The youth hyperculture that constitutes the technologically dependent age group known as Generation Y is an amalgamation of a countless myriad of societal institutions, all shaping the growth of individuals in this increasingly modern 21st-century; in particular, I have been shaped by two social groups: the family in which I was born and raised, and the school-setting peer group of which I was a member of during my secondary education. Both have been tremendously invaluable to my childhood and adolescent growth, and without them to help shape my values, beliefs, and aesthetic preferences, I perhaps would not be the same person I am today.
The first of these forces was arguably the more dominant of the two as I grew up, …show more content…
This is in great part thanks to the cultural traditions embedded throughout Japanese society that place great emphasis on the shared social interactions between family members; for example, meals are a very important aspect to the proper functioning of the family unit. As a child, I rarely ate dinner out, and in the mornings, I always sat down with my mother and father to have a proper breakfast. Meals are considered a communal time, intended for respectful socialisation to increase connectivity between family members; this is in a small clash to the hectic lifestyles many Western societies have adopted since their beginnings, in which greater importance is placed on work and school schedules over a proper breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When I came to Canada, I witnessed that the majority of children, particularly teenagers, rarely ate a breakfast, mainly due to the fact that they did not wish to be late for school, and most had a later waking time than Japanese adolescents. I found this strange phenomenon to be a direct example of the differences between Japanese and Canadian society and their widely opposing views on the meaning of the …show more content…
Many times when my friends have invited me out to dinner in the late hours of the night, I have been forced to stay home and have a more social, communal meal with my family. While others were able to party more often and socialize in an independent fashion, the strict, distinctly Eastern parenting style of my mother has held me back from experiencing some of the freedoms that many of my peers
The first of these forces was arguably the more dominant of the two as I grew up, …show more content…
This is in great part thanks to the cultural traditions embedded throughout Japanese society that place great emphasis on the shared social interactions between family members; for example, meals are a very important aspect to the proper functioning of the family unit. As a child, I rarely ate dinner out, and in the mornings, I always sat down with my mother and father to have a proper breakfast. Meals are considered a communal time, intended for respectful socialisation to increase connectivity between family members; this is in a small clash to the hectic lifestyles many Western societies have adopted since their beginnings, in which greater importance is placed on work and school schedules over a proper breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When I came to Canada, I witnessed that the majority of children, particularly teenagers, rarely ate a breakfast, mainly due to the fact that they did not wish to be late for school, and most had a later waking time than Japanese adolescents. I found this strange phenomenon to be a direct example of the differences between Japanese and Canadian society and their widely opposing views on the meaning of the …show more content…
Many times when my friends have invited me out to dinner in the late hours of the night, I have been forced to stay home and have a more social, communal meal with my family. While others were able to party more often and socialize in an independent fashion, the strict, distinctly Eastern parenting style of my mother has held me back from experiencing some of the freedoms that many of my peers