Are young people really disinterested?
It is often said that today’s young people (as it was said forty years ago) are listless, disinterested, spoiled, etc.
Is this the case or are previous generations sometimes unable to see the changing dynamics to which young people adapt by their nature? Surely there will be listless, and lazy young people, but we don’t think they are all total slackers.
Today’s young people, for example, have found themselves having to experience a situation of considerable discomfort with the pandemic and the lockdowns that have forced them to socially distance themselves in the age groups in which sociality, both at school and in the private sector, is very important.
Young people – especially those belonging to the 18-19 age group – have shown and are still showing to be more participatory in civil rights, pacifism, ecological activism, human rights, and many more activities.
Every era experiences and brings about changes, always different ways of participating, and affirming that “today’s young people are good for nothing” is useless. Above all, the old people of the previous generation have always shouted it.
These young people are perhaps not only orphans of examples but are largely engaged in their battles, actively participating in building their future. The answer, therefore, is: no, they are not disinterested or, at least, not all of them, as has always been the case, in every age.