Characteristics of young people
Characteristics of young people
It is said that youth is the nicest time of one’s life. As a young person you are fit, strong and have enough energy to face problems, in fact you do not think about any problems, you look forward to every day in which you may try something new and challenging and people around you tend to tolerate your faults because of your lack of life experience.
When speaking about young people we should be aware of the fact that there are two different groups of young people – teenagers (13-19 years old) and those between twenty and thirty. Both groups have something in common, but there are also differences between them.
Teenagers are a special group, they are not children any more, neither are they adults. They are strongly influenced by their friends, reasonably influenced by their parents and partly influenced by their teachers, but there are also youth culture influences that many be important.
As teenagers grow up, they develop interactions with people outside home; each of them becomes an individual person with his/her own ideals. Teenagers want to live independently, they oppose older generation so they often have conflicts with their parents and teachers. Most of them attend secondary schools and prepare themselves for their future profession. They spend most of their time at school or studying for the following school day, in their leisure time they like getting together with friends, listening to music, playing computer games and going to parties and discos. Most of them live with their parents, have to help on the house and are given some pocket money to spend on games, cosmetics and small luxuries. Those teenagers who want to be their own money try to find a part-time job, especially during school holidays. Working in the afternoons or at weekends could be very useful; it may help teenagers to prepare for their future life. Some teenagers leave their family at the age of 18 and live with their friends in rented flats. Parents usually do not object because living on one’s own may help young people to become responsible. Some people say it is better than any parent’s advice.
Young people prefer to wear brand name clothing, like Nike and Adidas, but more and more young people are also dressing in sexy styles, even when they are just spending their free time with friends. Girls are careful about their make-up and hairstyle, too, while boys use aftershave. The idea that a real man smells like tobacco and alcohol is completely out-of-date.
Young people usually know their rights very well, and most of them know their duties, as well. Older people, however, consider them cheeky and impolite. Their different approach to life can even make them enemies sometimes. Discipline in the families is not as strict today as it used to be when children were beaten or caned. Today, young people show greater self-confidence which annoys many older people.
On the other hand, the more materialistic approach to life of today’s youth can ruin family life and family values. The desire and search for more and more money has already resulted in much loneliness, depression, drug or alcohol addiction and even suicide, as well as many irresponsible sexual relationship and complete family break-ups. The love of money destroys good relationships between spouses, parents and children, friends, in-laws, classmates and colleagues, as well.
Nowadays, many children know, how important are their studies for their future life and they often decide to finish their secondary education and then start the higher on universities and colleagues. Nowadays are plenty of possibilities where you can study on. We have a huge amount of different universities specialized in many sections, you only have to choose.
Young people between twenty and thirty are a bit different. Most of them have finished school and have found a job, so they earn for their living. Their problems are different from those of teenagers. They are adults and so they have to find a place to live. Many young people today start their own families later in life than their parents did. Many work on their career first and get married in their thirties. Young families share chores and it is not unusual for a husband to share a part of a maternity leave or, if wife’s job is better paid, to stay at home and take care of children. In modern families, young people try to respect each other and it usually does not matter to a husband if his wife earns more money. At present, young women are the main breadwinners in families much more than they used to be.
Many get married and have children so they become more aware of social problems. They are more concerned about the world-wide problem of poverty, diseases, and the pollution of our environment, racial discrimination, nuclear and chemical weapons and terrorism. They organise demonstrations for peace and fight for equality. Many of them work for charities, help disabled and homeless and collect money for starving people in Africa and Asia.
Only a small number of young people join radical youth movements propagating fascism like skinheads or fight against international monopolies like antiglobalists or anarchists. These groups may become dangerous in the future but nowadays their influence on young people is relatively small.
Young people have access to all the modern inventions that make our lives easier. Those born after 1993 cannot imagine life without a computer or mobile phone. They are used to saving time by using their computers not only for work, but also searching any information they might need. They are used to Internet banking, shopping on-line and using the Google search engine to find whatever they need. Some of them feel that life is already passing them by so they try to use every minute of every day.
In the developed world, young people are usually well-educated, experienced and self-confident. They know their goals and try to reach them. They are often hard-working, but they understand that only relaxed and healthy people can enjoy their work and life. So they invest in their health, try to eat healthier meals and work out the gym or play a sport regularly. Many of these young people have a lot of opportunities to study or work abroad. They often see those opportunities as chances to earn money and gain experience.
Many of today’s youth work hard on their relationships because they value friendship and family so highly. They consciously try to improve relationships at work, home or with their friends. They know that bad relationships can poison their lives. And most young people are aware of what they want and a poisoned, empty life is not it.
It is natural that each generation of young people differs from the one before it. Our grandparents lived in totally different conditions which influenced their behaviour, attitude towards society and values.
One of the most important influence on young people is influence of their friends. Friends are great value in the lives of young people. They are used to getting together, usually according to same or similar attitudes and views. They share their opinions, experiences and feelings between each other, they help each other. On the other hand, there are also human beings who were detached from the social group and they grow up as outsiders, which can have a great influence on their mental condition, social behaving and general view on human relationships. Many of young people, especially teenagers have some conflicts with their parents. Young people became more revolutionary and they often criticize their parent´s conservative lifestyle. They complain that they don’t have enough freedom, that parents interfere too much into their business. They don’t like when their parents criticize their friends, clothes or hairstyle. They think parents are underestimate them, and they also complain that they don’t have enough pocket money, or that they are not allowed to come home later. On the other hand, parents and generally older generation think that they are rude, impolite, use rude, abusing language, they don’t study enough and have bad grades. Then they complain that youth generation don’t respect older generation and that they don’t think about their future, they are irresponsible and unreliable, lazy, they listen to a deafening music and wear awful clothes.
Young people often struggle to fit themselves into society. Unemployment is the fundamental problem faced by young people today. Unfortunately, in Slovakia many young people experience problems with obtaining jobs. This often causes financial worries and frustration and it may also lead to youth crime. Vandalism and violence based on racism are very frequent in this age group.
Addiction, such as alcoholism, drug use and gambling, is another consequence of frustration, family conflicts or another teenage problem. Parents usually don’t want their child to try things like smoking or drinking. But children are curious, they´re keen on trying new things, especially those that they are not allowed to. In this way, the most dangerous are discos or parties, where there is huge amount of alcohol and even drugs, there are always some „more experienced“, which have the „material“ and they are trying to draw down those, who are only amateurs and they show interest. The child can become addict also because of family background, the parents who don’t really care about their child and they smoke or drink too. It’s always on influence off family background, odd friendships and society generally. Sexual activities often lead to teenage pregnancy. Not only can it have negative effect on girls´ body, but it often ends her education. Teenagers are not also emotionally mature enough or financially able to bring up children. At this age there is also a greater probability of mental health disorders, such as depression or even schizophrenia. Girls sometimes develop eating disorders, including anorexia or bulimia. The first symptoms of anorexia are: secret vomiting, obsession with their weight, fanatical exercising and rapid weight loss. The sufferers of bulimia overeat and afterwards they vomit up everything in order to be satisfied that they ate something, but at the same time they did not put on weight.
Young people have lot of opportunities. They are young and they can do everything what they want, because from some certain age they don’t have pledges. It is different in different countries. In Slovakia it is 18, in USA it is the age of 21. From this age they are responsible for themselves. They can work and study; they can travel, recognize foreign countries and obtain new experiences. It’s a big advantage to be young. When we are young, we don’t really think about our future, we live our careless lives until it comes some situation, when the important decision have to be done. Always comes a situation, when we have to stop behaving like children and start to think like adults. We have to start thinking about our future, primarily about our studies, then about our family and so on. Every young person would like to have a successful life, wants to finish his/her studies, find a decent job, start a family and have enough money to pay every expense. Some of us are dreaming about lives full of fame and money, but lot of them then realized that it’s hardly possible. We just hope, that we will be happy, we know that it won’t be easy, but we will try hard to accomplish at least something.