SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT AMONG YOUTHS

Ian Loo Yu En, 17, of Fairview International School writes about how today’s youth take things for granted because of their privileges.

“If youth nowadays expect everything to be handed to them, will they expect good jobs and an easy life to fall on their laps when they are older?”

Over the past decade, Malaysia’s urban population has seen its children live mostly privileged lives amidst peaceful times. In this era of technology, we’ve seen great improvements in our lifestyles in terms of comfort and convenience.

Many kids including myself have enjoyed these improvements where mobile phones, tablets and computers are common throughout our childhood. With all these enjoyments catering to a considerably comfortable life for most, today’s children are often deemed spoiled, pampered and even entitled to these privileges.

However, is this allegation true? Are we truly feeling entitled to the comfort that we have as if we were entitled?

As an international school student, many of my friends are among the affluent families. Their parents often carry an impressive status, whether they might be CEOs or Datuks therefore, they live reasonably comfortable lives.

This luxury has caused them to be less appreciative given of how things are naturally provided to them. If youth nowadays expect everything to be handed to them, will they expect good jobs and an easy life to fall on their laps when they are older?

The feeling of entitlement can be destructive like a disease, especially if they begin to expect that they should be granted what one may consider privileges.

Having a smartphone for one, is a common entitlement of today. One may argue that the smartphones provide many conveniences but, by giving something of such a high value so easily to a kid would cause a lack of appreciation for such things. We often come to take many things for granted, when it does seemingly come by easily like water or electricity.

Entitlement can also carry on to one’s own treatment of people, especially when they ‘serve’ us. This can include waiters, security guards and janitors.

Those who feel that the privilege of someone serving them is a granted right can be the evidence of a superiority complex. The scene of teenagers crowding around a café table refusing to show any gratitude toward the waiter has been an all too common scene.

I may be preaching about courtesy, but it wouldn’t hurt to say ’thank you’ every now and then. I’ve heard an argument against showing gratitude simply because we paid for it and therefore it is expected. Though they may be obliged to give us good service, there isn’t a need to hold your chin high.

Good manners go a long way. For one to understand this, I’d often like to place myself in a position where I am serving instead. The lack of gratitude would be frustrating, as if I was inferior simply because I am getting paid to serve. Service may be a business transaction, but they are paid to provide service, not to suffer the insolence behaviour towards them.

Though entitlement is often rooted in children from a young age, adults are also subject to the symptoms above. There is no excuse to treat anyone poorly or expect the world to provide for you at any age one may be. Entitlement is not the best viewpoint of the world and one may be disappointed not to get what they’re expecting.

So how can one observe in themselves for any sign of entitlement? If you have a nonchalant attitude toward your possessions as if they were all easily replaceable, perhaps you should reconsider how difficult money is to come by.

Furthermore, feeling as if you deserve to be served, and that you shouldn’t need to be grateful, is often the first few signs of a superiority complex. Like I’ve mentioned earlier, would you appreciate the same kind of treatment given to you? I’m sure that no one wants to be treated as if they were nothing.

How about parents who live in reasonably good-income households? Giving your kids what they want is always nice, but you don’t have to purchase their attention and love. The act of spoiling one can develop an entitlement mentality from young and we wouldn’t want to see reality kicking in when they realise the world doesn’t belong to them as they grow older. We certainly want to see independence, growth, and maturity in our children and not the opposite.

We should always look towards what’s best for our futures. Having an entitled mentality is certainly not one of them. As our urban populations grow with more kids getting to enjoy the comforts of modernisation, we truly must ensure that our future generations aren’t entitled, but instead recognise and appreciate their privileges.