Gone are the days when we used to discuss everything from politics to science on shops. “Yousuf toth” was our place of discussion. A cup of tea and a chips pocket used to give us all the ingredients of the day. We had “Sul kakh” a defence expert on one side and “Gul kakh” a political expert on the other. These two persons were the dominant figures, whose views were to be accepted at any cost. But the times have changed, current generation doesn’t believe in this kind of socialisation. They have their own world of venting their experience of life. They are lost in a world of virtually. Though the virtual world is almost as important as the real world, but its abuse can destroy us if not used effectively. We have experienced that it was virtual world which kept on running our education system with minor hiccups. Had the same CORONA like pandemic occurred in the past everything would have suffered massively. It is because of the digital world or virtual world for that matter that losses incurred by the CORONA virus have been reduced to their minimum. Now the Same blessing has been abused by us especially by our current generation.
Current generation or our youth, instead of using it for educational purposes and other beneficial things is totally lost in it. They are trapped in this world in such a way that only God can free them from this eternal trap. Our youth is hardly able to spare a minute for the real world. The youth of the present times thinks that having a presence on any social media platform makes them invincible. The word practicality and reality doesn’t exist in their dictionary. Today wherever we look- from our classrooms to social gatherings, we find adults and children bent on their cell phones, their faces illuminated with the harmful blue light. Reluctance of our parents to engage with their children has played a sort of role in pushing our youth into the virtual world. They don’t have any medium to express their emotions. As a result they automatically switch to the internet to get the attention, approval and the recognition which a normal human being needs. They find themselves attached in the virtual world with the people of same age, though they lack the required social etiquettes which are needed when one comes across people of different age. Since screen time has the tendency to take away their focus from their surroundings, their capability to interact and communicate in a real world falls drastically. This scenario has created suffocation among the already disturbed parents, as they feel distanced from their children. The transition from joint family system to nuclear family system has added fuel to the fire. Joint family system used to enhance the sphere of influence and interaction of any child. The virtual world provides our youth instant gratification when compared with the real world. But the real world demands a different approach. It demands one’s active participation in all aspects of life. The same youth when faces a real problem gives up at the first movement. This behaviour of giving up has traumatized their already volatile psyche. Their minds swing at the speed of light, by virtue of which they are not able to focus on anything of importance. Now why is our youth at loggerheads with the real world? The first and the foremost is change in the parental care and upbringing. “No” word doesn’t exist in the dictionary of our children. Whatever they demand is made available instantly. They are provided everything on their sleeping beds. We as parents have failed to guide them with the rapidly changing world. We allow them to remain glued to their electronic gadgets and run away from our responsibilities of guiding and showing them the way twords a better future. We as parents will keep on saying that, “we used to this and that, but are not able to resist the temptation of a cell phone.
Lack of coordination among parents is also one of most important causes of youth being entangled in the virtual world. If one parent tries to mend his or her children, other one does opposite by showing a sort of deceptive support his or her children. If proper steps or remedial measures are not taken on time we will soon find our society in utter chaos; where parents will be weeping for their virtually lost loved ones. We need to take instant steps to rescue our youth from this vicious cycle of virtually. We need to engage them in real world activities such as playing games, doing household chores and managing minor family affairs. They should be provided books instead of cell phone right from their initial learning stage. Parents need to limit their exposure to electronic gadgets and instead indulge in other beneficial activities especially in presence of their children. Old age tradition of narrating stories of the past by our grandparents can still do wonders. This will also create a sort of bond between two different generations. They say, “Children never do what their parents say to them but what their parents do”. At organisational level schools and colleges should conduct awareness programmes about the disadvantages and repercussions of the overuse of virtual world. Weekly or monthly seminars should be conducted at both the levels to stress on the real world aspect of life and how they are different from the virtual world. Then we would be able to bring our youth on track. As a result we will have a strong human which will make our country strong and prosperous.
(The author is currently working as Assistant Professor in Geography at Govt Degree College VIJAPUR in Samba district. Views are exclusively his own)
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