MTVplay.in GETS INSIDE THE MINDS OF THE REBEL GENERATION

According to the majority of older adults sitting in the board rooms, the term “rebellion” has been made synonymous with Youth. The impact of westernization on the youth of India has made them change not only their ways of dressing, but also, their ways of thinking. The educated and curious youth does not blindly accept the rules and regulations put forward to them.

Case in point - the recent campaigns against the change of legal drinking age from 21 to 25. Today’s youth are not willing to stand by and let laws change their lifestyle over-night. MTVplay connected with the youth to understand their take on this law. The universal reaction received from the Youth was “… if one can legally vote, drive, smoke, marry, work, be an employer, sue, be imprisoned and have children by the age of 21, why can’t one decide for themselves whether or not they would like to consume alcohol?” They want “…the government should stop hijacking the role of parents and just concentrate on being a government”. 

Let us dig deeper into some statistics. 12% of the 2200 youth surveyed by MTV across 13 cities, agreed that they regularly spend money on alcohol. Out of these, 77% spent less than Rs 1000 on alcohol every month, while rest claimed to spend upto Rs. 5000 per month. Some 5% of the young population also stated they often run short of their pocket money because of their alcohol bills. And a 36% of youth agree that alcohol and cigarette consumption increases when they are having a bad phase in their relationship.

Even a number of youth who confessed to being ‘non-drinkers’ agreed that the government was going a tad too far in increasing the age from 21 to 25. They say “...creating more rules is not the solution to try and stop people from doing things that are illegal or wrong. We need a system in which the existing rules are put into practice by authorities and strongly adhered to; else, we can always find loopholes to play by”.

So, are the youth becoming selfish and rebellious? Well, 91% of youngsters state that the family is their first priority. 87% of youth declare that family values are important to them and they would stick to them wherever they go. But, 37% also state that some of these age old values are no longer relevant and need to be changed. While they’re willing to go against the rules and fight for what they think is right, they’re not willing to completely let go of their roots.

By MTV Insights Studio

MTV Insights Studio brings you the latest from the life of the youth. This indepth understanding comes from being a part of their lives every day. The statistics and trends are taken from various MTV youth studies including Age of Sinnocence, Digital Socialite, Recreation Redefined and discussions on MTV iSpeak. The researches capture responses from 15-24 years across 10+ cities across India. MTV iSpeak is a network of youth in age of 18-24 years from colleges across 10 cities provides a continuous connect to the youth life. Please note all verbatim opinions mention above are an outcome of discussions and posts by the youth participating in MTV surveys. Details of MTV studies are available on www.mtvplay.in