The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum

If you have ticked both As, stop right here and get real. You are obviously out of sync with what is happening around you.

If you have marked both Bs, read on, this is for you. You are certainly no stranger to the world you are about to step in.

Welcome to the world of the Generation-X. Never has being young meant so much or been so important. No longer are people in the 15-35 age group the seldom-seen-and-never-heard entities their parents were at that age. Today the world has turned young with a zing. Pick up any magazine, tune to any T.V.channel, log on to the Net, step into a savvy corporate office and you will be forgiven for thinking that the world is inhabited solely by twentysomethings.

At 18, Britney Spears is an international pop sensation, hogging the top-of-the-charts ratings for weeks. At 28, Sachin Tendulkar has blasted all bowling attacks and record books alike. At 26, Sabeer Bhatia made history with Hotmail. Miss Universe Priyanka Chopra is yet to celebrate her 19th birthday. Teenaged Prince William is the media’s latest blue-eyed boy. Twentysomething Ekta Kapoor owns the hugely successful Balaji Telefilms. At 27, Hrithik Roshan has attained superstardom in Bollywood.

Today’s youth are rarely told that they are "too young" to take their own decisions, to air their views, to aim for the stars. Little wonder then that you know them as technical whizkids, confident models, world-famous sportspersons, talented actors, successful entrepreneurs, even eager politicians-in-waiting. From being an ignored, marginal and largely silent section of the population, the young have now become a commercially profitable target. Marketing and manufacturing companies make products for the young. Advertisements, by and large, speak to a youthful audience. No longer do the young have to wear unfashionable hand-me-downs. They can now choose from an array of designer apparel by Lee, Benetton, Lee Cooper, Gasoline, Weekenders, Levi’s, Adidas, Nike, to name a few, designed especially with their tastes and comfort in mind. The entertainment industry, especially the music industry, depends on the teens to show profits. There are T.V. channels that are dedicated only to them. Many websites are created for and by the young. Fast-food joints like McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Domino’s provide products and services designed to dovetail with their fast-paced lifestyle. Bookstores are stacked with books and magazines that deal with teenage issues. Newspapers provide space for the them to air their views. Some papers even have separate pull-outs for teens. Many websites have fora for the youth to exchange views on matters of mutual concern.

The young today have more freedom to do their own thing. Many have their own rooms, vehicles and computers, take their own decisions and their own vacations. Parents are more liberal and curfews are not so strict. Step into any disc and you will see teens dancing away till the wee hours. Gender-specific youth groups are an anachronism. Interaction with the opposite sex is the norm. And, of course, dating is a natural corollary of this interaction.

Young romance is no longer a matter of suppressed sighs, fluttering eyelashes and stammered declarations. It is now loud, unembarrassed and hard to miss. Take a peek at the streets, teen hang-outs and college and university campuses on Valentines Day and you will see what I mean. Call it westernisation, side-effect of MTV or too many romance-oriented movies, but the fact is that teenagers today date with a singular lack of reserve. For most, a date is only a phone call (oops, sorry, a mobile phone call ) away. And for those not lucky enough to have a flesh-and-blood date, there is cyberdating. So much so that a teenager without a date is somewhat of an oddity. And with so much at stake in the arena of love, girls are not willing to be shrinking violets. They are as bold and forthright as the boys and pursue their love interests without so much as a hint of the coyness that was a hallmark of their mothers’ behaviour. With romance on their minds and fat wallets in their pockets, they can walk into the nearest store to buy a mind-boggling array of cards, heart-shaped balloons, stuffed toys, red roses and candles made by the ever-thoughtful gift manufacturers.

With more money at their disposal, the youth have a previously unheard-of purchasing power. This is not only the result of parents becoming more generous (although that is certainly the case, with some parents giving their children as much as Rs 3000 and more as pocket money) but also because many school and college students have independent sources of income. Summer jobs, part-time jobs, freelancing, even entrepreneurial ventures, all give teens that welcome extra buck, apart from the all-important on-the-job experience.They have the resources, the drive and the confidence to tackle the intricacies of the professional world much before they outgrow their braces. The age of new recruits in the corporate sector, too, seems to be at an all time low, especially for jobs that require interpersonal skills, command over English and creativity. Turn to the appointment section of any newspaper and you will see openings for 25-year-olds with one to four years of experience. The message for the youth is loud and clear — never mind what you have heard, the hare wins. So if you want to get ahead, start early.

With opportunities by the scores knocking at teen doors, it is not surprising that the youth are not content with doing things the way they have always been done. Exploring unchartered territory and opting for off-the-beaten track professions, the youth today are more ambitious than ever before. Pursuit of academic excellence is no longer the sure-shot ticket to success. In fact, some prefer to bypass the conventional school-college-university routine altogether and still get where they want.

The advent of information technology has, no doubt, played its part in elevating the status of the X-generationer. This is one area where the young have a definite edge over their seniors, for many of whom the computer is still something from Mars. The agility of the young mind is, perhaps, required to keep up with the fast rate of obsolescence of computer technologies. In a role reversal of sorts, it is the teenagers who are teaching their parents the ABC of computers. The internet specially seems to be a predominantly youth domain. This is hardly surprising considering the creators and end-users of many websites are young people. www.buckinvestor.com gives advice to investors under 35 and www.ilovechandigarh.com has been made by college students.

Gone are the days of speak-only-when-you-are-spoken-to admonishments to teens. Now, every one from parents to teachers to newspapers and magazines encourage them to voice their opinions. An extremely vocal and aware Generation-X, which knows its mind, is only too happy to oblige.

Photo by Manoj Mahajan But as they say, every coin has two faces. The Generation-X lives in a world that worships success and doesn’t forgive failure. In a society that rewards only the very best, the pressure to go farther, faster is always there. And this tells on the teenage psyche. Behind the veneer of brash self-confidence there lurk insecurity, fear and tension. Parents egg their children on to achieve more and more and aim higher and higher. The very process of trying to reach these goals is fraught with tension and an inability to realise them leads to frustration. Not mature enough or strong enough to cope, many teens simply collapse. Reports of teen suicides motivated by poor academic results, romances gone sour and unemployment, appear with disturbing regularity in newspapers. Even those who don’t take to such a drastic step, can be scarred maladjusted for life. Trying to live up to unrealistic expectations can be a trying task indeed!

Nor does it end here. Many stress-related maladies that previously effected only the middle-aged, today seem to be afflicting the young. And a life lived in the fast lane has its drawbacks, too. Burn-outs by the age of 35, especially in the high-pressure corporate sector, are not uncommon.

Another disturbing trend is an alarming rise in teen crime. Teenagers today, especially in the western countries, handle fire arms with the ease of professional killers. More and more teenagers are involved in crimes that were earlier the domain of much older people. They kill, peddle drugs, rape, steal, carry weapons, and otherwise flout the law in major or minor ways. The ubiquitous Internet is used to stalk, rape and even kill. A few years ago a bunch of teenagers hacked into the Pentagon network and the dreaded iloveyou virus which effected thousands of computers worldwide last year, was the brainchild of a teenaged boy.

More money, more freedom, parents who are busy with their own lives, peer pressure, a consumerist culture and unstable families all conspire to create an atmosphere where teens can easily go astray. Drinks, drugs and teen pregnancies are often the result.

Yet it cannot be denied that the youth today are holding centrestage with aplomb, warts and all. True the unlimited options that they have have productive as well as destructive potential. It would be foolish, if not downright suicidal, to write them off. After all, they have the world at their feet and the stars within their reach.

..."I am young and I, too, have a dream." So said Rajiv Gandhi in his first-ever address to the United Nations General Assembly. A dream with which he conceived the Generation Next. Today that dream has matured and with its magic box of hopes and opportunities, the Generation-X is all set to take over the reins of the world. No doubt, there will be problems, no revolution is without its share of discontent and friction. But then, this is not a question of good or bad, right or wrong, it is just one generation passing the baton to the next, the past paving way for the future.

To phir computer mahashai, (a) youth par tala laga diya jai.