The Youth of Today
Youth is the joy, the little bird that has broken out of the
eggs and is eagerly waiting to spread out its wings in the open sky of freedom
and hope. Youth is the spring of life, full of energy, creativity and
opportunities to conquer them. It is a known fact that the youth of today are
the leaders of tomorrow but today this can be rephrased as that, only a
particular section of the today’s youth are sure to be the leaders of tomorrow.
Now this is to be understood as to why should it be changed. The honest and
straight-forward answer is that a majority of the youth today are spoilt having
indulged into wrong habits like smoking, drinking, drug-addiction and loitering around etc. It is
rather a heart rendering sight on seeing so many youngsters languishing
themselves in the dark addictions of life. This is the most prominent and
disturbing phase of our life time.
Be it a small kid to any elderly person, everyone these days
has an account on at least one social networking site which is a great place to
catch up with old friends, or make new ones, having a dangerous side-effect of
this dependency — whether knowingly or unknowingly.
Today, technology plays a major part in the lifestyle of the
young generation. Sending a message to a friend who is thousands of miles away
is as simple as pushing a button, direct access to unlimited storage of
information takes no more effort than just a click on the laptop or a computer.
Social networking such as Facebook and Friendster brings friends and family
more closely together giving a huge potential to the youth to be creative and
share their opinion through blogging etc. These tools are a big help in day to
day living but we also have to acknowledge that it is making the youth “lazier”
and “lazier”. How? One of the best example is the internet for when a student
is asked to write an essay, he or she just finds it from a site, copies and
then pastes its content to submit. Mostly all the resources are available in
just within an easy reach, the youth hence makes no effort to do any research
work or acquire knowledge from books, instead prefers to remain in the confines
of their comfort zones. Exploring beyond their boundaries and capabilities
seems a waste of time to him. The most alarming factor that can be perceived is
the growing indifference to the responsibilities they hold in society and
neglecting the big role they play in its development. They fail to realize that
it is them who are the hope of the future.
1. Opportunities :
All the opportunities are a stimulus towards competition for
youngsters. But at the same time, the
youth shouldn’t lose out on their moral values. It is important to maintain
that balance between sticking to one’s values along with the drive to achieve.
The future is in the hands of the youth, and so they have a
lot of responsibility on their shoulders. They have to channelize this
responsibility and their energies properly for its outcome is a benefit to the
country and themselves too.
2. Freedom :
The biggest advantage that this generation has is that they
have more freedom than we did. But they handle it well; it’s not misused.
Meanwhile, all that the youngsters need for their own good is to take part in
more outdoor physical activities, read more, rest better and avoid binging on
junk food. We may run, we may hide, but we cannot ignore the responsibilities
that await us in the future.
“Our youth now love
luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for
their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when
elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company;
gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.
“Youngsters want to change world. Elders want to enjoy their
works. Some wrong habits can ruin their lives completely. Though
some of them can be controlled through rehabilitation, others can affect you
permanently and can be a scar for life. This may lead to serious problems not
only at the professional front, but, can also impact their social life.
3. Drinking, Smoking and Drugs :
Alcohol, cigarettes
and drugs have been the reasons behind most of the deaths among youngsters in
the recent years and have constantly been on the rise. It is not rare to see a
twelve or fourteen year old holding a cigarette butt and drinking away from a
bottle. Large scale misuse of freedom that their parents give them is what is
happening here. The youth today have taken up consuming alcohol as a status
symbol. Youngsters from college, both girls and boys alike, love to attend late
night parties that serve alcohol. Many cases have been registered when the
youth have been caught drinking and driving too. Though many a times, they
don’t even have a reason for the same but whenever they feel like drinking
anytime, they gather a few friends for a good company to drink and smoke making
a complete mess of their lives.
Smoking, unfortunately, is getting extremely prevalent in the
youth today. Take a look around and you definitely will notice a large number
of youth taking a puff out of a cigarette. The excuse given is that it works as
a relaxant from stress whereas a few say that they were advised by a friend.
These vices may give a momentary satisfaction, but it is only shortening their
life span and moreover such bad habits are very difficult to get rid of.
If today’s youth take to smoking and consuming alcohol
excessively, then there is no exception on drugs. Plenty of youngsters around
the world have fallen to drug addictions and its slaveries. The biggest reason
why youth are into drugs is because they enjoy it. It satisfies their mental
desires in a very negative way, and helps them relax and is an easiest way to
earn pocket money! The most common way for a youngster to fall prey to drugs is
through friends meeting and hanging around. They see their friends consuming
drugs and are enticed to consume themselves too.
4. Junk food:
An outrageous number of youngsters today prefer junk food
from places like Mcdonalds, KFC and several other such places. It is sad that a
lot of them have forgotten the essence of home-cooked food, and prefer to grab
a bite out with friends more often than necessary. The youth today wish to live
a fast life and feel it’s socially attractive to hang-out with friends and
gossip on worthless issues.
5. Lacking social awareness:
Having a good sense of social surroundings is important, but
plenty of youngsters lack in this field. They have a poor sense of social
judgment or what is important to the society and how to live in it. Today, we
can see so many untoward incidents take place for example car stunts, rash
driving, school bunking, smoking, drinking etc. Many youngsters are seen
constantly plugged with their ear-phones with music playing at full volumes
walking in public places due to the reason they don’t hear a car honking behind
them or anyone warning them of the mishappening about to take place due to
their carelessness! It’s sad and absurd to not have such a strong with-hold on
the society at times.
6. Money-awareness
absent:
Parents work hard to earn money, and the youngsters hardly
work to blow the money up. The youth of today are very demanding. They want the
latest mobile, the latest laptop, they want the latest and branded fashion
wear! They prefer spending high amounts of money at expensive food outlets, at
bars and at unwanted parties. They spend a lot of money without realizing the
value of money. Youngsters want to live a lavish lifestyle anyhow, not caring
as to what it might take or cost. They tend to blow up their money on non - resourceful
things. They definitely have no value for money.
7. Fb, twitter 24×7,
Vibor etc.:
There is no doubt about the fact that social networking is
lovely for it helps people connect in a much easier manner. But on one side
where social networking is a boon, there excessive and unwanted social
networking a liability?
There is a darker side of such sites too. Recently a British
teenager Hannah Smith, aged 14, committed suicide because she was taunted about
her weight and appearance on a website where most people known or unknown can
post anonymous comments. Several users posted hate messages on her profile,
asking her to "do everyone a favour and go kill yourself" and
"get cancer". The insensitivity refused to cease even after news of
her death spread. Many took to her profile and labelled her a
"coward" for taking the extreme step. So what is it that has made
teenagers today addicted to such deeds?
It hinders your
ability to develop intellect for the youth of today spend more than half their
valuable time on social networking sites. They chat with friends, spend hours
and hours commenting on pictures and what not. They are unable to maintain a
balance between socializing and personal development, which is the most
important aspect of any individuals life. This is lacking in majority of the youngsters
today.
8. Pre-marital sex:
Rate of pre-marital sex is quickly growing higher and higher
and even more shocking is that youngsters aged between 16 to 20 are indulging
in pre-marital sex. The youth of today are obviously not well-educated in sexual
matters as they need should be thus leading to higher levels of illegal
abortions and other diseases. Where does this all start? A group of friends are
partying at a discotheque where they consume lot of alcohol and what not,
finally losing their senses being unable to get back home safe. A boy and girl
often indulge in pre-marital sex when they aren’t in their senses too. They
wake up next morning not knowing what happened.
9. Excessive
hanging-out:
The youngsters of today aren’t serious about lifestyle. All
they want is fun and frolic that excites them. Take a visit to some of the
famous hangout places near your vicinity. Where spending time with friends is
important, there in the 21st century youth spend hours and hours with friends
discussing things that are absolutely worthless without any cause and meaning.
So many young boys and girls just idle away their time, talking to friends in
groups or alleys or hangout places just chilling and idling away their time.
Conclusion.
A new generation has come of age bringing with it a lifestyle
that is shaped by an unprecedented advance in technology and dramatic events
both local and foreign. Because of this rapid change we can say that the older
generations are finding it hard to relate to the new generation particularly
with the new way of life and current trends. With the arrival of new forms of
media such as cell phones, social networking and the internet, we are now in a
world where the only thing constant is change.
Youth is wholly experimental and with the full utilization of
the talents of the Youth, India will become a complete Nation. Let us hope for
the same.
“Youth is like a fire
It crept forward.
A Spark at first
Growing into a flame
The brightening into a
Blaze”.
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