“Honestly, I sometimes truly wish that ‘tools’ such as smartphones, laptops, iPods, tablets, etc. hadn’t been invented. Sure, they’re great, incredibly useful, and fun time-killers. But the way teenagers abuse them, and turn them into mini social media control rooms is frankly awful.”
At first glance, you might think this quote came from a parent or grandparent lamenting the disadvantages of social networking and how social media has doomed today’s children. But it was written by a Pakistani boy as part of an assignment to answer the question, “How has online social networking influenced your relationships with friends and family?”
This student goes on to write, “The teenage way of life has completely changed from what it was only twenty years ago. Now, there is a dramatic decrease in face-to-face communication, which reduces our generation’s ability to interact with others on a speaking level.”
Not coincidentally, this same message was echoed by the young people interviewed in Tomorrow’s Change Makers: Reclaiming the Power of Citizenship for a New Generation. Youth engaged in their communities claim that face-to-face interactions are what motivates them to make a difference in the world.
This is a two-part article gleaned from reviewing the essays of a class of tenth graders, with their permission, of course. It is meant to generate additional discussion on the benefits and disadvantages of social networking and its effect on healthy youth development.
Article by Tayyaba Amjad student of SMIU (Sindh Madressatul Islam University)
