From an early age the heritage of work is planted in our identity and we begin to adore its everyday presence and resent its absence. The meaning of work seems to retain its essence in our lives despite its terms and conditions are in turbulence. This study looks at the presence of work in the lives of young people and the factors behind the educational and vocational decision-making process. There are prevailing thought patterns, traditions, disciplines and constitutions that are based on industrial society, but which still continues to influence our way of thinking and decision making and which can even block us from executing our true desires for our futures.

Young people are constantly exposed to various messages coming from different sources which might have a significant impact on their futures. The meaning of this study is to explore the personal images of the future of young people and the values, hopes and fears depicted in these images. The aim is then to identify and locate different message sources and examine their origin and impact on the formation process of these images. This study also aims to identify possible ‘used futures’ and whether the futures described by young people are truly their own and not set for them by somebody else.

Theoretical framework of the study is addressing the concept of late modernity and the difficulty of decision making as young people among their contradicting values and motivating factors in life. Most importantly the following message sources affecting the images of the future are further examined: 1) Other people; 2) Media and 3) Personal experience.

The research presents several short narratives in young people’s own voices. The material was collected by composing a semi-structured, thematic, in-depth interview and the data was analysed by using qualitative content analysis. The interviewees included eight young adults from different high schools around Finland, majority of them were in Turku area or in neighbouring municipalities.