The Beat (Up) Generation

     In Abby Ellin's article "The Beat (Up) Generation" (2014), she claims that the older generation (Boomers and gen-Xers) doesn't like the way that the younger generation (Millennials) choose to do things in life. Abby Ellin talks about the different ways the Millennials do things that the Boomers and gen-Xers don't agree with at all. She used different pieces of information from different professors and psychologists in order to help explain why they think the Millennials are so much different from the Boomers and gen-Xers. The intended audience for this article are all the generations and for the bosses in the workplace.
     After reading this writing on cultural criticism, we thought that Ellin's incorporation of a fictional character as an example for the issues with the different generations was a great supporting idea to have to help better understand the reasons as to why there were different judgments on the work ethics of different generations and the reasoning behind it. We felt that Ellin's ability to pull in different perspectives on the new generation (millennials) was well played out and helped us have an open mind while reading, which was a valuable thing to have while reading this essay. The fact that this text was objective, included reliable studies, and informed us on the opinions of other people made us have a deeper understanding of the generation other than our own and gave us a new viewpoint on millennials that we never had before, therefore giving Ellin's writing the ability to teach us something delightfully new and eye-opening.
      The writer tries to show the collaboration between new and old generation in work place. The way Millennials understand things are different from the way older generations feel about work. Examples of where it says that Boomers and Millennials also have different takes on the notion of carrier. The Boomers and their forebears expected to stay in one job from college graduation until they received their retirement watch. Millennials, on the other hand, have no company loyalty. The writer shows also how in decades past, children were considered mature by the time they reached their teen unlike today young people prolong adolescence well into their 20s, which has created a demographic Arnett calls emerging adults. And also young people have been raised with technology answering their every beck and call. The developing brain also affects way Millennials digest information. Coates says that when learning, Boomers are happy to watch a PowerPoint presentation with broad overview while Millennials , on the other hand are interested only in the information needed to complete the task at hand. Gail Romeo, CEO of Collective changes says that Millennials are so much more open to change because they have constantly been in it. By presenting this information, Ellin shows the audience that even though generations are different, not one generation is better or worse than the other.