Celebs’ healthy advice to youngsters on National Youth Day

January 12 is National Youth Day, and celebrities have highlighted youngsters’ problems and how they can deal with them.
Somy Ali, founder of No More Tears: 
I think the biggest issue that I have observed is that our youth are too engrossed with gadgets. They simply do not have any inclination to be out in nature. To spend time with friends, masked and vaccinated of course and have real conversations. It’s all about social media and video games. There has to be a balance in life and this is solely parents’ responsibility.
Well, given the brain doesn’t fully develop till the age of 25, I do not think COVID and its risks have sunk in with our youth. They still maintain a nonchalant attitude is what I have observed in the U.S. and overall.
Aapki Nazron Ne Samjha actor Vijayendra Kumeria: Some of the major problems of the youth is unemployment, mental health and also lack of guidance. The youth wants to be understood and should be able to express themselves, be it home, school or college. COVID has affected mental health more as the youth who are unemployed are just killing time on social media and don’t know how to use their time correctly. There should be virtual seminars for mental well-being and career guidance for the youth free of cost.
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai actress Pragati Mehra: Problems can be many, for different people different things. All depends on where you are coming from, what your financial and educational standing is, and what you want to achieve. Broadly speaking, it’s always about roti kapda aur makaan for everyone, but the basics, according to one’s position in the background, changes for the individual. Besides that, I see a whole lot of stress about their social media positioning or their influencer position or their 2 minutes of fame or their need to be liked and accepted. Last one is a universal problem, not just related to the youth though.
The way I see things around I feel COVID has made the youth believe they are invincible! Having said that, I agree that what has to happen will happen, but it surely doesn’t mean we follow no protocol or don’t follow stringently because we are young with better immunity than others.
I see the younger lot giving lame excuses for not masking up and they are the lot that’s out and about the maximum, so whether they like it or not the onus for good and the bad lies on them more than others. As of now, irresponsible bordering on selfishness is outnumbering the good part of their behaviour. Believing they are invincible and in their head they are going to make COVID vanish by defying the protocol, that’s the challenge they have taken upon themselves.
Baap of Special Services actress Harshali Zine: The young celebs and influencers are brainwashed by manipulated information. I see influencers making meaningless content on social media, blindly promoting brands without knowing the side effects of the products they are promoting and the followers following their content blindly. But I feel both parties are innocent. The youth was always taught to simply follow what’s been told hence they don’t know how to think for themselves and how to be critical of every information that reaches them. They were never taught to do their own research. Youth must learn to filter the information they are receiving via any medium be it newspapers, TV, radio or social media and do their own research on the subject because reality is different from the simulation.
Of course the sudden mandate that was imposed has definitely affected everyone. Suddenly you can’t go to school, college or play in parks or even get out of your homes and continuous fear that was simulated via news channels was too much to take in, some may have taken it as a challenge and some may have suffered.