The world after World War Two saw a rise of the Beat Generation, a group of progressive artists and writers who voiced independence through intellectual escapades and reflections on their vagabonding.

The movement was unlike any other The writers were bashful and lawless, often using marijuana and alcohol to fuel their desire to create and uncover new ways of life. As compared to today smoking was much more of a taboo in the early post World War days, the artists taking quite a risk to simply get their minds into a sedated, yet calculated groove.

The titans of the day were beats like Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, with the two of the greatest works of literature being Ginsburg’s humbling free verse poem, “Howl” and Kerouac’s novel “On the Road”.

Allen Ginsburg reading poetry to a crowd of listener

Beats inspired baby boomer’s in the ‘50s and ‘60s with prose and moving reflections not just the ideas of dreams, but of an enlightened reality. The mood was intellectual, raw and emotional, giving their work and lifestyle a distinctive identity that has seemingly trickled down through the generations to us, Generation Y.

The millennial generation gets a bad rap. We’ve been called whiny, entitled, narcissistic, and soft offspring of the ever watchful parent.

Yet to me, Millennials are smart, creative, often funny and mostly kind. I think that we have a rare and wonderful opportunity to be another Beat Generation while putting their own unique spin on the world. That is, if we can rediscover what’s great about the Beats, things that are both timeless and important to 21st century America, yet also not suffer the drugs, alcoholism and moral depravity that were too often part of the Beat scene.

I see a lot of the Beats in Millennials. We can’t really stay at one job very long, because we don’t like being controlled or micromanaged. We love music and are open to strange and experimental artists and sounds. We seek spirituality, but in unconventional ways. We are open and tolerant when it comes to sexual lifestyles that mainstream culture might find outré. We drink beer and stay out late at night.

First, we wanted to attain a status of pseudo-celebrity in the 2000s, particularly through social media. The rise of Facebook and other social media companies allowed your online presence to present a curated version of your reality. This has now shifted ever so slightly to a picture-heavy Instagram feed and a more earnest medium of expression via personal content. This ultimately feeds the swelling of artisan entrepreneurship. The Internet, as it goes through this second major wave of adoption, is allowing for a Beat regeneration. This era will connect like minds, while also minimizing start-up costs for bootstrapping endeavors.

With free and established sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe, there is a growing community of like-minded thinkers and builders funding projects of all shapes and sizes. These sites not only increase the willingness to partake and donate to other causes and movements, but they also greatly lower the barrier to entry for personal expression. We are seeing the same exploration of the Beats through these new creative outputs in the sharing and gig economy as well.

Through ride services like Lyft and Uber, as well as the rental sharing of Airbnb, we're walking in the shoes of others more frequently. We are connecting people through new channels based on travel and lifestyle decisions. Instead of sterile hotels and yellow cabs, we're diving into the individualized homes and cars of others, opening ourselves up to hear and experience more.

This openness is a vital component to the Beat generation, and it’s being consistently cultivated through the sharing economy. These connections are pairing together the socially liberal to share goods and services, much like modern-day hitchhiking. This culture of creation and ingenuity is what Gen-Y needs to continue to burn on. If the Beat regeneration is to come to complete fruition, young people must feed the fire of entrepreneurship, burn the midnight candle and join the building movement.