Make or Break Generation

It does not take a genius to know that we are being bombarded daily by a multitude of pressures that strain us. I just came from a talk given to the SK chairpersons of the City about stress in the context of youth and I find it appropriate to share it with you in the most digestible manner. I started with the idea that our brain capacity and size are the same now than 50 years ago. But in this present time, our brains, our reality operates in a global environment where in there is exponential technological advancement and tremendous changes in lifestyle. The best example is the seemingly short popular life span of cell phone models, the 140 letters that “tweets” our existence, the instant coffee and food, the social sites and video blogs. Everything is fast and instant compared to the snail mail and ritualistic practices of before. Most are user generated and highly accessible. Now, we are managing too many information streams at the same time. What does that mean? Our generation can either break down ( e.g. stretched too thin, pressured to much that the human value of face-to face communication will degenerate) or can be more empowered because of these changes. I think the key to this is knowing the complex entities that apply pressure in our daily life and transforming it into productive means. It is knowing and transforming. Instantly I can identify the main pressure entities that may have existed a century ago but its intensity and impact is greater due to technology now. These are economic; the pressure to be ahead, peers; the pressure to fit in, family; the pressure to follow, studies; the pressure to succeed. All of these things bombard us every single minute of our lives but I don’t see it as any enemy to wage war with. It is reality that needs to be understood, embraced and managed. Now, let us look back in ourselves and see if we have become robotic slaves by these pressures and changes or have we gain that higher consciousness to be above and control these things and transform them into good fruits. This is OUR generation.