Inside the mind of the iGeneration
Many me-focussed Gen Y and Gen Z’ers are crying out for mentors.
The younger echelons of Generation Y and the older Gen-Z'ers are surely the most connected generations that have ever walked the Earth. With electronic media device usage almost at saturation point, it’s ironic then that today’s teens have become so unconnected to the bigger picture.
Teen brat, Corey Worthington, infamous to ‘oldies’ but famous to many in Gen Y/Z as the host of THAT out-of-control party in a quiet middle class suburb of Melbourne, represents one facet of Gen Y/Z behaviour. That is the quest for shameless celebrity and notoriety made more famously by Paris Hilton, who turned 27 on February 19.
In June last year Paris claimed to be “born again” after her experience in prison. She vowed that she had found God, no longer wanted to be a “superficial girl” and pledged to “do things differently” when freed. However, her outrageous behaviour since seems more porn-again than born-again.
A new book focusing on the beliefs of young Australians, ‘The Spirit of Generation-Y’ by Dr Michael Mason (ACU), Assoc Prof Ruther Webber (ACU) and Dr Andrew Singleton (Monash) provides a compelling roadmap of the way our society may be heading.
The study observes that the outlook of today’s young people is marked by their having grown up in a world that promotes individualism and consumerism, and that the values that underpin these ideologies are detrimental to good citizenship.
Many children of secular baby boomers fit into the Corey Worthington school of non-responsibility and tend to find meaning through self-gratification. Indeed, the authors of the report were flabbergasted to discover that “among ways to find peace and happiness, nearly a third of the total sample considered shopping to be very important.”
Over 50% of the 1,216 teens interviewed also stated that “living an exciting life is more important than helping others.”
The researchers found that 77% of those whose spirituality type is Secular and 51% of active Christians are not engaged in community activities in any way and do nothing for others apart from close family and friends.
However, a significant proportion of Gen Y bucks that trend. Active Christians and those ‘New Agers’ who were brought up Christian demonstrate high levels of community involvement and altruism. Although 25% of Seculars and 8% of Active Christians give nothing to charity in a year, those Active Christians who do, are generous in their giving.
Noting that strong engagement with a belief system is related to good citizenship, the authors pose the questions… “where will young people of the future learn civic values and a commitment to the common good? Who, apart from parents, is going to pass these values on to them and lead them to participate in community service?”
Many of our teens today sorely lack the kind of guidance, compassion, resilience and big-picture view that devoted, well-trained mentors can provide.
Article Date: 1.03.2008
Author: Philip Jenkinson
Information Source: Book Launch release 19.2.2008 ‘The Spirit of Young Australia’.
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