Modern day youth and their virtual world
Victoria Seiketso Sethibe | Thursday April 7, 2016 15:44
Stones seemed to be versatile in those years because among the many other uses, they were also used as natural toys for traditional games such as diketo and morabaraba.
That was the generation x way of interacting with their learning and entertainment space. Nowadays, stones are barely used for anything other than landscaping.
Currently, the internet and other virtual media are being rapidly adopted and integrated into the daily lives of an increasing number of people right from infancy.
It is not a rare scene to find a few months’ old baby trying its hand at changing a television channel with a remote control unit. As such, modern day youth learn to interact with the virtual world, from a very tender age.
Lesego* is a 17 year old who is aspiring to be a software engineer. He easily displays restlessness and inattentiveness at anything that is not of strong interest to him. Lesego expresses boredom if he has to use pen, pencil and a printed book over an extended period of time. According to him, learning is interesting and relevant only if it is primarily done through the click of a button. His wish is to spend as much time as he possibly can in his own space at home learning to create anything related to software engineering. Lesego got inspired by a very influential software icon he saw on television from a very young age and decided that he wanted to focus on creating softwares through simulation and other online learning strategies. He argues that in the virtual world, you get to have so many interesting choices, unlike in the real world. Modiri*, another 17 year old boy, on the other hand, brings his favourite DVDs to share with his peers.
The discussion is based on inspiration from the virtual space and each member of the group is encouraged to bring a video or an online story they find most inspiring. Modiri’s video features Roger*, a wealthy guy who followed a career his parents initially disapproved of. The video also shows how Roger went through a phase where he was defiant out of desperation to be heard and understood by his parents as they were insisting he followed a career path they saw as best suited for him. What was interesting was how Modiri’s group members had different interpretations about Roger’s story. Modiri and a few others explained how they learned from the video that violence and excessive defiance are the only ways of ensuring that individual dreams are achieved. Other more mature members of the group however, argued that violence and defiance to authority are not the best ways of ensuring achievement of individual dreams.
The latter group warned that in fact, excessive defiance and violence as usually displayed online, are a sure way of hindering achievement of individual dreams as they lead to undesired destinations.
This may seem too obvious but it is not always apparent to some young people out there who are still learning social skills.
Parents, therefore, need to consistently take a more direct role in helping their children to interpret information accessible through virtual media, age appropriately.
They also need to help younger children to choose more beneficial, interesting and age appropriate content which is also culturally sensitive because children pick habits very quickly.
* Not their real names