Exams, jobs, no end to worries

Hung up on success, Indian youth are spending the best years of their lives worrying about examinations and employment. Their looks or relationships with their peers are not as important

T n hey may act like a fairly chilled-out lot, but the youth of India are mortally afraid of examinations, anxious about getting a job, and generally wary of going wrong with crucial life decisions.

As many as 80% of the respondents covered in the Hindu stan Times-Ma RS Youth Survey -2017 confessed to harbouring worries that take a toll on their sleep. Over 64% said fear of examinations was the main cause of their insomnia while 45% attributed it to matters of the heart.

“This is the pattern we see in our clinics. Examinations – especially competitive tests – are a major cause of stress and anxiety for people in this age bracket,” says Dr Sameer Malhotra, director of mental health and behavioural sciences at Delhi’s Max Hospitals.

While maintaining good looks accounted for anxiety among 41% of the respondents, keeping up with peers was found to be stressing out around 40.7%.

“When I first joined college, there was obviously some pressure to fit in. In school, everyone wears the same uniform and has the same hairstyle. However, as soon as we go to college, people start judging us by what we wear, how we dress, or even which bag we carry. This is where the problem lies,” says Saubia Arshi, a second-year postgraduate student of social work.

Dr Malhotra believes focusing on their hobbies will help the youth tide over such worries upon joining a new college or workplace.

Half of the respondents also felt anxious about their employment prospects. “We have been told that my department in college has a 100% placement record, but I am still anxious about the kind of job I will get after my course is done. Guess I will come to know once the placements start,” says Arshi.

Fear of failure gives as many as 30% youngsters the blues. A significantly higher number of respondents from tier II cities such as Kochi (80%), Bhubaneswar (77%) and Jaipur (68.3%) seem to worry about not achieving success. “Right now, my biggest fear is that I will fail in my career. As I am employed with a start-up, it is very important to me that the company succeeds,” says Chitra Surana, whose firm sets up B2B platforms.

Nearly one-fourth of the respondents were scared of making mistakes in a relationship. “I am currently in a long-distance relationship, and the biggest challenge we face is communication. Our work timings are different. As I live with my family, I cannot stay up late at night to talk to him. I fear this may create an emotional distance between us, not to mention misunderstandings ,” says Surana.

A little over 10% of the respondents confessed to worrying about being alone.

The survey, which examined the various ways in which the youth cope with stress, said music helped 69.5% people de-stress and unwind. Others chilled out by watching movies (53.5%), talking to others (47.5%), and partying with friends (47.4%).

Around 37% said smartphones helped keep their minds off worries. This, however, is a chill pill that Dr Malhotra doesn’t particularly care for. “The rise in cellphone usage among people has resulted in undesired consequences such as texting while driving and taking their mobiles to bed. Using cellphones in bed causes sleep deprivation,” he says.