This is fascinating and you should definitely turn this into an article... what you're saying makes perfect sense and you've outlined and made the case for a very interesting trend.

I don't talk bout my age (see the Person behind the Penguin story pinned to my profile) - so I can't tell you to which generation I belong. I can however throw in a further mitigating factor at least in the UK. Class. I think perhaps the change is often led by young people in the middle classes - those with the most to gain by overturning the emotional status quo.

You've given me much to think about - and if you don't write this article then I will. Fascinating thought experiment. If you haven't caught the Hardcore History podcast (Dan Carlin) then he once did a podcast which posed the question - are we tougher than our grandparents? But across whole of history - he sees this as an integral part of why empires fall and draws parallels between the US and the Roman Empire as well as the British before and after the war.

Interesting stuff, thanks for dropping in. :o)