( Photo from the internet)Borrowed.
By Faith Nyamai
Walking along the
streets of Nairobi and other major cities, it’s evident that phones have become
like ‘the sole social partner’ among many young people. When one is not
listening to music, they are either on social media, chatting with their peers
through WhatsApp, Facebook, twitter and other avenues.
Literally young people
are losing their social being. The time young people could spend in the past chatting
with friend’s verbally and visiting each other has been singled out to the small
electronic gadget referred to as the phone.
The strict rules by the
ministry of education that prohibits the students to have phones in school did
not deter students from having the gadgets in school.
I was amazed to meet a
15 year old girl in a school in Nairobi, her name is Princess. She could not
spend even a minute without checking up with her friends on the social media,
starting one chat after another and sending text messages.
Surprisingly she was
sharing with her friend on how she spent her weekend in a luxurious hotel in
town with a dude.
Her conduct reminded me
of a recent research which shows how young people have been obsessed with
social media.
The research showed
that nearly 60 percent of school going children cannot afford to concentrate in
their studies because they are thinking on how they can share with their
friends on social media sites.
The calculations of
simple mathematics are a past reality, which teachers and lectures across the
country have to fight among the young people.
The whole goal of
becoming a great leader in the near future is not just an effort of the
teachers forcing the students but also a heavy load that parents are carrying
on behalf of their children.
The coming of social
media is also turning children into lazy learners; in fact many of the young
people are becoming Zombies.
They sit in front computers
to google nearly each and every question
they are asked by their teachers and lectures have assigned them.
Surprisingly many on
them may not remember the answers they answered correctly two day ago, reason
being, the google technology makes them especially those with low understanding
capacity to duplicate answers while learning nothing.
Last year, a shocking
report released by the Uwezo Kenya showed that most children
especially those in public primary schools could hardly read and write.
The
report also revealed that over 50 out of 100 children especially under the age
of 14 could not comprehend stories written with simple English.
This is just but a
small fraction of what social media has turned young people into a focus less
generation.
Young people no longer
read novels and story books at their own free time as it was the culture of
many schools.
While growing up in
this generation has become a great challenge to many young people, refocusing
their lives can be achieved through embracing positive thinking and learning
the art of reading different types of books.
Putting in knowledge
and being able to remember is the best definition one can have for being a
learned and an educated fellow.
Young people need to realize
that through social media and being open minded they can also learn new things
and use the technology in discovering new research ideas.
Instead of wasting time listening endless
music through earphones and chatting all day out through the social media,
young people can do exploits.
Social media and phones
are a positive technology that young people can use to make themselves educated
and rich with knowledge.
Martin Luther king
Junior notes that the function of education is to teach one to think intensively
and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove
the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man
gifted with reason, but with no morals.
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