In today’s world, society has already far surpassed the limits and boundaries of international borders. Like a wildfire sweeping up and surging past everything before it, the definition of society today encompasses not only the regional sphere, but also the global arena. In the world of today, where information of just about everything is within reach of the public domain, information overload is an almost usual occurrence. There is so much information available within anyone’s grasp with just a short trip into cyberspace. Unfortunately though, the current outlook on society in near-future is a rather bleak one, as opposed to the commonly held fallacy that humanity is currently at its Golden Age. 

The current generation of teenagers, who aspire to be the future world leaders in about twenty years, is tagged the ‘MTV generation’. Countless of youths are hooked on music entertainment and plagued by an addiction to television. Their whole world revolves around the single ‘MTV’ channel, and any facts originating there are treated as gospel. Their penchant for music with highly misleading lyrics (cue the majority of rap music) or even worse, lyrics which make no logical sense (Hollaback Girl springs instantly to mind…OC Weekly even did an ‘in-depth’ analysis of it, mocking its stupidity) have warped their outlook on life. Some hip-hop or rap music are thus so full of senseless lyrics that it is frankly laughable that some people actually treat those songs as an art, a creative piece of music or even ‘enlightening’ music. Besides, some songs are so full of hatred, violence and misogyny that it does not reflect at all the artiste’s view of the world around them. Instead, it just serves to fuel the rage of misguided teenagers and in the process, fattens the bank account of artistes. Sadly, many of these songs routinely make it to the Top-ten list of songs on MTV, and thus gain greater airplay compared to other more sane and rational songs. This only furthers the lies that are fed to the teenagers whose whole world is based solely on that single channel on television 24-hours a day.

On the other side of the world, in China, the government's long-prized one-child only policy to curb the growth of their population has gone awry. A far sinister and insidious problem that threatens to derail the progress China has made thus far has slowly emerged from beneath the shadows. The current generation of children in China is now infamous for being spoilt, especially those from middle to upper class backgrounds. This is largely attributed to them having their own way since young and generally being over-pampered due to being the only product of a new generation in the family. From a culture which emphasizes tradition as well as family lineage, this is indeed a great deal of importance. These children do not have siblings from whom to learn responsibility, respect, generosity and manners, and hence do not have a proper foundation of upbringing which ends up getting some of them into severe trouble further on in life. Their parents are oblivious to their behavior and continue to splurge on their only child. Currently, some of these ‘children’ have already entered adulthood and entered the workplace, giving rise to many articles and reports regarding some of their lack of a social education.

The current rise of Asia among the traditional balance of power from the West has partially served to highlight a few of Asia’s failings. Besides the current situation as mentioned in China, the economic situation regarding jobs in Japan has also risen to the forefront. An ‘iron rice bowl’, or a job for life, once so revered in the Land of the Rising Sun, has now fallen on hard times. Many youths are no longer interested in seeking out a permanent job, with many now more interested in securing a temporary job instead. This serves to allow themselves the luxury and the time to be able to travel abroad or to relax once they have earned sufficient funds for the time being to do so. It is only when these youths run out of money that they come back and find another temporary job to tide over their latest ‘financial crisis’. This approach to life alarmed many Economics professors particularly those in Japan, as these youths would have practically no life savings to fall back on when they have aged or when they encounter healthcare problems, and hence will then impose a greater burden on the already creaking Japan Pension System.

Locally, in my country Singapore, youths are often known to be apathetic to global or political affairs, even those that might affect them. While this is not an absolute, it is definitely a percentage high enough to be worried about, especially when it is noted that these youths would be the leaders of this country in the fast-approaching future. The common viewpoint among these apathetic youths is to just worry about their financial standings for the week and issues concerning their meals while letting the government worry about the rest. This over-dependence on the government for everything will potentially cause the downfall of the country in the future, as the potential leaders of tomorrow are neither prepared nor ready to take over the mantle of leadership. Lastly, panic might even ensue when in times of strife and chaos, the people, who for so long were used to having all their needs taken care of, suddenly find themselves cut off from the voice and guidance of the government, and thus find their sudden ‘independence’ and isolation more than just disconcerting. This might present such a shock that the people will not be able to function efficiently as a whole while making decisions to ensure their own survival.

The world today as a whole has much to look forward to, with technology accomplishing crest after crest. However, human society today still has far to go before they can reach the zenith of our civilization. We have massive errors to correct and measures to put in place before we can even achieve anything close to a utopian society. Before that though, we have to seek to understand our differences and work together to bridge the potential pitfalls in front of us before we can truly advance as a global society.