The Self-Confidence Tipping Point

In the ’90s, when I was growing up, self-esteem was treated by adults like a magical invincibility shield. Self-confidence could protect you from all of life’s horrors, the thinking seemed to be. In one excruciating episode, my 10-year-old classmates and I were forced to list qualities we liked about one another as a narcotics officer looked on grimly. Self-esteem would keep us from doing drugs, teachers told us; self-esteem would keep us from having premarital sex. (The first time I had sex with a confident stoner, I was very confused.)

In recent years, however, self-esteem’s reputation has soured.. The recession happened, and the peppy message of you-can-do-it-ism rang hollow. Certain researchers that young people were becoming more self-absorbed. All those participation trophies and were, in part, blamed. In working so hard to boost Millennials’ self-esteem, some , society actually turned them into entitled narcissists.