Why a European project entitled Perfect Life?
Research institutions have been noticing increasing pressure to perform among students for years. Our society of elbows is full of checks, trials, tests and exams. In addition, young people are increasingly dealing with addictions and inappropriate behaviour. They portray their perfect lives to each other via social media. Should we be surprised when so many students say that they have a fear of failure or that the mental state of girls is deteriorating, as research institutions have found. Many young people have had a really hard time during the lockdowns. They became lonely, gloomy or lethargic for hours on their smartphones. But does that mean their mental health is hanging by a thread? After all, it would be very strange if they reacted completely flat and indifferent when their lives suddenly come to a standstill - no school, no meeting friends, no sports, no internships and so on. Their psychological reaction to these events was also very logical and understandable. The very fact that young people lost any form of control over their own existence brought with it despondency, sadness or anger.
The Perfect Life? project enables young people to depict this situation in their own way. Various groups of young people have started working on this in both Greece and the Netherlands.
We need to pay much more attention to young people. Talk to them much more about issues that are important in their lives and for their future. How do they view growing social inequality, the climate crisis or polarisation in society? What are their experiences with social media? How has the pandemic affected their lives? We need to think much more with young people about their quality of life, their hopes for the future, the opportunities and obstacles they see to shape their lives.
Parents play an important role in this, but also family members, teachers, youth workers, local residents, volunteers from sports clubs, political or philosophical organisations.
The Perfect Life? project wants to offer everyone who deals with young people material to enter into discussions with young people.
Jumbo Klercq