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International Youth Day on August 12 brings issues faced by the young minds of the world. It also highlights the potential of youth as change makers of the future. Celebs talk about the importance of the day and how right education, encouragement and motivation can help the youth to do well in life. They also discuss the major concerns for today’s youth and how they can be addressed.
Here’s what they said:
I think we as humans have failed to work on the very base of our social fabric – emotions. We started giving more weightage to mind over emotions right from the industrial era creating an imbalance and the impact can now be seen on the psyche of people in general, especially the youth. Our youth today is in a hurry to get fame and money, and honestly we don’t have any right to blame them. It is the social fabric that has led them to where they stand today. The youth has to deal with different kinds of insecurities and when they don’t know how to deal with them, they look for an escape route in the form of parties, at times even drugs etc. I think as a society, we must focus on the emotional security and growth of our youth, which I think is the only way to create a society that cultivates a good value system.
Nivedita Basu
Fortunately we live in India which is one of the youngest countries in the world. So why look at what the world needs to change, we need to look at our country itself. And, yes it does scare me with the media exposure in the country and how kids are now more addicted to the screen than books, whereas we were told as kids that reading will change everything, and helps you learn more. But now yes the whole young generation is so effective on what’s happening on social media that they think that is the reality. So there’s so much potential in the youth. I’m not saying this exposure has made them dumb. They are also not bad but it’s also changing their mindset. When we were joining jobs, we used to stick to it because we had a sense of insecurity about what would happen if this goes. Now if you see the present crop of youth, I’m in a situation where I hire a lot of youth as they are the best ones to hire when it comes to the creative field. They are obviously more creative, have fresh ideas but when it comes to their loyalty and patience it’s something they really need to work on. Today you can’t get angry with them because they go to extremes. We are told as parents that please don’t over-react whether they do well or not. In some ways, I think old school was so much better. Let’s take the good in and we as elders or parents should tell them what’s wrong or right. Yes, they have their own brain. They can decide but if we can sit with them and tell them how to go about life in the future, it helps. We must have done something right that we are today in this situation so that our kids can get things. At least they should respect that we must be doing something right.
Nasirr Khan
I think the biggest concern is substance abuse which is mentally and physically destroying the youth globally. Too much access to everything is leading them to live too fast, too young and be exposed to too many things from a very tender age. More than lack of education there is a lack of knowledge, wherein today’s time there is so much knowledge available via the internet but even that is exploiting the youth.
Jay Zaveri
What I feel is that today’s youth are over-exposed to social media and because of that they have become emotionally very unstable. They don’t have many friends and the friends they have are online friends. They live in this virtual world rather than the real world and because of this they are getting disconnected in real life which could lead to many problems such as depression, and mental disturbance. Of course today’s youth are very smart and intelligent because they have an excess of the Internet and many career choices, and they can start working early. So that is one good side of the Internet but on the other side, the majority of the youth are just wasting their time online. The entire balance of nature has been disturbed because of the internet and social media. I don’t blame the youth for this, but this is a major concern. I feel it needs to be addressed soon and the younger generation should be taught cultural values. They all are intelligent and know how to make money and live life. But I feel most of the young generation is lonely and alone and that could lead to many mental disturbances, and depression, which we have seen in recent years because of the lockdown. It has affected not just the youth but the entire generation. On this occasion, I would like to tell the young generation to just hit the brakes, sit back and enjoy life with their friends and family, and like it is said, ‘Aankhen Khol, Duniya dekh’. It means that you come out of this virtual life and spend more time with loved ones. This will help balance their lives and would help reach greater heights.
Amal Sehrawat
The young generation surely is the future of the nation but they are facing a lot of confusion these days. There is information overload and social media is a boon as well as a bane. Youth need to be guided for a career. Even in the entertainment field, every second person wants to be an actor given all the name and fame attached to it. But all that glitters is not gold. An actor’s life is not easy. Everyone can’t be an actor. Right opportunities are not easy to find. Youth needs to be guided for clarity as to what options to choose professionally. At the root level, career guidance should be there.
