As youths take over
Posted July 21st, 2008 by kamala
For years politicians, community leaders and corporates have talked about vesting more power in the hands of youths. We are told the youth are the leaders of tomorrow and should be given a wider platform to contribute to society.
Today if one looks around at different segments of society it is hard to overlook the fact that youths have actually become stronger or so it seems.
Not long ago, wisdom was the mightiest force in the world. Everything kneeled before it, including the youth of the time.
The older people commanded, reprimanded and belittled the younger lot on the strength of their anecdotes, proverbs and adages. Rarely were they questioned. Life space was leisurely set by the reflexes of the older people.
Not anymore. Youths now appear to have wrested the initiative and great technological advances over the last decade have left little choice to the seniors in our society.
The youths now appear to be more empowered. They seem to have gone past elders discretion to unleash their potential. The word experience appears to be devalued like currency. Innovative thinking has arrived. Undoubtedly there has been a major shift in the balance of power all over the globe.
The world is changing to accommodate this revolution. Computers and the Internet are totally youth-driven. You tube; Face book and Google are household words in this age.
Their creators are young, so their offerings naturally target young people. As a result, youth are better informed and much better connected. They are devouring knowledge to back their exuberance.
Products and markets are changing to serve highly demanding under 25s. Mobile phones that we see today are continuously updating models to satisfy the fastidious young ones.
An older customer still prefers a simple phone that is nothing more. But the market is not interested to serve him. It wants customers who change phones frequently.
The recurring sales matter. The advertising, too, has turned to prancing to attract the market where the money never ends.
The change is manifested in many other areas. The present CEOs the world over are getting younger in terms of average age.
Even from groups of specially trained youth, a position previously attained in 20 years is now being demanded in two years by the young corporate breed.
The companies want energy at their senior ranks and they are willing to pay for this energy.
In fact, politicians are also getting younger. Barack Obama is 46. Recent reports from the UK suggest Britons see Gordon Brown as too demure. Many are naming the baby-faced Miliband to take over Brown by coming autumn. Whatever his age, he looks like a freshman. In Tanzania too we have a relatively younger President in Jakaya Kikwete.
This is an era where myths are shattering. We are learning in this age that by subduing youthful energies, the world was denying itself the requisite impetus.
The potential was being punctured by the needle of experience. Humans are now getting infected with this youthful energy.
In the future, companies can be seen to reduce retirement age in order to shed pondering personnel they can do without. The middle-aged lot will also have fewer takers in the job market.
People may then be compelled to hide their age because in many countries it is not permitted to force a job applicant to mention his or her age.
However, the law of nature will not allow an uneasy equilibrium that would see the seniors in society simply fade away.
The youths of today will grow to be more technological adept seniors and they too will have a fair capability to contribute to society
Youth have been empowered before too. Alexander conquered the world in his 20s. Even writers like the Bronte sisters and poets like Keats had penned their classics in their 20s. But never before were youth in charge in hordes as we have now.
The irony of youth power without experience is that it can lead to immature decisions. Older workers have a rich vein of experience to draw upon, but they also lose some degree of cognitive ability as they age.
Older workers still tend to be more productive in old-line industries including most service industries where productivity increases slowly with age and experience.
The opposite is the case for high-tech industries where productivity rises rapidly with experience but peaks early and declines just as rapidly.
The elderly certainly have a big role to play in any society but gradually they come to a stage where they learn that life is as beautiful in slow motion, in reflection where they can offer guidance that youth would not get from any academic institution.
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