SA youth shaped by pressures of the past
WHILE some young people may be making lifestyle choices that can compromise goals like education, building careers and livelihoods, it is important to understand that this is a generational identity that has its roots in social and historical events.
Research psychologist at DUT, Tarryn Frankish, said the South African youth identity was shaped by factors including location, race, gender and class, adding that young people were wrestling with pressures from history and the future.
She said the pressure to succeed and to support their families and communities came at the same time as young people were developing their identities, trying to build lives and facing everyday challenges, such as poverty and unemployment.
“This is a generation that can and must succeed in a way that their parents did not, they are Mandela’s proverbial generation of hope – they are ‘born frees’. They are tasked with being the generation that fixes social ills from the past through their successes.
“On the other hand, the future has been painted as this ‘rainbow’ utopia that holds all the riches of a global capitalist and consumer life as embodied by celebrities and elite.
“The billboard lifestyle is having fancy cars and homes and all the trappings of wealth – including alcohol, drugs, parties, etc.”
Andisiwe Sodo, 46, is a mother of a 21-year-old son who, she believes, is compromising his future by “enjoying his youth”.
Sodo said her son was wasting the opportunities she had given him to ensure that one day he would be successful and independent.
“I have taken him to one of the best boys schools in Durban. He didn’t do well, but managed to pass matric. I took him to two different tertiary institutions and he dropped out from both. Now he is working at a call centre.”
She said her son had been involved with the wrong crowd where they cheered each other on to abuse alcohol and drugs. Her son started using drugs when he was in high school.
Her efforts to help him have all fallen short. She said she had taken him to a rehabilitation centre and psychologists, but he has refused to change.
Bonakele Nxele, 55, is a domestic worker at the Sodo home.
She said she was worried about Sodo’s son because she feared he was heading in the same direction she took when she was younger.
Nxele said she has made peace with her work now, but growing up she had wanted to become a social worker. Her dreams fell to the wayside because she mixed with the wrong crowd.
She said her young lifestyle derailed her plans. By the time she wanted to change her ways, her parents had died and there was no one to put her through school.
“I wish I could have listened to my parents, so many things would be different now.”
Frankish said even though it was difficult to shelter young people from ideas that exist in the collective – and which are shaped by the media, peers and society – families could provide them information about the dangers that exist.
She encouraged young people to meet people from all walks of life, so they can learn about the consequences of behaviour, safely build their identities and make healthy life choices.