The youth of today are facing more social problems than have been faced by any other previous generation. Besides the conventional problems that were faced by previous generations, today’s youth is under pressure from additional social challenges.
In fact, they are even under pressure to meet elevated levels of expectations with the technological amenities that they have been provided with today. These technological requirements can often increase the amount of work students are required to complete which some argue puts undue pressure on them, emanating in a key societal problem facing todays youth.
One could argue it is inevitable that heightened global competition and overexposure to various technologies will inevitably make an impact on any person
Unemployment
With increasing global population, especially in some nations where a larger percentage of adults are under 25 years of age, unemployment is the number one problem prevalent. Lack of opportunities for adequate employment is causing additional problems of low self-esteem, dwindling confidence, poverty and even an increase in crimes rates in areas with high unemployment rates.
Overexposure
The second societal problem facing today’s youth is tremendous over- exposure. With media bombarding from all sides all the time, today’s youth faces over-exposure to adult programming.
The media influence to trigger violence and destructive behavior among the youth cannot be ignored. As a result of this, today’s youth have started having intercourse at a much earlier age of 10 and 11. The social and moral responsibility for restraint has been eroded from their minds.
Violence
The over-exposure of violent programming in terms of television and movies has instilled a feeling of heroism related to violence. As a result, the growing up kids are increasingly tempted and attracted to perform heinous crimes. Extreme acts of violence in the schools also make frequent headlines now a days.
Obesity
The ill habits of television viewing and video games have made our little people couch potatoes. As a result, one of the biggest societal problems facing today’s youth is obesity. In just a couple of past decades, the obesity numbers have more than doubled in kids. To compound this problem, fast food and soda have penetrated into the lives of youth so much that being overweight has become their lifestyle.
Lack of personal interactions
Some say that the advent of internet with a handful of computers and laptops in each home has had negative social effects as well. The internet, they argue, has fostered a lack of personal interactions as young people are more glued to social networking sites than to family members.
As a result, personal/social interactions and the related moral and family values have suffered a setback. Although this idea has been discredited, people’s belief in it still exists.
It’s not uncommon to see youngsters texting all the time even while driving, sitting, standing or in the classroom. It’s no wonder that now they prefer to text or email than to talk to the same person over the phone or have a real phone conversation.