Present day lifestyle

We spend nearly half an hour to think and write the general essay in our English exams. What we write painstakingly is only given a glance by the teacher and marks are awarded sparingly.  Shouldn’t marks be given amply to encourage such idle, oops, Ideal minds to come up with brilliant ideas in their essays?? However, here are two essays I wrote in the class 11 exams. I got a 7 and a half in the first one and eight in the next (out of 10). Most of the stuff is made up, so please don’t charge me with copyright infringement!

 Present day lifestyle – Merits and demerits   

Introduction

 It’s better to think about the present than the past or the future for it is the result of the past and the cause of the future. The present holds the key to the future. But lifestyles do not remain the same. It changes from time to time. And hence the question- ‘Does lifestyle affect the present day scenario?’ arises. Let us see the merits and demerits of the present day lifestyle. (I’m warning you!)

Merits - Development of the society

Technology, growth, development and economy are the keywords of the twenty first century. Everyone leads a fast paced life. Inorder to keep track with this fast changing world, one has to be aware of what is happening. So he keeps himself informed through the mass media. The mass media is a gift to the people of the present day. No man in the past could reach out to the society as well as one can do today. Technology has reached its peak. We can keep in touch with anyone through innumerable ways – telephones, e-mails, video conferencing etc (I kept biting my pen to think of anything else but couldn’t). We can get in touch with someone in a matter of seconds. The present day lifestyle would’ve been stale if not for science. Science has amounted to everything the society is, these days. It has lead to the drive against caste, creed and gender discrimination.

Demerits - The generation gap

As already said, the world is a fast place to live. So we find ourselves programmed to function the way the world wants us to. For a common man, the goals are the same – to study well, get admission in a good college, get a good job with a 6 digit salary and finally, ‘get settled’ (I left out ‘to get married and have kids’ or else my teacher would raise an eyebrow!). So when we all strive towards the same thing, the competition gets tougher and we find ourselves working harder. As a result, stress, depression and other psychological problems take their toll.

The present day lifestyle has changed the way we used to view relationships. Joint families have almost become a thing of the past. The bread-earner of the family, usually the father, has less time to spend with his children. When the mother goes to work too, the child may feel isolated and hence the need arises for the parents to send their child to a hostel or hire a care taker. This can be avoided. The child should be made to understand the demands of the parents and the parents should also understand the needs of the child. (This para is junk, I know)

Conclusion

The world will be a better place to live in if we manage to balance the pros and cons of our lifestyles (and also, if we stop writing such bad essays). Equal importance should be given to the development of the society and the sustenance of a peaceful environment (huh?) Thus we can hope for a brighter future with people leading a better and balanced life.