Going to the Theater Is an Expensive Proposition
Sociologists analyze young peoples’ leisure activities
Health is the no. 1 priority for Ukrainian youth. For young people aged between 14 and 35, this priority is matched perhaps by a strong family and their children’s welfare. Experts at the Institute for Family and Youth Problems, who conducted a poll last October, say that no substantial changes have been noted in the respondents’ hearts and minds. As before, young people are least interested in joining political parties, joining civic organizations, and taking part in religious life.
The ratings of values may change by next year. Polls conducted on the Maidan during those two fateful weeks reveal that certain basic values chosen by younger respondents in October may be superseded by civic values, such as peace, national unity, and the right to one’s opinion.
The main part of the current poll focusing on leisure and cultural needs does not predict any changes. Most respondents stated that they spend most of their leisure time at home watching television. In fact, experts believe that television has become the principal trendsetter in terms of lifestyle, value priorities and beliefs. Over one-third of respondents spend about two hours every weekday in front of the TV. On weekends, 38% may spend up to five hours mostly watching movies, shows, and sports programs rather than educational and analytical programming. Ukrainian youths aren’t too fond of going to parties or hosting them. Only 39% admit that they spend most of their leisure time this way. Libraries and hobby groups are even less popular (6% and 3%, respectively).
Nothing beats computers, which have displaced books, shows, and museums from the lives of young people. Every second respondent admitted spending leisure time on the computer; one in five uses a computer every day. For 19% of young people, computers are part of their jobs; 18% use them as training aids; 17% for playing music, and 19% for playing computer games. A mere 6.8% of young people closely follow cultural events; 38.8% only occasionally, and 42% are not interested. The book-reading situation is even worse: 51% admitted to reading no more than five books of fiction per year; 5% read 30 books. In 1997, 11% said they read 30 books a year.
To a certain extent these disheartening trends are explained by objective realities; 69% of respondents stated they couldn’t satisfy their cultural needs “at the proper level.” This is primarily due to lack of free time (61%) and money (56%); 26% complained about “cultural facilities” being too far from their homes (in such cases, respondents could choose from several different answers). As a result, young people appear to attend church most frequently. Asked which cultural facilities and entertainment centers they had visited in the past twelve months, 43% mentioned churches; 6% said “art exhibits”; 5% indicated “philharmonic society”; 10% indicated “theater”; 11% said “museum,” and 9% said “swimming pool.”
As for sports, the authors of the poll underlined that lately young Ukrainians have started taking better care of their health, with 26% of respondents saying they were into sports and tourism. That said, the numbers of young people taking part in sports activities would be considerably larger with the creation of a more accessible infrastructure. Thus, 64% stated they were interested in sports and 71% would like to go on hiking and other trips more often.
The same situation exists with “cultural leisure activities.” Half of the respondents would like to attend the theater and 41% would like to explore museums more often. At the same time, 51% recall having wanted to go to a concert or a play but couldn’t afford to; 14% experienced this on four and more occasions.
The authors conclude that most young Ukrainians are very critical about what the government is doing in terms of culture, entertainment, education, and physical training. Between 40 and 47% of respondents gave a rather negative rating to the government’s efforts.
