Personality Profiles of the Modern Youth

People spend their youth in different social environments, and they as well as the development of a technology contribute a lot to the formation of certain values in them which they retain throughout their lifetime and which determine a unique character of the whole generation.

Like other generations, the modern generation of youth (those born in between the dates of 1982 and 1995) has been shaped by the events, leaders, and trends of its time. This generation is known as generation Y(also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Net).

Characteristics of this generation may vary by region, social, and economic conditions, however, the following ones seem to be the most common.

Generation Y represents people who have grown up during the high tech revolution. They have never known a world without high speed video games or a computer. This is the first generation to grow up with the widespread presence of the internet. It is estimated now that 97% of students own a computer, 94% own a cell phone, and 56% own an MP3 player. This generation spends at least 3.5 hours a day online. They have grown up engaging with the Internet. This generation is as comfortable with technology as a fish is with water. This had led to their expectation of being able to obtain information at exceedingly rapid speeds. This also has set the tone for how they act, react, and see the world. The new technologies made them vastly different from their parent's generation, for example, they are more peer-oriented, more informed, and more confident.

Generation Y is more radically and culturally tolerant than previous generations but, in spite of the new dominant liberal growth, new youth clubs and groups have been created in many developed countries to take the task of promoting and preserving conservative views and beliefs.

This generation is also sometimes referred to as the Peter Pan Generation because of their general delay with their passage into adulthood (at least it is longer than in most generations before them), and because of a trend toward living with their parents for longer than recent generations. The primary cause of this trend can be defined in economic terms. The economic and financial crises, high unemployment levels have made it difficult to pay high rents. And then, some Millennials are delaying the transition from childhood to adulthood as a response to mistakes made by their parents. Yet this generation has been noted as being quite family-oriented. The majority of the young adults want to get married and have a good career but they want to do it right the first time, and that is why do not hurry with marriage or carrier.

This group of people grew up during tranquil times and as a result they have in general a very optimistic outlook on life. Yet the generation Y individuals are expected to be affected by the recession more than others and that these behaviors that are shaped during this time will stay with them for their life. This group is used to making and spending money. Now they are careful shoppers, and care a lot about finding good value when they shop. This is a generation that places a high value on making money - more than any previous generation - and they see education as a means to this goal.

In the classroom Generation Y prefers learning that provides interaction with their colleagues. They like a lot more structure and direction than Generation X. The want to know everything up front as far as what is expected and what criteria will be used to evaluate their performance. They are the most likely to want to ask questions like, "Will this be on the test?" or specifics such as "how is this going to affect my life in a positive way?" Members of Generation Y are motivated to learn in order to increase their marketability. They also place high value on developing good interpersonal skills.

In modern societies young adults encounter a number of problems when they finish school and take on responsibilities of adulthood.

First of all, they become desperateto find full-time jobs as the rate of youth unemployment in Europe is very high nowadays (40% in Spain, 35% in the Baltic states, 19.1% in Britain^[66] and more than 20% in many more). The youth unemployment rate in the U.S. also reached a record level (18.5%, July 2009) since the statistic started being gathered in 1948.

And then, Millennials have too great expectations from the workplace and too big desire to shape their jobs to fit their lives rather than adapt their lives to the workplace environment or tolerate a boss’s displeasure. They want to be included and involved in decision-making. They are ambitious and achievement-oriented. They have high expectations of their employers, seek out new challenges and are not afraid to question authority.

In college, students have to spend all their time working hard to earn good gradesand graduate on time. However, after graduation many college graduates may not achieve a desirable standard of living.

Emotional problems for young people can be far more serious than financial ones. Youth is also a time to meet your first love. It is, of course, wonderful, but, as it is widely known that first love often has an unhappy end, this also increases young people's problems. Even friends can't always stay friends as old friends sometimes just go apart.

Then there is one more problem that has become very urgent nowadays. It's a problem of taking drugs. This is a relatively new problem but it is becoming more and more dangerous. Million young people today are using drugs, and most of them will die. Usually they want just to try it, then again and again… and after a year or two they will die of it. But there are many ways of keeping away from this problem. One of them is organized sport, which changes young people's world-outlook and prevents them from the fatal temptation.

So, shortly after young people enter the "real world" they are often experiencing insecurity, or career stagnation, or disillusionment in the world that happens to be much tougher, more competitive and less forgivingthan they have imagined. This may lead to the emotional distressand feeling of “a loser”.

Other young people, however, are more optimistic, and think that all stages of human life are full of conflicts that humans must resolve. Worrying, panic, upsetor anger reducesour capacity to deal with the problem.

Louis L’Amour, an American writer, in his novels Chancey marked: “There have always been hard times. There have always been wars and troubles – famine, disease and such like – and some folks are born with money, some with none. In the end it is up to the man what he becomes, and none of those other things matters. It is character that counts.”

Questions:

1) What determines a unique character of a generation?

2) Are young adults nowadays more exposed to diverse people and cultures? Why? How does it make them different from their predecessors?

3) Why are they more informed and peer-oriented?

4) Are the modern young people good at making and spending the money? Why?

5) Is economics the only explanation for the young adults to stay longer with their parents than ever before?

6) Is it difficult for a young adult to find a full-time job nowadays?

7) What is the fatal temptation of these days and the ways to avoid it?

8) Why does a young adult often feel “a looser”?

9) Why are many young people more optimistic of a human life?

10) Are the problems like loneliness, emotional stress, unemployment, poor workplace environment, etc. are exclusively related to the age of young adulthood?

11) Is it really a character that counts?

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 805