Millenial Stein The New Greatest Generation Summary

Ashley Lau
Ms. Fauth
English 10H, Period 5
14 September 2016
On Millennials
In his essay, “The New Greatest Generation: Why Millennials Will Save Us All,” American journalist Joel Stein suggests that the same conditions that have caused millennials to be narcissistic and have a sense of entitlement growing up can also empower millennials to be more innovative and create new opportunities.
Stein first lists negative attributes of millennials--narcissism, technology addiction, materialism, stunted development, laziness, a sense of entitlement--and supports it with statistical evidence. Then he uses ethos and tells about some of his own millennial traits and uses himself as an example that “[millennials] are not new species; they’ve just mutated to adapt to their environment” (Stein 31). They are not stunted in development, but “more free to postpone big decisions”: “Twixters put off life choices because they can choose from a huge array of career options, some of which , like jobs in social media, didn’t exist 10 years ago” (Stein 31). Therefore, “millennials’ perceived entitlement is not a result of overprotection but an adaptation to a world of abundance” (Stein 31). The internet has also helped in providing free

“‘So the great thing is that they do feel entitled to all of this, so they’ll be more innovative and more willing to try new things and they’ll do all this cool stuff.” (Stein, 31). “Millennials are able to