Millennials... the future predicted
As we approach another decade of the new millennium, we face a problem of epidemic proportions: our youth’s mental and physical degradation.
It is no secret that children today have shorter attention spans due to the introduction of social media, video games and other technologies that compete with one another through the use of constantly changing images, colorful screens, dramatization, and so on.
Gratification is instant and if one show/chat/group/social media platform isn’t engaging, there are always at least dozens of others to replace it. As a result, kids are less likely than ever before to pick up a book, complete a task, and learn a new skill if it presents them with longer attention span requirement and a delayed gratification than indulgence in a technological Zen.
What that means for the society is lack of skilled and knowledgeable professionals, transfer of wealth to other parts of the globe where the workforce still exhibits the symptoms of “economic hunger”, and very probably a big doomsday when both the demand and supply finally kick the economic equilibrium out of whack.
Similarly, because of the highly technological world we are living in today, where friendship in teens is measured by the streaks on Snapchat or followers on Instagram rather than playing ball outside, where Uber convenience supersedes the utilization of one’s feet and due to many other various factors having a detrimental effect on the U.S. population in particular our youth, we face another great pathology- our children growing exponentially not only in length but mainly in width.
We are talking about childhood obesity and this too, ladies and gentlemen, is an epidemic of extreme magnitude. What this problem means to the society is deaths and disabilities due to obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and so on. It also translates into hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent on health treatments and medications. And finally again, it means a very unhealthy, unproductive future of sick generation.
