In whichever form and whatever sequence, we use the above three words – They are undoubtedly the most popular and potent words of the current times. None of the Social, Economic or Political platforms can survive or exist without having to mention or refer to these words. Youth and education, globally, is a great force or, you can say, an area of constant evolution since the last the couple of centuries. However, social media is, comparatively, a new eruption, which generated a furor and has already gained a strong and deep impact in people’s lives since the last decade. I would like to take this opportunity to put forward a point of view by juxtaposing and merging these three important aspects of our lives.
Youth, Education and Social Media
We would be surprised to see how these aspects are closely inter-linked with each other and to, such a degree, that at some point in time, it’s difficult to segregate them. “Social media” and “Education” can be termed as “providers”. In other words, they are the channels or the platform, whereas, “Youth” is the potential “user”. It’s becoming increasingly important and imperative, as well, to have the right knowledge and application of social media, in order to be successful in life at every stage of human evolution. The “right knowledge” can be established only through the “right education”. This education is focused towards attaining awareness about the constant change happening around us and, thus, helping us to adapt to this changing graph by learning new curves of evolving technology.
If we talk about India, more than 65% of the population is under the age category of 35. That’s huge and covers almost a billion in numbers, which is almost 14~15% of the world’s population. Now any new technology, when introduced in the market, has to pass through the hands of this huge mass of youngsters, who have the potential to unlock endless possibilities. Every phase of evolution brings along with it a set of challenges. This, mainly being, to learn and master the subject art and to be able to successfully implement the same for our growth in our daily lives. The bigger & quicker these changes, the more potential it has to become increasingly dangerous if not handled properly. Technology is evolving with very fast speed and, thus, it’s all the more important than before as, when it comes in the hands of the naïve user, they need to be educated about its actual use and potential.
Social media platforms, such as, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Snapchat etc., have captured the attention of the majority of the human mass of the developed countries in the last decade. The world has become much smaller, closer, more inter-linked and inter-dependent ever since. The information is accessible and available within a very short period. Small palm-top gadgets and fast internet speed has made it possible for everyone to access information, independent of time and space.
Youth of today are mobile
They travel all around the world to either study, build careers or to settle down at the places of their dreams. Knowing about the various destinations, people and the places they travel to, and connecting with them on the move, becomes very handy for them through such social media networking. And, through the use of various social media platforms and tools, they are never too far from their home and family. This is positive news. However, the flow of information never stops. With every passing unit of time, it gets updated with new additions. Now, what do we do with this dearth of incessant information which flows at a great speed all around the globe?
It’s important that this flow is checked, monitored, filtered and converted into useful tools by creating the right awareness and this can come, again, only through right education. As a human, with certain priorities in life as pertaining to personal & professional requirement, one must know which piece of information is for their use and benefit. That is to know, WHAT, WHY & HOW of the use of such available tools. Not knowing it correctly shall result in huge waste of individual resources of time, money and energy.
The generation (youth) of today is smarter.
Never in the history of human kind, were we so well placed and well equipped. However, the one mistake a majority of us commit is to believe that this incessant flow of “information” is nothing but “knowledge” itself. NO, it is not. The information becomes knowledge only when the same is being applied to generate an experience for our own selves. Through many such experiences in the domain of time and space, “the knowledge” is created and seeded into one’s self. We all are born in this world to live healthy, happy and to gather the best experiences when we can. a lack of the right education and not orienting oneself into a learning mode to catch up & match up with ever changing technology, shall make it difficult to thrive and survive in this highly competitive world. The competition now-a-days is not just about the commercial aspect, but it does impact our social environment too. Thus, in spite of having a finger touch access to what you want, one must get realistic.
It’s important that ground realities and actual individual requirements and needs are understood. It’s important that we create beautiful self-experiences with what we have gathered as our learning and knowledge, through such tools. With all possibilities of the virtual world in our drawing room, the ultimate ecstasy is to use and implement the same knowledge in the right way for our benefit of personal and professional growth. Last, but not least, the union of Youth, Education & Social media is such a wonderful conglomerate, one cannot live without the other and one can prosper only in the presence of the other.
About the Author: SanjayJogani
Sanjay Jogani is based in Mumbai, India, is passionate about reading, writing, music & travelling. He emphasizes that Youth, Education and Social Media, are three wide subjects. He has tried to merge all of them into one as he saw a very strong inter-connection between these three aspects of human growth, learning & evolution. Read More.
Edited by Marta Pytel
This is a guest article under the SocioWelt series. More details coming soon.