by Sarah Fairhurst

Created on: November 26, 2008

What on earth is wrong with my generation? I'm 20 years old and I have great difficulty in understanding the way people my age seem to grasp the world. Most of my friends have decided they have some form of depression' be it manic' or otherwise. They all have a hell of a lot of stuff' going on in their heads.

Now don't get me wrong, yes, people have their issues but what happened to the time when people just got on with it and moved on? Why is this generation so obsessed with wallowing in their own self pity? Why can't they seem to get over minor incidences?

My view is that society has now in affect created this depressed' generation. I go to the doctors for a sore throat and I get offered anti-depressants, it's ridiculous. You can be diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder for the silliest things. Counselling is offered to any one who shows the slightest bit of negative emotion, it's even offered to people who quite blatantly don't want it. For example while I was at college I was asked about my home life and upon saying my parents were divorced I was immediately referred to the counsellor. I'm not saying that real depression does not exist however I am sceptical of the amount of youths who claim to be suffering. Yes being a teenager and young adult has certain strains but people up until now have been dealing with it with out resorting to drugs, self harm, suicide or getting wasted' every night.

I also believe that apathy has increased amongst my generation. People do not care about the real world, how it works or who they hurt. I know a 21 yr old who is pregnant yet still drinks because she says she's too depressed to deal with being sober'. No one I know is planning for the future. Many have a live for now' attitude which is all well and good and to a certain extent a healthy attitude to have however when people stop planning for the future it creates a future older generation of lazy, self pitying, unemployed, poor strains on the economy. Gone are the youths that want to be doctors, lawyers, scientists, journalists or business men. Instead we have a generation that wants nothing more than to drink, get stoned and wallow in self pity no matter the consequences. Now ask yourself, is that really what this generation really wants to become.

I apologise if this seems blunt but this is the way I see my generation and it makes me sad to think that this is what the world is coming too.

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