Internet Generation and Well Being

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My mom is not very enthusiastic about me staying in far-far-away-land, and she doesn't believe that the world is becoming smaller either. She keeps asking me to come back to the world I love. A few days back she sent me an article she had read in the local newspaper, and wanted me to read it. It was a study conducted by MTV Networks International on Wellbeing, on a huge cross-section of kids and youth, and the results suggest against the common belief that this speedily globalising world is evenly growing and would become culturally flat as the differences evaporate.

The study, the largest ever undertaken by MTV Networks International, took six months to complete and encompassed 5,200 interviews with 8-15 year-olds and 16-34 year-olds in 14 countries.

The population in the younger age group generally belong to the Internet generation whereas the 16-34 year-olds are mostly the offsprings of the babies born to the baby boomers, whom social scientists classify as the Boomerang generation. Compared to yesteryear, the kids of today are exposed to the world at a smaller age.

"Kids and young people are growing up younger and appear to be experiencing higher levels of stress in their daily lives," said Saxton.

There was an interesting revelation which I loved to read: India's youth have the greatest perceived sense of wellbeing while Sweden comes second, followed by USA. This word 'percieved' might trigger a sense of hypocrisy, but I believe that perception is reality when it comes to economic progress. The greatest economic depressions have been accompanied by political unrest where the youth had nothing but the story of lost hopes to relate. A President who encourages our people to think and envision is just one of the factors that is aiding a collective mental revolution in getting ignited. The effect of millions of people who are content and positive of their future can change a whole nations' fortunes.

Here's an extract of the results of this study:

The Wellbeing Study's main findings are:

The Future
* Kids in developing countries were more positive about their future than those in developed nations.
-- A majority of 16-34 year-olds in developing nations expected their lives to be more enjoyable in the future, led by China with 84%.
-- More 8-15 year-olds in developing nations expected to have more fun in the future than 8-15 year-olds in developed countries. 83% of Chinese, 69% of South African and 68% of Mexican 8-15 year-olds expected their lives to be more fun, compared to 51% of American, 42% of French and just 30% of German kids.
-- In contrast to developing nations, a majority in every developed country expected to earn less than their parents.
-- Some 79% of Indonesians and 78% of Chinese 16-34 year-olds believed that they will earn more than their parents. Just 17% of Japanese, 27% of Germans and 32% of French thought the same.

Happiness
* Globally, only 43% of 16-34 year-olds asked said they were happy with the way things were. Younger children aged 8-15 were happier, but surprisingly not much more so: 57% on average.
* However, developed nations dragged down the averages. Young people in developing countries were at least twice as likely to feel happy as their counterparts in developed nations.
-- More than 70% of 16-34 year-olds, and 80% of 8-15 year-olds said they were happy in Argentina and Mexico, versus fewer than 30% of 16-34 year-olds and under 50% of 8-15 year-olds in the US and the UK.

Religion
* Young people in the developing world were more religious, and there was a correlation between youth who were actively religious and happiness levels. Over half of 16-34 year-old Indonesians, Brazilians and Indians said they were religious, compared to one in four in the USA and one in 10 in Sweden and Germany.
-- 76% of Japanese, 63% of French and 50% of Swedes asked said they were faithless.
-- 40% of Germans and 35% of Americans described themselves as believing in a higher power, but found traditional religious institutions too rigid.

Stress
* One consistent finding across ages and in every country was the pressure on youth to succeed. Kids and young people are stressing about the same things as adults. More than half of 8-15 year-olds worry about getting a job. By comparison, only 34% were concerned about fitting in at school and only 25% worried about looking cool.
-- 66% of 8-15 year-old Brazilians were worried about their weight while 93% said that looking good was a sign of success.
-- 65% of 16-34 year-olds chose listening to music as their main form of stress relief, with television (48%) their second choice. For younger children, watching television (59%) was slightly more popular than music (58%).

Terror and safety
* Terrorism came just eighth in the list of fears for 16-34 year-olds and tenth in the list of fears for 8-15 year-olds. Parents dying, cancer, AIDS, and robbery were greater fears for both age groups.
* Personal safety is a major issue for young people in the developing world.
-- Kids in Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia were the most fearful about their personal safety (73%, 73% and 69% respectively).
-- The forces of globalization and constant access to the news media create a world that feels less safe to kids and young people in all countries. The more news media young people watched, the less safe they felt.

National patriotism
* Kids from developing nations appear to be more patriotic.
-- 91% of Indian 16-34 year-olds were proud of their country. By contrast only one in three 16-34 year-olds were proud to be German or Japanese (33% and 35% respectively).
-- 63% of Americans asked were proud of their country.

School and bullying
* In 12 out of the 14 countries surveyed more than two thirds of 8-15 year-olds said that getting good grades in school was their top priority.
-- The figures ranged from 88% in South Africa to just 37% in Sweden.
* While bullying happens everywhere, it is more of a problem in the developed world.
-- 56% of kids in the USA and UK said they had been victims of bullying, following by Denmark, France and South Africa on 49%.
However, a developing nation, Argentina, topped the list of kids who had been bullied, with 72%.

New technology
* Digital technology and media is changing kids behavior.
-- Chinese 16-34 year-olds have 22 online friends, and 30% of them said they found it easier to make friends online than in person.
-- More youth in Germany, Japan and Sweden watched news online than on TV.

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Source: MTV Networks