The Negatives Of Millennials

In the book, Generation Me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled and more miserable than ever before, author-researcher Jean Twenge explores the nature of the Generation Y, people who were born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The phenomenon that Twenge sought to explore in detail was how the Generation Y became the "Entitlement Generation" or, as she eventually coined the term, the "Generation Me." From the title itself, she described the Generation Me as a group of individuals who are "confident, assertive, entitled" but "miserable." Indeed, the book's thesis highlights how the youth of Generation Me are highly individualist and primarily centers on the "self." As in the words of Twenge, ""¦GenMe doesn't just question authority we disrespect it entirely" (28). This statement ultimately sums up the GenMe's attitude and viewpoint about respecting institutions, traditions, beliefs and values that held previous generations and societies together.

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

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.

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.

This book is a sequel to the Generations book by the same authors. It is very optimistic about the potential and qualities of the Millennial generation. For instance, they are born in an era when children were viewed more positively, they are more optimistic, cooperative, accepting of authority, rule followers, are the most watched over generation, smart, and believe they can change the future.

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."

Movies make teenage years appear to be glorious. You go to high school, you get on varsity, you get the girl of your dreams, and a car to match. However, that is a pronounced lie. Unlike TV, teenage years are full of self-discovery, heartache, stress, and plenty of mistakes. No teen, despite generation, has had a completely smooth transition from adolescence to adulthood. Teenagers stumble, lose their way, and fall down endlessly. The United States has seen a multitude of generations in its time. As a country, it has been through traumatic events such as the Civil War, the Great Depression, and 911. Such events only amplify the typical battles that teenagers face. Though the US is not currently in the middle of a crisis, it has produced a generation of Millennials with the infamous title of being the world’s laziest generation. So do modern teenagers have it too easy? Though some may argue Millennials are a corrupt and lazy generation, it is an unfair assessment since present-day teenagers face different battles than previous generations.

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.

In the article, “The New Greatest Generation: Why Millennials Will Save Us All,” by Joan Stein, Stein expresses his views through a complex game of mind control. He captures his audience, the older generations, in the beginning of the article by writing what they want to hear, then switches to the difficult truth, and finally tells the audience that it doesn't matter about what he has to say, but by how they view change. His claim, “So, yes, we have all that data about narcissism and laziness and entitlement. But a generation's greatness isn't determined by data; it's determined by how they react to the challenges that befall them,” (Stein 34) shows just how much he wants to show his audience the difficult truth, and makes them feel bad about being mean to the millennials.

In “Generation Nice” published in the August 17, 2014, edition of the New York Times, Sam Tanenhaus debunks the older generations’ belief that millennials are self-absorbed. The author provides a different idea of millennials. Tanenhaus believes that the millennials generation will change the world. The author states that the millennials to center on the world. Pew research center found this generation is not narcissistic, but they’re complicated, thoughtful and understanding.

In “Why They’ll Save us all” published in Time magazine on May 20, 2013, the author, 41-year-old Joel Stein informs readers on the behavior, lifestyle, and mentality of millennials. He fabricates his article around the concept of contradiction and information that is both reliable, yet meticulously placed, in order to successfully persuade and inform the audience that although the newest generation can be entitled, lazy, and self-absorbed, they are also capable of positively changing the world.

The authors extend the comparisons using descriptions and adjectives. The past generation of youths was made up of go-getters eager to “hit the road and find freedom”; they were even the inspiration for Bruce Springsteen’s vivacious album, “Born to Run.” The authors claim that today’s youths are far from that, holding nothing back as they describe the young people of this generation. “Risk-averse and sedentary,” they don’t bother to get their driver’s licenses, are satisfied to be at home browsing Facebook, and put too much faith in luck than effort. In other words, “Generation Y has become Generation Why Bother.” The authors appeal to the audience’s sense of patriotism, stating that American is “a nation of movers and shakers” and enumerating the accounts of bravery shown by the youths of previous generations, images that are admittedly different from the image they have crafted of the modern young person. The praises and favorable descriptions that the authors lavish upon previous generations of youths contrast sharply with the lackluster and borderline-insulting descriptions of today’s young adults. The juxtapositions accentuate how far Generation Y has fallen from its predecessors and prove, once again, that its constituents are leading stagnant lives.

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.