L. Pignotti
ENGL 120
30 October 2013
Joel Stein Reading Notes According to the article, this generation is pretty much screwed. Most of us are narcissistic and have horrible ambitions in life. Technology runs the world now; elementary students don’t even know how to use an encyclopedia. More young girls would rather be Jennifer Lopez’ personal assistant over the CEO of let’s say Quicken Loans. Nowadays, we act like we care, but in reality, what are we doing about it? We complain about the way our government is running the country, but none of my friends even voted even though they were old enough.
Millennials (Pgs. 1-6)
Narcissistic (ism/ist) (Pgs. 1-5, 7)
Generation (Pgs.1-3, 6-7)
Social Media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram etc.) (Pgs. 1-4, 6-7
Technology (i.e. Internet, Television, etc.) (Pgs. 1-4)
There are a few things I agree with in this article, one would be that most of this generation is way too narcissistic; I mean a lot of girls needs to look in the mirror constantly and have the latest, most expensive items. It’s disgusting. Also included in the article that I see as true would be that nobody takes action anymore. In the 1970’s during the Women’s Liberty acts women were burning their bras in the middle of the street it show that they didn’t have to be “held down.” Now if we have a problem with something, we don’t go out and protest and take action, we complain on Twitter and Facebook. Yeah, because that’ll do a whole lot of damage.
The main thing I disagree with within the article is the title and what this whole thing is about. I almost feel as if he’s bashing the entire generation. Not the entire generation is like this, I for one am not like most people my age. I would love to have new and better things, but I can’t because there are more important things in life, like, oh I don’t know, food. We’re in college, we aren’t supposed to have new, designer clothes, you’re supposed to go on “The College Kid Diet” and “The College Kid Wardrobe.” You wear last year’s shoes, thrift store clothes and eat Ramen Noodles. Not have an Armani Exchange outfit with Fendi sunglasses and eat strictly organic $20 dollar a pound apples.
“Millennials are interacting all day but almost entirely through a screen.” Pg. 3. Basically, a lot of older people seem to think that this generation isn’t getting any interaction and we don’t talk to each other, in reality, we do communicate and talk, but it’s just through texting, Skype or Facebook.
“Because of online dating, Facebook Circles and the ability to connect with people internationally, they no longer have to marry someone from their high school class or even their home country” Pg. 4. In a few years, not meeting your significant other online is going to be weird, Ilana baker from girl code made a comment about online dating being the norm and meeting someone at a coffee shop is going to be weird, she said “What? You meant them at a coffee shop? How did you know everything about them first?”
“A generation’s greatness isn’t determined by data; it’s determined by how they react to the challenges that befall on them.” Pg. 7. This is one of the truest statements in this article. You cannot generalize; you cannot judge an entire group of people on a select few of their actions. You cannot dub every Muslim person a terrorist because a select few were terrorists. People judge and generalize when it’s convenient, they don’t hate 17 year old American boys because of the Columbine Massacre, but they hate Arabic people because some of them held terrorist attacks.
Works Cited
Stein, Joel. "Millenials: The Me Me Me Generation." TIME. TIME, 09 May 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Baumeister, Roy. Interview. TIME 09 May 2013: 2-3. Print.
Gevinson, Tavi. Interview. TIME 09 May 2013: 2. Print.
Cited: Stein, Joel. "Millenials: The Me Me Me Generation." TIME. TIME, 09 May 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. Baumeister, Roy. Interview. TIME 09 May 2013: 2-3. Print. Gevinson, Tavi. Interview. TIME 09 May 2013: 2. Print.
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