Irony was cited as a trait of my generation, but it seems even stronger in the upcoming generation, increasingly reality-show self-aware. Is this a trend, growing irony over time?

Douglas Coupland, author of Gen X, later said, ‘When you’re younger, you think a little irony is all you need. You think it’ll get you to the grave, but it won’t. Loss always seeps through. You do need to deal with it.‘ Can the jolt of reality still counter irony when reality itself is mocked?