Youth Culture

I have lived and worked in different countries and this morning I shared one of my observations with some folk from different countries staying at the same farmstay place as myself.

As often happens with discussions among middle to older age people, the subject of current youth culture - language style, behaviour, values, etc - came up. We all know that while in that 'youth" age-group we were less than perfectly behaved. But we measured that against the culture in which we had grown up. This is different in different countries and we can share and compare those differences. To a certain extent we can also appreciate and understand the differences.

(I haven't defined "youth". It's too tricky to do rigourously. I will hope the descriptions here will "point to" the group I am talking about).

I mentioned over coffee that I had partly formed the conclusion that the "youth" of the different countries in which I had lived and worked had more in common with each other than they did with the culture of the country they lived in.

I have observed a commonness of values, behaviours, evaluations of situations, norms, reactions, language style across the board. It is as though the shared or community values of this group have been learned or developed from some source other than their parents, teachers, fellow community members,etc.

If that is the case, those people are NOT behaving countrary to "the culture". They are behaving consistently within it. In fact, those few who do not share it but are within the bounds of their country of origin, they will be the odd ones out, the pariahs. The common-culture group are not misbehaving and will perhaps be puzzled if you take them to task over their actions or language.

I wonder how it is that those responsible for the transmission of their culture have in so many countries dropped the ball, leaving their children to find other sources for learning community values. And I wonder why the result of that is a certain commonality across the board.

There may be many answers to these questions, but certainly one place to look for the common source of cultural values is the so-called "third parent" - the TV.

Well, it was the TV at one time but now that provider of cultural norms of behaviour includes DVD, You Tube, video games, on-line gaming and so on.

There is a commonality across many countries in the offerings and use of these media. The most successful are used world-wide.

Looking at the proportions by country of origin, you will find that the USA is a leader in this field.

Certainly in the english-speaking countries the use of the phrase "Oh my God" is pandemic. OK, just one example and I am not going to enumerate them. Travel and observe for yourself and the pattern may form for you.

But I am not at all concerned about this in and of itself. What does concern me is that this substitution of a different culture in a new generation growing up will lead to the end of the specific and unique country-based culture in which they live. If I am in Australia and ask "have you a zac in your kick" or say "that's a furfey", how many would now understand those iconic terms that had been in place for nearly 100 years? The values and lifestyles will be at odds and the existing culture will lose out, there is no doubt about that.

Am I saying this is a bad thing? Is there not a benefit from the whole world in a couple of generations having shared values and understandings about how one behaves in a given situation?

Of course there could be benefits. It could even lead to a shared global culture. Fewer misunderstandings in the United Nations? Perhaps.

But couldn't we have done this with a better choice of culture-of-origin? We could end up stuck with the culture of arguably the most conservative, hide-bound, competetive, aggressive country on earth.

IMHO

Whatever...