Young People Like Healing and Buying Coffee, Need or Impulsive?

Dream - Young generations, especially Millennials and Gen Z, have a lifestyle that is very different from previous generations. In terms of spending, they often spend money that may be considered impulsive.

For example, the habit of buying a cup of coffee every day, or often going on vacation for the sake of 'healing' from their routine. So, are these habits actually a necessity or just an excuse for a wasteful lifestyle?

Journalist and activist Najwa Shihab explained that each generation has different characteristics because they were born in different situations.

“Our intention to categorize them is not to generalize or create stereotypes, but to help us understand the common characteristics that emerge in those who live and are born in certain situations,” said Najwa Shihab at The Space, Senayan City some time ago.

Characteristics of young generations

Meanwhile, the millennial generation, especially Gen Z, are those who were born and grew up when the internet had already emerged. This makes their generation have many choices and tend to have a dynamic lifestyle.

“They live in such a digital era where the internet is already available, which makes them have the character of understanding a lot of information, quickly mastering various skills, being critical, mastering various skills simultaneously,” said Najwa.

Besides all that, they are also a social media generation who are constantly exposed to information, which can cause various anxieties within themselves.

“But on the other hand, we know that this Gen Z and millennial generation, the social media generation, is the first generation on earth who are exposed to continuous information every day, which eventually makes them anxious,” said the founder of Narasi.

Social media causing anxiety

Anxiety arises from the abundance of information exposure, including bad news coming from other parts of the world. That is what then creates the need for the younger generation to balance or commonly known as healing.

“Of course, how can't they be anxious, waking up to bad news everywhere, from the left end of the world to the right end, knowing about the climate crisis, knowing about the difficulty of finding jobs, or economic crises,” she said.

She mentioned that exposure on social media also makes them often compare their lives with what they see through social media. That is what further increases the anxiety of the younger generation.

“What is also interesting is that this generation, because they are the social media generation, they are used to seeing what is displayed and making comparisons, so they easily feel insecure,” said Quraish Shihab's daughter.

“So they always have a need to balance or what is often called healing,” she added.

Growing needs

According to her, the different situations between generations also contribute to the development of young people's needs. In addition, this is also related to how young people define the meaning of "wealth".

She expressed that wealth can be interpreted as having more than our needs. However, it is currently not easy to define between needs and wants.

“In the past, our needs were as simple as clothing, food, and shelter, but now the needs of young people, because of their situation, they need healing, they need self-actualization,” she said.

As a result, the needs of the younger generation have developed in areas that may have been considered unimportant by previous generations.

“Now they need to buy coffee every day during lunchtime, which can mean that if you add it up every month, it could be one-fifth of their salary. They need to go to a psychologist for their mental health. These are needs that may never have been felt necessary by previous generations,” said the journalist, affectionately known as Mbak Nana.

Therefore, she concluded it into two perspectives. Indeed, the needs of young people are developing or some young people simply have an attitude of enjoying their lives.

“So, I can see this from two perspectives. First, their needs are developing, so their consumption also increases, or yes, some of them have a mental attitude of 'You Only Live Once.' They want to enjoy life now,” she said.

However, she reminded that there is nothing wrong with enjoying one's youth. But there must still be calculation and consideration to prepare for the future.

“It is indeed okay to enjoy or get instant pleasures today, but you still have to consider the future. So, there must be calculations, that's what I think,” she said.