Ved Prakash Bhardwaj
The generation born in the last decade of the last century and the first decade of
this century has become an adult today. A generation that has started giving
new dreams a new color. This generation is called the 'I' generation. This generation
is autism but takes every kind of risk for development, is also creating a new
society. There are caste and religion in this society but now it is only an
identity rather than some kind of social formula. This society today basically
resides in cities, but its effect is beginning to take place in rural areas. Of
course, this is due to consumerism and marketization. Many of its benefits are
visible or shown to us, but in the recent past, many such problems have also
started appearing in this young generation which can be called a great threat
to the future. The most worrying problems are the increasing depression and
suicidal tendencies among the youth. There were disappointments even in the
life of the previous generation, yet it was not disillusioned with life, but in
the ‘I’ generation, disillusionment with life has a dangerous level. Such
facts are coming out today that 25 percent of the youth have a problem of
depression and they are taking steps like suicide then this should be taken
care of.
According to
recent research conducted in England, this generation is constantly falling
victim to depression. According to it, the cause of depression and consequent
suicide is rising unemployment. According to the World Health Organization's
Mental Health 2016 report, 25 percent of men in India, who are between 16 and
29 years of age, commit suicide? This report cannot be believed as there is no
such large number of suicide cases. The basis of the report is that
the organization studied around ten thousand youth. (Dainik Hindustan, 19
November 2019, New Delhi). In any society of the world, including India, we can
see how the tendency of suicide among youth is increasing. If we combine the
results of the assessment of his character with increasing suicide and
depression among the youth, the reason is hidden in the establishments of the
'I' generation.
This,
which is the autism tendency of 'I', is not something new. This is the natural
character of humans. This 'I' tendency took the man to new heights of development.
It took him to those areas of knowledge which were once just imagination. There
was also a time when we were given importance ‘we’ instead of ‘I’. If 'we' is
the basis of sociality, then 'I' can be seen in personal development and hence
many times there are conflicts between ‘we’ and ‘I’. This conflict occurs in
the lives of most people and the 'I' often wins in that confrontation. This 'I'
is more effective in the young generation. Autism gives priority to personal
desires and enterprise of their fulfillment. The biggest problem is not only
higher autisms and ambition but less commitment to fulfill her ambitions also.
This is why the image of that generation is portrayed as an irresponsible and
lazy type of youth, but recently the media attention has been particularly
attracted to these youth. There are two reasons for this. One is that today
this youth is at the forefront of the highest use of media; especially it uses
digital media the most. Secondly, this youth is also the largest and influential
consumer in the whole world; a consumer class that is far ahead of previous
generations in terms of spending.
In any
market, we can see that most of the buyers are young including students and
young couples. Unemployed also part of that consumer class, those with partial
employment and those with high paid jobs. Image of the young generation in the
market has become such that this gets addicted to blowing money. It is not fair
to claim that this is a common or unanimous position. Even today, the number of
such youths is not in the phase of struggle to lead a life. Not only is the
number of such youths in India, but their number is also higher in other
countries also. It also has no fewer dreams and aspirations, and this is the
big problem of him and society. The deep gap between dream and reality
eventually leads this class into the darkness of depression.
The problem
of depression is not only among the youth who are struggling with scarcity of
resources but also those who have sufficient resources. It is another matter
that the cause of their depression is different. But, this is the generation
that suffers from depression the most compared to the previous generations.
They are the children of a rapidly changing global society and, unlike their
parents and grandparents, is undergoing a transition from being an adult to an
adult. Along with facing many challenges of change and development, they are
also changing themselves according to the increasing demands of the modern
period. These changes are very fast which does not allow them to freeze. Our
time is changing rapidly. The pace of life has also accelerated due to rapid
technological development and having a profound impact on life. The
psychological pressure on this generation is greater than the earlier generation
because more competition has increased in all parts of life than opportunities.
This has a direct impact on his behavior and philosophy of life.
This century
originates from the womb of the last century, which has been witness to rapid
changes, even many unexpected changes also. The last century had witnessed so many
critical changes and crises in front of ideology, and witnesses the collapse of
their, which has never happened before. After the booming of hopes and
disappointments, there have been situations in which some kind of ideological
foundation is unable to stand. The old political and social institutions have
almost collapsed or those which have survived are also looking like ruins. In
such a situation, words like stability and ideological commitment seem
meaningless due to the impact of immediacy on life.
Due to
changes in the cultural landscape, the sexual revolution, women's movements and
the establishment of a consumption-based economy in place of a knowledge-based
economy, the gap between the time of passing high school and the role of the adult has been reduced. The standard of adult status i.e. economic freedom,
permanent job, and family life has changed. Although these standards are
different in all cultures, while on the one hand, it has already been widely
studied in developed countries, research work on it is just beginning in India.
In India, the social and cultural environment began to change with the
beginning of the boom in the information technology sector in the 1990s. The
storm of information technology, consumerism, mass culture and fusion of
culture, disillusionment with politics and ideology destroyed old values and
establishments with one stroke. Like in the US, this trend was more visible in
the upper and middle-class urban population and in India too. Indian rural
society is either shielding itself from the changes that usually take place or
the pace of its impact has been relatively slow, but the changes have happened
more rapidly in urban society. The reason for this has been the access to
information systems and education to urban society. This is the reason why this
trend is becoming more pronounced in the younger generation born in the
millennium and because of freedom in education, high paid jobs, and love and
marriage. This also had an impact on rural societies even though it was late as
the requirements of market expansion due to the expansion and liberalization of
telecoms began to transform rural societies into a larger and potentially
consumer society. One of the reasons for this has been that due to the limited
opportunities for development, youth in rural areas started moving to cities in
search of better opportunities. As a result, the social movement started
increasing. When the youth went to back the villages with urban experience,
they become the changing force to their rural society. Media expansion played
an important role in that. Due to changes in social and cultural flows, the
grip of the caste-system is also gradually weakening and a new chapter is
starting in India.
In the first
decade of this millennium, the process of transformation started in
middle-class Indian families is multifaceted, whose impact is visible in all
sectors of society, education, economy, politics. The adult generation of India
is facing many difficult challenges due to globalization, urbanization and the
desire to play a decisive role in it as a part of the changing social
environment. This has led to a radical change in the experiences of undergoing
the transition to adulthood.
The greatest
criterion of the adult stage in every culture is freedom of decision which
includes economic, social, political freedom as well as a sense of authority
over better living conditions. This freedom spirit of the youth was used by the
market as a weapon and included them in the 'earn and spend' competition. The
definition of happiness and comfort is not mental, it has become physical. The
joy of life is in the consumption of things. Consumption of goods is the
authenticity of one's being. As a consumer, freedom of consumption was so
emphasized that the consumption of something became a different kind of
subordination. It is a new kind of slavery of goods that we do not recognize.
Freedom to eat outside the home, self-sufficiency of the use of new equipment,
freedom from family and social bonds, freedom to live on their own, etc.,
brought the youth on such a path, on which all the paths were closed in front
of them in case of little trouble. Begin to appear. There is no doubt that in
this millennium, youth across the world played an important role in
establishing democratic values in many countries. He has also played a role
in political changes in India.
In the Indian
social structure, the family has replaced the individual. The meaning of
freedom of the person has been very limited. There are often many reasons
involved in decisions taken due to their choice, especially family obligations
and society's expectations dominate the lives of people. This is the reason why
earlier youth in India could not make independent decisions. Even today, this
situation has not changed much. Even after this, the aspiration of independent
decision is increasing among the youth in urban areas. It has had an impact on
family and social structure. An institution called family has started to weaken
due to this. The weakening of families has started to have an impact on social
organization. However, some good results have also come to the fore, such as
the breakdown of the bonds of caste and society, but the scattering caused by
it has led to isolation, which is a major cause of depression among the youth.
Due to the weak base of family and society in urban life, even the slightest
adverse circumstances push the youth into the darkness of despair.
References:
1.
India today, January 31, 2005
2.
Hindi daily Hindustan, 19 November 2019
3.
Live-in relationships: An ethical and a moral dilemma? Mohit chhibber, Aditya Singh, International Journal of Applied Research 2015;
1(8): 74-77
5.
More young adults are depressed and thinking
of suicide, study says, Brett Molina, USA TODAY, March 15, 2019
