One important characteristic of today's young people compared to our generation is an increased sense of self. This is especially true of Gen Z and Millennials, and is somewhat unaccustomed to us as elders, who sometimes complain when we sit together and talk about our children and young people of their age.
In fact, this is also a very normal phenomenon, just like the nine-pound old lady of the year issued a "generation is not as good as the generation" feelings, under normal circumstances, the older generation will feel that the next generation is not as good as themselves, and can always find out all kinds of faults for them, but the law of social development tells us that the real situation in real life is often "one generation is stronger than the next". As for the reason for this, I explained in the previous article, simply put, that there is a habit of "selective forgetting" in people's thinking, as the older generation will often beautify their young past, consciously or unconsciously, and then compare this beautified memory with the words and deeds of young people today, so as to conclude that these children are not as good as when they were young.
However, the fact that this generation of young people is more self-conscious, or what is considered a "shortcoming" by the older generation, is not really a "generational bias", but a real occurrence in today's society. We can see that today's young people are very different from when we were younger, they are more independent and have a stronger sense of boundaries in their dealings with others, such as the practice of closing the curtain on the lower berth of the sleeper on the train, which I talked about the other day, is absolutely unthinkable for our generation, and it is not recognized by social norms. However, today's young people have high requirements for private space, and it is a common phenomenon to draw curtains on the bed in the college dormitory, and when we go to college, such students are still rare, and everyone will think that this kind of students are "weird", and when we go to college, the lower bunks of our classmates in the dormitory are "public spaces", so few people are willing to sleep in the lower bunks. This phenomenon of pulling the curtains in the sleeper of the train is, to put it bluntly, just a continuation of the habits developed in the college dormitory to another space, which will make us elderly feel very uncomfortable. But young people seem to be more "willful" than in our time, they can almost stop looking at other people's eyes, as long as they feel comfortable and do not legally infringe on others, they can be bold to do what they like, if you want to point fingers at them, most of them will be blinded. This can also explain why so many young people are not interested in the normal visit to relatives during the Chinese New Year, so that they have issued a call for "breaking off relatives".
There are many reasons for this phenomenon, but I think it can be summarized as follows:
The first is the impact of an affluent society. The growth of these young people coincides with the take-off of China's economy and the entry of large cities in developed regions into a period of affluent society, after the basic material living conditions are generally satisfied, the parents of young people have the ability to create better conditions for their study and life, and also have the ability to meet their requirements for personalized consumption. When these young people enter society, these habits of satisfying personalized lives naturally influence their behavior, leading them to be willing and able to pay for their personal experience and high quality of life with their own income and their parents' financial support, which to a large extent develops their habit of being maverick and living as they wish.
The second is the impact of urbanization. This generation of young people, especially those in big cities, have grown up in the atmosphere of modern cities since birth, a very important sign is that they have almost always lived in closed houses, and many people have their own independent rooms at home since childhood, so their sense of "territory" is relatively strong, even if they are parents, if they enter their independent space without consent, it will cause their dissatisfaction, which also directly leads to the formation of a strong sense of self after they enter the society. At the same time, the characteristics of the stranger society of urban life are also deeply influencing this generation, making them more independent in organizing their own lives.
The third is the impact of education. This generation of young people has a much higher percentage of higher education than their parents, so they are more receptive to multiculturalism and values, including respect for individual rights, which in turn influence their behaviour and increase their sense of individuality.
The fourth is the impact of the information society. Today's young people are living in an era of information explosion since childhood, and the massive amount of information gives them the opportunity to come into contact with various ideas and practices, and also encourages them to constantly try new life experiences, so that each person has different behavioral preferences, which indirectly strengthens their personal consciousness and makes them more willing to pursue a freewheeling life. In addition, a significant number of them who grew up in the computer age were brought up with video games, which also led them to prefer to immerse themselves in their own little world.
The fifth is the impact of the one-child policy. Most of these young people in big cities are only children in the family planning era, and they are used to living alone, or playing with themselves, since they were young, so they prefer to live a life of "as long as they are happy".
Sixth, the social environment is relaxed. This generation is not like their parents, in the process of growing up, China's social environment has become more relaxed, young people have some quirky ideas, as long as they are not out of character, generally can be tolerated by society, which also encourages them to pursue individual independence.
Seventh, the rule of law has been improved. This generation has grown up almost with the advancement of the rule of law, and they have embraced the idea of "what is not prohibited by law" from an early age, so they can justifiably defend their rights and interests, and they are more willing to say "no" to some demands outside the law. It is precisely because of the shield of the law that they can boldly assert their individuality and express their personal wishes.
If I were to make a judgment on the awakening and expression of this self-consciousness among young people, I think it would contribute to the progress of society in general. This is highlighted in the following three points: First, it is conducive to innovation and creation. You know, almost all innovation comes from people's unconventional whimsical ideas, and the awakening of self-consciousness can encourage people to think more independently and explore boldly, which itself contains innovation and creativity. Second, it is conducive to the construction of a society under the rule of law. When everyone can participate in social life in order to defend individual rights and interests, the first thing to bear the brunt of must be the strengthening of the concept of the rule of law, and all members of society have such a concept of the rule of law, and the real rule of law society is about to emerge. Third, it is conducive to promoting social change. It is also easy to understand that when each person becomes more individual, they will be less tolerant of problems in society, and they will become more involved in public affairs, becoming an important force for social change, and at the same time creating infinite possibilities for future development.
Of course, the enhancement of individual consciousness also has its price, this cost is mainly reflected in two aspects, on the one hand, the direct consequence of the enhancement of individual consciousness is that the individual acts more freely, but the price of this freedom is that the individual has to bear the consequences for his own choice, which has a qualitative change in the social operation mode of society like our generation, everything is covered by the government, once the individual makes a choice that brings adverse consequences to himself or society, then as an individual is responsible for it, or in layman's terms, this is all self-inflicted, yes"The cost of freedom". On the other hand, it is the consequence of the "atomic existence" that tends to occur in the whole society after the increase of individual consciousness, and the most direct manifestation of this consequence is the indifference of interpersonal relationships, and in severe cases, it may even lead to the emergence of the "unconnected society" of Japan. Therefore, in this social context, how to rebuild social ties is likely to be an important issue for the whole society to consider in the future.
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