Through the looking glass: Times change and as technology advances, so too have the aspirations of today's youth. Is it possible that kids in the Western world are less interested in space simply because we've been there, done that?
It’s been 50 years to the day since NASA launched Apollo 11, the spaceflight that – days later – landed the first humans on the Moon and effectively ended the space race. The historic occasion inspired a generation of young people to be astronauts but now half a century later, is that dream still alive?
Lego recently commissioned The Harris Poll to survey 3,000 children from China, the United Kingdom and the United States about what they want to be when they grow up. When presented with five possible professions, most kids in the UK and the US said they wanted to be vloggers / YouTubers (30 percent in the UK and 29 percent in the US). In comparison, only 18 percent of Chinese children said they wanted to be YouTubers.
Once a popular choice among youth, only 11 percent of kids in the UK and US said they wanted to be astronauts when they grow up. In China, a full 56 percent of children said they would like to be an astronaut.
Along that same line of thinking, 96 percent of kids in China think humans will live in outer space or on another planet and 95 percent said they would be willing to go themselves. In the UK, only 62 percent believe we will leave Earth and only 63 percent were willing to do so. In the US, those figures are 66 percent and 68 percent, respectively.
Masthead credit: Adorable little boy dressed as astronaut by Tomsickova Tatyana
https://www.techspot.com/news/80981-kids-today-would-rather-youtubers-than-astronauts.html
