His day was a curated performance. He posted a photo of his artisanal coffee with the caption Monday Motivation , ignoring the pile of laundry just out of frame. The "Me" in his generation wasn't about selfishness, he realized; it was about . He was the CEO, PR manager, and sole employee of his own brand.
The blue light of Leo’s phone was the first thing he saw every morning, a digital umbilical cord connecting him to a world that told him he was the protagonist of a global epic. At twenty-four, Leo lived in a studio apartment that cost sixty percent of his salary, but his Instagram feed suggested he was a nomadic prince of leisure. Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are ...
That evening, Leo met a friend at a crowded bar. They spent the first ten minutes taking the "perfect" photo of their drinks. But then, the phones went face down. His day was a curated performance
"You can be anything," his parents had said. To Leo, that sounded like: "If you aren't everything, you’ve failed." He was the CEO, PR manager, and sole