'I want it now' generation threatens future social health

(Ecns.cn) – "We are the now generation. We are the generation now." "I need it immediately, and I just can't wait." These are from the lyrics of Now Generation, a song by the Black Eyed Peas, and they accurately represent the psychology of indulged children in China, who allow no procrastination in meeting their requirements.

They are referred to as the "I want it now" generation, shaped mainly by peer pressure competition, coddling parents' and their own vanity.

An online survey of 2,293 people revealed 81.7% of respondents think the "I want it now" generation is widely spread across the country. The study was conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily and the Sohu News Center via China.com.cn and Sohu.com, and 40.9% of the respondents were born after the 1980s, 36.4% after 1970s and 12.3% after 1960s.

Selfish attitude opposed

After promising an iPad to his son once he got an average over 85 points in his next final examinations. The father, Li Zhongya, found that his son did not show much excitement. Li is an employee at a private enterprise firm in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, with a monthly income of only about 4,000 yuan (US$633),and the promise would cost him a month's salary. He felt more than a little sad at his son's reaction.

Li still remembered when as a primary school student, he had longed intensely for a harmonica, so his father promised to buy one if he performed well in the junior middle school entrance examinations. In order to achieve the goal, Li studied very hard for three years, and got the harmonica in the end. Though Li does not play harmonica any more, he has treasured it as a valuable reward till today.

What confuses him is that the children of this generation have much higher requirements of life while at the same time show far less satisfaction once their desires materialize. Few of them can empathize with the happy glow that follows the rewards of hard striving, devotion and dedication to a goal.

So what exactly has caused the 'gimmie everything I want it right now" phenomenon? In the survey, 64.8% of respondents claim that most young people are not independent and therefore do not cherish the earned reward, while 59.1% believe it is extravagant parental adoration that brings about such a situation; they communicate a sense of entitlement to their children that won't serve them well as adults.

According to Liu Su, professor and deputy dean of the School of Architecture of Hunan University, the "I want it now" psychology is quite common among youngsters in China, and most of them are as blind to the needs of others as to the necessity of hard work. Meanwhile, with too much affection and attention provided gratis, their parents are in fact depriving children of the right to stand on their own two feet and brave their own future, added Liu.

But we should not only blame the parents and their children, because the environment they live in is a push-pull of varied pressures, noted Cheng Fengchun, professor with the College of Education and Administration of Beijing Normal University and vice president of the Experimental Secondary School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University.

Cheng found that many children must handle the anxiety produced by constant social comparisons with their peers, and they do not know how to cope with the shame of being tagged 'outdated'.

Although there are different reasons that account for the situation, in this survey, 74.8% of respondents speak out against this generation's prevailing attitude, as they think it reflects an odd combination of unbridled optimism plus a complete lack of direction. One has to wonder how these youngsters are going to achieve their birthright of greatness and wealth.

The corrections

The "I want it now" generation has pushed up housing prices too, because the property market is glutted with those who can easily get financial support from their parents, making it a piece of cake to buy an apartment, said Jin Xin, an employee working at a real estate agency in southwest China's Chongqing.

The entitlement generation, think 96.1% of thise surveyed, have brought about many adverse impacts on society, and 72.1% hold that it make normal what were once considered social vices: seeking quick success and instant benefits. The growth and development of such youngsters is bound to be negatively affected, is the worry expressed by 71.5% of those polled.

Many believe that the coddling of parents exaccerbates problems looming in the children's future, which they will have to meet while encumbered with the attributes of being selfish, lazy, impatient and greedy. When the entitlement generation grows up, they are unlikely to have the ability to make a fortune or even do sensible financial planning, which in turn can only result in dissatisfaction, chronic complaints and even a grudge against society.

Children should be taught to cultivate a sense of pride in the habit of spending only money they earn themselves, not that offered by others. The "I want it now" attitude not only jeopardizes their own future but also goes against the healthy development of society at large, said Liu Su.

For a family, the father and mother must work together to be consistent and try not to give in so easily to the temptation to satisfy all the needs of their children. The forge of steel will temper them into better persons and independent adults in the future.