Read
the article Generation self: what
young people really care about? At http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/11/generation-self-what-young-care-about
and present to us what you care about and why.
Owls are nocturnal creatures. They’re wide awake at night and they sleep during the day. If this sounds like bliss to you, then, like about 20 percent of the population who find themselves most active at around 9 pm, you may fall into the same category as our feathered friend. Night owls often have difficulty waking up in the morning, and like to be up late at night. Studies of animal behaviour indicate that being a night owl may actually be built into some people’s genes. This would explain why those late-to-bed, late-to-rise people find it so difficult to change their behaviour. The trouble for night owls is that they just have to be at places such as work and school far too early. This is when the alarm clock becomes the night owl’s most important survival tool. Experts say that one way for a night owl to beat their dependence on their alarm clocks is to sleep with the curtains open. The Theory is that if they do so, the morning sunlight will awaken them gently and natura...
Comments
Personally I do care about my own well-being as well as being part of community. Just because it is not difficult to say "Hello" to your neighbors or engage in short meaningless chit-chat. As much as I am an individualist, I simply can't isolate myself from world behind windows.
I think that only people from countries that have never suffered from communism (and I'm using that phrase on purpose) believe that it is actually good. The idea is fine only in theory, but we know better than that.
Other than that I think it's perfectly natural and healthy to care about ourselves and those close to us more than about random people. That doesn't mean not caring about others at all because that would be plain cold hearted. But since it's impossible to make everyone happy I guess it's ok to focus on making our closest enviornment happy - if that makes any sense.
Also, politicians have never been exactly trustworthy, so younger generations (well, does *anyone* believe that, at this point?) don't believe they have our best interest at heart. I wouldn't say that younger people care less; they just care about different things and in different ways. That's why it's easy to say they don't care at all; often you can't *see* what they do (by that I mean 'seeing their actions on (political) news which are the only ones that matter'). They act via non-political channels, like social media, because they have a better chance to be heard and supported by others than when fighting with, usually much older and conservative, politicians and bureaucracy.
Secondly, the scope of 'solidarity' has widened, indeed. But isn't it good thing? How many conflicts started just because one nation thought it was better than the other? It is much more logical and useful to be kind to any human being you meet than only to those who live within some artifically created borders, just because they're your 'community'. Really, my neighbours are terrible people and I would rather have a nice, interesting conversation about gender equality or economy with my friend in the USA than say 'hello' to them and not even get an answer.
In general it is weird because when nothing happens people are self-oriented but when it comes to politics or some national celebration because of for instance independence day they change for a moment and became part of society. Maybe it is a sign that sooner or later everything will be back to normal and people in Poland will be more open to each other. Maybe because of historical background people are scared and want to have as a single person more safety and be independent.
I think that patriotism has nothing to do with caring about others (referring to the second part of your comment). I'm not a patriot and yet I do care a lot about others, especially my friends and closest family. I just don't feel that borders of my country should define the borders of my interest about others.
"The younger generation is not uninterested in current affairs, It is remarkably focused on particular problems that it wants to resolve."
We cannot measure other people by one's own yard-stick. People are strongly affected by their individual breaking points, i.e. wedding, child birth, death of sb close - they make us different from each other. But what if such "breaking point" is more global? War, stock market crash, etc. - those events are affecting world views, life expectations and priorities of groups. We have to take it into consideration if we want to live together not only as groups but as humanity.
I think patriotism mentioned in the article is an idea that's getting less and less popular. It's going to take a couple of generations but I believe that in the end we will realize that it's not worth dwelling on some past achievements of people who happened to live in a similar geographical location. It's important to focus on global matters instead. I don't want people to forget about the past, of course. It's still an invaluable source of information. History should be used to make students understand that humanity is capable of both great achievements and horrible atrocities, and that we should learn from our mistakes.
Furthermore I strongly agree with Patrycja's statement that patriotism has nothing to do with caring about others and that borders shouldn't define our interest in others.
Maybe we don't identify with our society because we feel that we can change everythin in a short time, move to other city or country, everything is just so temporary now
Also in a way connected to the article, here's a link to a video with a few words by a simple Londoner named Johnny Rotten (from his interview with The Guardian actually).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY6S2TzytVY
I agree that most young people do not focus attention on what is happening in their country and society, as opposed to older generations. It is possible that this is due to the development of technology. Now we can’t imagine life without the Internet, mobile phone etc. Of course a lot things are easier with it, but it impeges face to face contacts between people. People live for themselves. They are more selfish than earlier. Everyone is always busy. Their careers are the most important at least more important than other people. In my opinion it is global problem, not only in UK.
Before WWII people shifted towards more right-winged governments, now it's the opposite, its how its always been and will be.
But these are exceptions. The notion of solidarity appears from time to time mainly in media and only when it comes to political games. I believe our generation does not have sense of it at all. Surely we can unite for a while for instance in a moment of national tragedy but after all we prefer not to engage too much.
I believe that describes social aspect of individualisation is determined mainly because of technocracy we live in. As many of my colleges have mentioned, nowadays we can satisfy our social needs just by using internet.