Back to the Future

First, I would like to say thanks to my friends, Max and Joe, for adding my new blog to their links and for giving me a shoutout. Much obliged, old friends.

And now for things that seem rather obvious to me, but I'm sure there's a good reason The Pew Research Center conducts these polls. Among the results from "How Young People View Their Lives, Futures and Politics: A PORTRAIT OF “GENERATION NEXT”...

• About half of Gen Nexters say the growing number of immigrants to the U.S. strengthens the country – more than any generation. And they also lead the way in their support for gay marriage and acceptance of interracial dating.

• Voter turnout among young people increased significantly between 2000 and 2004, interrupting a decades-long decline in turnout among the young. Nonetheless, most members of Generation Next feel removed from the political process. Only about four-in-ten agree with the statement: “It’s my duty as a citizen to always vote.”

• Asked about the life goals of those in their age group, most Gen Nexters say their generation’s top goals are fortune and fame. Roughly eight-in-ten say people in their generation think getting rich is either the most important, or second most important, goal in their lives. About half say that becoming famous also is valued highly by fellow Gen Nexters.
  

Hell ya, getting rich and famous is important! I mean, damn, have you ever watched the VH1 Show, The Fabulous Life of...? I'd put up with the paparazzi, gossip and tabloids just for the free swag you get at the awards shows and film festivals. What a racket!

Seriously tho, as someone who pretty much bridges the generation gap between the kids surveyed by Pew (18-25 year olds) and the group immediately older (Gen X), most of these results seem self-evident to me, but then again, I work with these kids, read most of the mainstream media reports about these surveys and I personally hold most of the majority views. And when I don't, the kids are wrong. Like here:

A strong majority (75%) say today’s youth are more likely to have casual sex than were young people 20 years ago. Only 7% of Nexters say their generation has less casual sex and 17% say they have about the same amount. Seven-in-ten Nexters say today’s youth resort to violence to solve conflicts more often than the previous generation. And nearly as many Nexters say they engage more often in binge drinking (69%) and illegal drug use (63%) when compared to their predecessors.

Despite what these kids think, I believe drinking and drug use have stayed relatively stable since the 70s. Many indicators of the most harmful effects of such behavior have moved in a positive direction. Drunk driving and teen pregnancy are both down significantly since the 1980s, so I think this reaction reveals more about what messages teens have internalized about themselves, based on the myriad of newspaper accounts of underage drinkers being busted and the hype of the national youth anti-drug campaign, etc. than they do about the actual behavior of actual teens. And I just can't see how there's less sex now, with all the saving yourself 'til marriage pledges in the red states and knowledge of safer sex measures, STD transmission and testing, etc. in the blue ones, than there was in the heady days post-birth control and pre-AIDS.

Still, it's gratifying to see so many young people open to ideas that seem abhorent to the generations above them. I hope it portends for a bright, more accepting and less discriminatory future for all Americans, including the next, Next Generation.

As the Bob Marley song goes, "Time Will Tell".