The Beat Up Generation By Abby Ellin

In the wise words of REO Speedwagon “I’m gonna keep on loving you” the 1980s-2000s was ridiculous and fun time between inspiring bands and Rubik’s cubes. Head over heels married couples made adorable, chubby faced babies but thinking back to those days, wondering how many of those married couples would still have had those cute as a button babies if they knew millennials would become the laughing stock of older generations. Some millennials are described as cry baby, narcissistic, technology obsessed generation with no concern for others. A cry baby is defined as someone who gets upset when they are wrong, whines a lot, complains, and very immature. Children are compared to a block of clay that is molded throughout the years to become a successful adult. Some millennials are seen as crybabies due to their lack of ability to take criticism while others believe that millennials ability to stand up for their beliefs and get the work done reflects back to how millennials were molded as children.

He is about to do what old people have done through history: stein said call those younger than him lazy, entitled selfish and shallow. He studies! He have statistic! Stein have quotes from respected academics! I am agreeing with stein theses points because if we can see around now the world we will see things we had never seen before. Unlike I can see the proof in my parents, my grandparents and great-grandparents. Every new generation becomes with new records in Olympics and other challenges. The generations become more challengers and more strong as we can see the people in their 20s that’s now 65 or older according to the national institutes of health;58% more college students

In the article, Declining Student Resilience, Peter Gray states, “There has been an increase in diagnosable mental health problems, but there has also been a decrease in the ability of many young people to manage the everyday bumps in the road of life”. It has come up a lot that millennials do not have Grit, unlike other generations. Millennials come off as lazy or immature in society today. Millennials always have a reminder from their parents or grandparents, “back in my day....” or “you’re lucky, you have it easy”. Other generations give millennials a harder time on how they are performing in a school setting. Some generations believe that millennials are babied by their parents. Everyone has their own opinions about other generations. There are many similarities and differences between millennials and other generations on how they performed in schools. Some examples of how they are different and similar are work ethic, pressures, and technology. These examples come from actual opinions from millennials and other generations on their perspectives when comparing millennials and other generations in a school setting.

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.

“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."

Joel Stein uses his article in TIME Magazine, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation” to address the underlying issues and positives of the millennial generation by using various forms of data, statistics and negativity. While he is mostly successful with his tactics, he goes to such extremes with his negativity that he loses some of his audience before he even has a chance to talk about anything else. Stein spends much of his article speaking about how the Millennial generation is lazy, however research suggests that the Millennials aren’t necessarily lazy, but are held in place for various reasons outside of their control.

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 are categorized in many differ ways. Some people believe Millennials are lazy and narcissistic while other people believe they are more open-minded confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living. This starts different disputes between individuals. For example, Hasan Piker argues Simon Sinek statements made in the video, “On Millennials in the Workplace.” Sinek uses his motivational speaking skills to persuade the audience that Millennials, people reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century, are catered to and entitled. He uses four examples that back up his reasoning: parenting, technology, impatience, and environment. In contrast, Piker responds differently, believing that Millennials work for their status. Piker argues Sinek’s views about Millennials in the video “Young Turks on Millennials.” Both Sinek and Piker use different rhetorical strategies to entertain and persuade their audience about Millennials.

Every generation is defined by something. Baby Boomers had a strong work ethic and were morally righteous. Generation X was defined by its skepticism, perhaps resulting from the failures of Enron and the televised challenger explosion. And then we have millennials, a group that is marked by its liberal views and desire for a sense of purpose in their lives. However, millennials are also considered to be infantilized and sensitive. Maybe it’s our concerning answer to whether all forms of speech should be legal. Perhaps it’s our calls for unquestionable inclusion and implicit bias seminars on college campuses that have left students and faculty feeling backed into a corner. At the end of the day, millennials, which include me, are being

Millennials may be criticized, but they are a generation like no other. In the article “Why Millennials Will Save Us All,” Joel Stein asserts that millennials are a positive force of change. Stein’s intent is to convince his target audience, older generations who perceive millennials as “lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow” (28), that they misunderstand millennials. He boldly claims that “[millennials are] not a new species; they've just mutated to adapt to their environment” (31). Stein persuades his audience that millennials are most certainly a treasure trove of remarkable qualities.

Stein claims that “millennials’ self­involvement is more a continuation of a trend than a revolutionary break from previous generations. They’re not a new species; they’ve just mutated to adapt to their environment” (31). He supports this assertion by using pathos, logos, and concession. Stein’s purpose is to explain millenial behavior to the older generation in order to recognize how millenials came to be and their importance in society. Even though he begins with a condescending tone addressing the negative attributes of millennials, he expresses a generally positive outlook on the qualities of millennials to the previous generations before them. This work

Joel Stein, the author of “The ME ME ME Generation”, argues Millennials are a generation of narcissistic brats who are addicted to technology. However, Stein fails to account that Millennials are cautious of their actions due to the widespread use of information on the internet that could affect personal and professional relationships.

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.

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.