Challenges of 21st Century

Challenges of 21st century
In this essay I will be presenting problems which current generation faces. Possibly this obstacle may not seem more important than poverty, flooding, terrorism or starvation but from my personal perspective it is very closely connected to the future and wellbeing of next generations and the humanity as a whole. Particularly I will observe causes of health problems such as smoking and drinking of minors and the influence of media sources such as TV, games and obviously social networks. I was mainly observing post USSR countries; the reason for it is that I can provide more information about the society where I grew up; additionally this might be something interesting and new for you. Data in the essay will mainly be gathered from internet sources, questioning inhabitants, interviews, news, personal no-scientific observations and experience.
Russian people say: “The most important is the health, the rest will apply”;
First of all I would mention the problem of cigarettes and alcohol, I researched Ukraine about this issue. In Ukraine, the smoking rate is still relatively high, but it is lower than in Russia, Belarus or the Baltic states. In contrast, there is another serious problem of the society, which is alcoholism, even among youth. Since 2000, alcohol consumption has doubled - up to 12-13 liters of pure alcohol per capita per year, which is approximately 30 litters of vodka per year, 2.5 liters per month. Average man can drink half a litter to get drunk, hence citizens of Ukraine drink about 0.55 litters of vodka every week. This is much higher than in the EU. Unfortunately anti-propaganda is powerless, form my point of view the reason for this is that people don’t know who they can believe. For example in the international press, evidences were published showing that the activity of the American philanthropist Michael Bloomberg in the fight against smoking may be due to his personal interest in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the redistribution of the market in favor of certain medications. All trying to get short term benefit from people giving up smoking. In addition to this I want to apply few answers of people that I know have been smoking for a long time, these answers can clearly demonstrate from what age people usually begin smoking:
From what age do you smoke? * Smoking from age of 15. I remember how stormy it was. Incredibly dizzy ... But I heroically went through these torments, because in our time do you remember what it was like? Do not smoke, then please do not even try to take a girl. And I remember, in one pocket I had cigarettes with filter for myself and friends, and the in the other ones without filters for those who shoots (asks for cigarettes). It was Golden time. Listened “Kino”, “Nau”, smoked “Kosmos” and “Prima”, we also used to steal Cuban Partagas from grandfathers attic. * I started smoking in high school, such as trying to seem older than it actually is. I was only 12 years old, now I am 26, 14 years of experience in smoking. Previously, it seemed - I am an adult, at the moment I'm very sorry that parents did not protect me at the time of this infection. Tried to quit several times, could not resist for more than 6 months.
Regarding alcohol – I hear sometimes about alcoholism among British inhabitants, according to the internet source about alcohol in Kazakhstan, I found that in the Central Asian region, Kazakhstan is in the lead. Yearly consumption of alcohol is 10-12 liters of pure alcohol per capita. Whereas, compared with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, there figures are two to three times less. In addition to this experts add that, according to a recent clinical study, in Kazakhstan, 35 percent of the population drinks alcohol, half of them can be seen as alcoholics. I also read that by 2020 cost of half liter of vodka may increase up to 1500 tenge which equals approximately 10 $. However nowadays the cost of half a litter of vodka varies from 300 tenge and onwards which is about 2$. In comparison to the UK this is cheap.
Today in Russia 11500 children drink and 161 out of them aged 10 to 14 years already have been diagnosed as "alcoholics." This is the result of the official governmental statistics, hence true figures thought to be much higher. The average age when minors start drinking alcohol continues to decline, mainly they consume beer but that is not seen as mitigating circumstance, over the recent ten years, it has decreased from 14 to 11 years old.
But in spite of this disappointing statistics of child alcoholism, Russia still does not have a law on compulsory treatment of children suffering from an addiction to alcohol.
Furthermore it leads growing generation to violence, by this I mean fighting stealing, in some cases even murdering, as it has happened in Perm, Russian Federation. The case was very shocking and had a lot of feedback in the media. It was observed more closely on talk show called “Let them speak (Пусть говорят)”. Substantially there was a gang of minors, there were about 70 participants aged from 13 to 17, they named themselves New Nazis, they carried knifes and bats to scare youngsters “who were not dressed properly” but one day they killed one of them. Reporters concluded that the cause of forming that gang and slaughtering people was the influence of media, because nobody would teach those things such as slaughtering and calling themselves New Nazis, and obviously the influence of alcohol. In post USSR countries it is very common to meet some thugs who drink beer in the courtyard with the company. I agree with the conclusion but I would also add the importance of parental example, majority of those teens grew up in single parent families, without fathers.
As for mass media - The mass media includes TV, internet sources, newspapers and many others. They take a very noticeable role in our life. From my point of view, it won’t be disputed that that they have a big influence in shaping people's ideas, both for the better and for the worse.
First of all the most significant impact it has on youngsters, especially social networks which create a sense of being close, but actually it only separates people further apart. Modern students of universities and colleges always have phone in their hands chatting or surfing the internet, and don’t notice what is going on around them, this became a mainstream or can be called “Fashion”.
Secondly we cannot deny that the mass media shapes people’s ways of thinking. What they watch on TV and hear on the radio, what they read in newspaper and magazines, without awareness, we do not even notice how big the impact is. People try to look like Obama, say what Steve Jobs say.
Third, the mass media also play an important role in our attitude to life. Some people complained that children nowadays tend to be lazier and more violent. This is simply is the consequence of bad programs shown on TV all time, incontrollable internet and the carelessness of parents. To be free from their children, some people allow the children to surf the webs, without noticing that there are plenty of disasters on Internet which the young have little experience to deal with.
In conclusion world is full of problems, such as terrorist, suffering and indifference. Under aged keep drinking and smoking, internet is still out of control. It seems so complicated how to sort all that out? The answer might be as simple as “to begin from ourselves” or complicated by creating laws which will be broken norms which will be ignored or role models which can’t be perfect. I don’t think all you read in the essay was interesting, exciting or new for you, but I hope you give me a chance to improve, have a good day.

Reference www.1tv.ru/spsearch/pustgovor http://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/kazahstantsyi-upotreblyayut-alkogol-bolshe-ostalnyih-jiteley-tsentralnoy-azii-222670/ http://pudp.ru/detskii-alkogolizm http://medcentrnorma.ru/archives/1112
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_influence