Feeling bored. Really bored

Feel like not blogging but just want a post…so just as a help for those who are doing article 11 for the English presentation…

As we walk into the second decade of the 21st century, the world faces a whole slew of situations: the aging world population, global warming and the ever-rising standards of living. At the spearhead of those who will have to weather these situations just as our leaders have weathered various epidemics and a relatively serious economic crisis are the youths of today, the world leaders of tomorrow.

However, for now, the so-called Generation Y, riding on the waves of the technological revolution, seem to be having the times of their lives, due to their ability to somehow operate almost every device with ease. Together with the fact that they have never faced the horrors of war, the youth of today seem to have never had it so good.

Young people today are submitted to less control than the youths of the past. Due to the fact that elders in the past had much more relevant experience and knowledge for surviving in the working world, knowledge which the youths of yesterday craved, authority was almost unquestionable and almost every aspect of the youths’ lives were taken charge of parents, who would say they had their children’s best interests at heart. However, due to the technological revolution, elders wont to exercise power over their juniors find that their experience has become irrelevant in this digital age, and that the traditional role of authority is fast diminishing as youths of today are actually better informed on how to face the unpredictable working world than their elders, and consequently do not need their advice, giving the old no chance to boss around the young, and have to treat them as equals.

Also, due to the rapidly rising living standards of society, youths today get to enjoy a much more comfortable life than earlier generations ever had. Forty years ago, the only source of entertainment were books and radio stations, with families owning a television few and far between. Nowadays, youths revel in gaming platforms ranging from multiplayer role playing games such as the highly successful World of Warcraft franchise to interactive Wii gaming. They take air-conditioning, high-definition televisions and internet connection for granted. This leads them to have very short attention spans, having a need to be constantly entertained, and with the constant advent to even more advanced technological gadgets available to youths, realizing this need is not a hard task at all.

Youths today are also much more pampered their parents than youths in the past. Perhaps the parents feel that since they have experienced a tough childhood mainly because their parents were unable to provide them with a good one, they work long hours and put in much effort in order to bring home more bread, and then lavish their hard earned money upon their offspring. Coupled with the fact that parents of today usually do not have more than two or three children, they treat them like precious gems, and hope that material advantages will let them lead a better life. This leads youths to be bred as high-class consumers, making quick consumer decision, eschewing any second-bests, whose wants are readily fulfilled by their doting parents.

However, our world has rapidly evolved to become a fast and frenetic one, a world which is extremely unpredictable, and youths either have to master a multitude of skills before treading into the working environment or sink in our unaccommodating society. The government realizes that the country will only survive well economically if they have a generation of working people who are well-suited to handle a wide variety of situations, giving rise to an education scheme pressurizing schools to grill students with difficult projects, assignments and examinations, all in the name of breeding a highly adaptable bunch of adults, resulting in youths facing great amounts of stress, a concept almost unknown of to youths in the past. Due to this, more and more youths are going for psychotherapy sessions to relieve this stress which has become overwhelming, a highly unsettling trend.

Even so, with the many benefits that youths are able to get in life in terms of freedom and material comforts is quite sufficient to offset most problems which youths face in our society today. For the society understands that the youths are our hope for tomorrow, and are only too glad to fulfill these needs. I end with the conclusion that youths of today have never had it better.

OK well it is arguing about present rather than past but…pretty much the same viewpoint. I hope.