The new generation in Hong Kong is getting more and more materialistic. A recent survey done by Tuen Mun Town Plaza showed that youngsters place money at the top of their happiness list, followed by good relationships with friends, vacation and good relationships with families. Another survey conducted by a research centre revealed that the top two goals of the youngsters are to own a property and to earn more money.
More young people value money more than anything else nowadays. It seems that it is normal for this trend to prevail in a society like Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a city which stresses wealth and businesses. People judge a person’s success by his or her wealth, while the media promotes how a person can win respect from others with fancy brand name products, and how happy the lives of the wealthy class are. Even the parents educate their children to work hard in order to enjoy a better off future since. Therefore, youngsters growing up in this environment tend to be materialistic as they imitate the adults.
Recent changes in economy further build up this kind of values among the youngsters. As we all know, inflation is now a big problem perplexing Hong Kong. Many are discontent and they make complaints. Some even fall into plights that they cannot purchase their own flats. Youngsters realize that there are difficulties existing in society and money is essential to tackle them.
Four stakeholders should bear the responsibilities of this social problem and contribute their effort to solve the problem. First, the school should help the students to build up proper values through education. Second, the government should continue to propose measures to solve the existing economic problems to relieve the youngsters’ anxieties which come too soon. Third, the media should change their direction. It is difficult to avoid commercial elements in the media. However, it is possible to decrease the proportion which promote sumptuous and luxurious products and increase that of other concepts, like family love. Fourth, parents play the most important role. They should not keep talking about the ‘stock market’ and ‘shares’ in front of their children. Instead, they should help their children to discover that money is not everything, but there is love and wisdom being precious.