Reaction Paper On Millennials

In the article “The Beat Up Generation,” Abby Ellin claims that the negative way other generations view the millennials may all be wrong; instead, the millennials are preparing for the world most generations are opposing. Ellin declares in her article that the millennials are shown to be the most disliked generation; their ideas collide with those in the Baby Boomers and the Gen-Xers causing confusion. Constantly, Articles are being thrown out about the millennials “incompetence” and their “self-absorbed” behavior which only causes more hatred according to Ellin. However, she continues to state that millennials are no more selfish than the previous generations; in fact, millennials are only trying to discover new ways for “communication and

People my age are often referred to as the Lost Generation, Generation Y, and the Millennial’s. Among these titles we also get ‘lazy’, ‘directionless’, and ‘entitled’. It seems like half of these names were given to us before we were even born, being grouped together with those who came before us. While reading the article “Boomerang Kids: What Are the Causes of Generation Y’s Growing Pains?” by Rosie Evans, she touched on the many reasons why we ‘Millennial’s’ might be the way we are.

There are currently six living generations in the United States, each with different characteristics, beliefs, and values. The things that define each generation’s culture are derived from their history, upbringing, and the lifestyle of their time. Our generation was born between 1980 and 2000. We are called Millennials. More specifically, we grew up in the South, which typically lends itself to being more conservative and religious. These characteristics, along with our instant gratification attitude, define who we are, what we believe, and how we view other generations. For example, we might have differing views with the Silent Generation. Some Millennials may feel the Silent Generation’s social, religious, and economic conservatism is outdated.

This leads to the second point of how the ethnography fails to give an in-depth clear definition who millennials are especially when the point of the ethnography is to debunk the negative persona placed on current western millennials. This causes Cairns arguments to lose its impact, due to the broad definition of millennials. The ethnography is convincing to understand that the myth of entitlement placed on millennials is wrong with the use of the many examples to understand the political, economic and social climate in North America. Essentially, the normalization of millennials being lazy and not working hard is created by the institution to allow oppressive entitlement to be the normal aspect to create social order. This causes the loss of basic rights due to the internalization of the norm, but the refusal to accept the status quo and to expect less has given the power to allow the stereotypes of millennials to remain.

In Eric Hoover’s article, The Millennial Muddle, he describes how stereotyping and trying to understand students has become a major industry, especially with Millennials, since there are different adaptations and interpretations of this generation. It contains the different opinions from people who have studied this generation. Researchers try to figure out who Millennials are, how they think, why they always do what they do, and in those propositions and findings find them to contradict one another. Hoover then states that “in other words, they’re all different. But just for fun, let’s stereotype them as smart, successful, and lull of shakeable opinions.” Hoover does not deny these findings to be contradictory of what Millennials truly are.

At every turn there are talks about millennials. Whether it be a meme on the internet mocking them or a serious article addressing possible issues that involve their futures. As David Brooks argues in his article, ‘It’s Not About You’, if millennials are going to be successful in life then they have to realize that not everything is about them. Brooks’ claim effectively appeals to the audience’s emotions, yet he fails to explain the logic in his argument and build his credibility. Pointing out the many problems that millennials may face as they start life on their own, Brooks elicits many emotions from his audience.

“I have studies! I have statistics!” (par. 20) claims Joel Stein, a regular contributor for the TIME magazine. In “The New Greatest Generation: Why Millennials Will Save Us All,” Stein writes about the millennials, people born between 1980 and 2000. Using a very clever gimmick, he points out the unfavorable features of millennials at the beginning of his article, just to create a stronger rebuttal afterwards. He claims that the “millennials’ self-involvement is more a continuation of a trend than a revolutionary break from previous generations… [and] they’ve just mutated to adapt to their environment” (Stein par. 14). By utilizing rhetorical devices and various writing approaches, Joel Stein attempts to persuade the older generations to reconsider their opinion of millennials and presents his claim that the millennials inherited their characteristics from previous generations and have adapted to their environment.

Joel Kotkin does not eschew controversy in the title of his essay "Are the Millennials the Screwed Generation." The author postulates that the post-war generation of Baby Boomers has ruined the American dream for the current twenty-somethings, the Millennials. Boomers came of age in a golden economy, with good housing and job markets, yet Millennials have had dismal outlooks in both. Kotkin explores polarities like these in the experiences of the two generations. Millennials may not have had the advantages of Boomers, but they are the future of the country. The author uses compelling evidence to argue that Generation Y is, as he indelicately phrases it, "screwed."

Throughout history, the newest generation is always claimed as the most lazy, narcissistic, and self centered generation yet, and each previous generation disregards the reasons why the new generation acts the way they do. However, Joel Stein expertly brings to light in his article,“Why the Millennials Will Save Us All”, the fact that “They [the new generation] are not a new species; they've just mutated to adapt to their environment,” (Stein 4). Stein starts his article bashing on the millennials, utilizing a conversational tone and effective use of ethos and logos to draw the reader in. But halfway through the article, his tone suddenly changes along with his purpose as he analyzes his own life to shows how his own generation has the same

Millennials, a group of people who were born in the year 1984 and after. There are millions of them and they are our future. According to Simon Sinek, millennials “are accused of being entitled and narcissistic, self interested, unfocused and lazy.” Even though Millennials lack in some aspects, he believes that parenting, technology, impatience and environment is to blame. As a millennial, I totally agree with Sinek’s point because I am affected by all the variables that he listed ever since birth. Millennials did not do anything wrong but, the way they were raised affected their attitudes.

In “Millennials in the workplace”, Simon Sineks shows his empathetic and humorous side in his interview, describing Millennials in general, but pin points to the ones in the work force today. He does this by showing behind the scenes as to why Millennials are the way they are. He states his four main points of “Parenting, technology, impatient, and environment” (Sineks, interview, 2017, time). What Simon Sineks states throughout the interview is totally relatable to me as a millennial, I could see myself in action from my habits by the many scenarios he explains. So yes, I agree with his main points as to why Millennials is the way they are, but having two out of his four being a part of the cause more than the others. Technology and environment are huge in having children not fully develop their best possible selves. To understand this better you have to consider the individual who live in third world countries compared to the US. When Sineks gives his main point’s his purpose is to give it to anyone who uses their cell phones and social media. Many can accuse millenniums of this habit because yes, we are always on our phones, however, this could also be in effect on generation X.

In Simon Sinek speech “Millennials in the workplace interview” Simon humorously explains using past and personal experiences that millennials are a great and fantastic generation. They have become an addictive generation because of bad parenting, technology, impatience, and the environment and the only way to change this generation is if they are given help to balance physical and social lives. I would agree with this because I too suffer from an unbalanced physical and social life. At the start of his speech, Simon states that the generation of the millennials is everyone born from approximately 1984 and after. Then he describes the millennials as being entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused and lazy. Then he explains that

In an interview of 2016, Simon Sinek analyses and discusses the topic of Millennials within the workplace. Throughout Sinek’s speech in his interview, he explains the disadvantages which Millennials have faced while growing up in their generation. Now, Sinek claims that the reason why Millennials have been dealt such a “bad hand” in life, is a result of failed parenting strategies, and an imbalance of technology along with social media (which has advanced like never before within the adolescence of Millennials). Therefore, the imbalance of the internet and real-life interaction results in millennials being unable to form deep and meaningful relationships, in order to carry out happy and meaningful live in comparison to previous

First of all the time period that millennials are growing up in is affecting how other generations look at their work ethic. From worldwide layoffs, soaring divorce rates, war, and unemployment, millennials have been through a lot already in their life for being so young. The unemployment rate and the increase of the cost of living is hitting this generation the hardest, it’s the main reason why young adults are still living with their parents. Young adults are most affected by the unemployment rate in general, which makes times primarily hard. In fact, in one report they found that, “Many Millennials couldn’t work right now if they wanted to. According to the report, 37% of 18–29-year-olds are unemployed or out of the workforce, the highest share among this age group in more than three decades” (Williams). Work ethic is difficult to define when so many are unemployed, after the recession hit in 2008 it has been especially hard to find a job. Although the economy is healing and people are starting to find more work opportunities, times are still strenuous. For some it can almost seem impossible to try and save money for college to get a job that can support the cost of living in this day and age. If anything millennials work ethic is strong, this generation isn’t just sitting around and waiting for a job to come to them. In order to live comfortably in this time period it’s essential that one has a job. They are taking this

Across the nation, people are talking about the Millennial generation and how different they are compared to others, but are they really that different? Millennials are lazy, entitled, and selfish, or as you may have heard may be essential to the modern workplace, either way, they are being talked about whether it is good or bad. To put it in other words, past generations are concerned for what the future will look like with this technology-dependent generation, but is that a bad thing if the technology is only going to advance from here on out? The older generation is being too harsh or are they just genuinely concerned about the future? Joel Stein (2013) has written an article about the Millennials, it is titled Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation he argues for them being a selfish generation but by saying that it is not a bad thing. The second article is by Liz Zarka (2017) Generation Me: The Millennial Generation’s obsession with being unique, she argues that they are the generation that needs to be concerned for. After reading both of these articles I agree with some of the points that both of these authors make, however, there are also some sections that I disagree with. My perception of the situation is that millennials may have all these negative characteristics but use them to an advantage that no other generation can has; along with the advancement of technology and the use of social media may have increased the narcissistic trait in them, but they use these traits to get what they want, however, being narcissistic isn’t always good there can certainly be some disadvantages.