我一代”或者“以自我位中心的一代”。

Who is part of Generation Me?
Generation Me describes anyone born in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s -- in 2006, this means people between the ages of 7 and 36. These are today's young people, those who take it for granted that the self comes first. I'm a member of this generation myself, born in 1971.

How is Generation Me different from previous generations, especially from the 「Me generation」 of the 1970s?
Baby Boomers were sometimes called the 「Me generation」 in the 1970s, but this was a premature and brief label: Boomers did not discover the self until young adulthood, and even then did everything in groups, from protests to seminars like est. Generation Me has never known a world that put duty before self, and believes that the needs of the individual should come first. This is not the same thing as being selfish – it is captured, instead, in the phrases we so often hear: 「Be yourself, 」 「Believe in yourself, 」 「You must love yourself before you can love someone else. 」 These are some of our culture's most deeply entrenched beliefs, and Generation Me has grown up hearing them whispered in our ears like the subliminally conditioned children in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.