YOUTH OF THE 21st CENTURY

Youth is that little bird who has broken out of the eggs eagerly waiting to spread out its wings in the open sky of freedom and hope. Youth is the full of life, energy, creativity and opportunities to conquer them as the youth of today are sure to be the leaders of tomorrow. The issues surrounding youth are as old as humanity. However, the issues facing youth in the 21st Century are far much different from issues of youth in the yester centuries. 

Many youngsters are spoilt indulging 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. This is the most prominent and disturbing phase of our life time.

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 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. Be it a kid or a youngster, 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-effects of this dependency — whether knowingly or unknowingly.

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. Since the future is in their hands, 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 and this should be valued and treasured and not be 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. Youngsters want to change world, where the elders want to enjoy their works. Indulging into 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 are in fashion now days. 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. Consuming alcohol is a status symbol today. Youngsters from college love to attend late night parties that serve alcohol. Many a times, they don’t even have a reason for the same but whenever they feel like drinking, they gather in a group to drink and smoke making a complete mess of their lives. Smoking, unfortunately, is getting extremely prevalent in the youth today. When today’s youth take to smoking and consuming alcohol excessively, then there is no exception on drugs too. Plenty of youngsters around the world have fallen to drug addictions and its slaveries and they enjoy it. 

4.      Junk food:

A massive group 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. 

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!

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 its value. They definitely have no value for money and wanting a lavish lifestyle without caring as to what it might take or cost is not of deep concern for them.

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. 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 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 therefore leading to higher levels of illegal abortions and diseases. Where does this all start? 

9.      Excessive hanging-out:

The youngsters of today aren’t serious about lifestyle. All they want is fun and frolic that excites them. In the 21st century youth spend hours and hours with friends discussing things that are absolutely worthless. 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.

10.  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. We should start think of humanity as a single moral community linked by mutual responsibility. Our present Pacific context compels us, as young people, to seek a new way of engaging with our people’s struggle for meaning and purpose. Because we are not products of forces beyond our control, we need a moral vision that situates the source of action and responsibility within ourselves. The construction of such a vision will include the key values of human dignity, justice, compassion, hope and peace. Secondly, there is a big need to encourage Youth population to participate more actively. The older we are, the deeper our roots are in the past and the less able we are to see ways in which the future is developing.

“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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