Muslim youth today should be given proper platform to exhibit their talent or they will use the virtual world as a convenient route of escapism.
Rauf Ahmed 14, an IX standard student has 134 friends on Orkut, the popular social networking site. He hasn’t met most of them, but doesn’t mind sharing details of his daily activities with them. His online diary is available for all to view. Long chats with these online friends are also part of his internet life.
Anis Khan, father of Rauf, is worried that his son is spending long hours talking to complete strangers. “He is completely lost in the virtual world, oblivious of the real life” said Anis. “In fact, I enrolled him at a local gymnasium, but he is not interested”.
Anis has imposed total ban on his son spending time alone on the internet. “I monitor his browsing habits and keep watch with whom Rauf is interacting”, said Anis.
Many parents don’t endorse Anis’s action. They think the open approach of talking to their children and informing them of the dangers of befriending strangers is more effective. “It’s not feasible for me to keep such a close check on my children,” says Zakir Shaikh, an electronic engineer whose three children spend most of their leisure time on the Internet.
Psychologist Razia Baig agrees. “You have to take into account the time factor. Banning or spying on the children’s browsing habits is not the most feasible thing to do. It is better to spend quality time with children and help them understand the physiological change which takes place when one reaches adolescence”.
Social networking is a virtual world governed by a different set of rules, where your affluence depends on the number of friends you have, and your personality-type judged by the pictures you choose to display.
Zeba Ansari, a housewife, is very worried that her daughter Sabiha is a member of many social networking sites. Every day she sits with Sabiha and discusses the whole day’s activities in a very friendly and caring way. “I am no doubt anxious but I am also conscious of my daughter’s needs. I trust my daughter who is a member of Facebook, Hi5, Friendster and Orkut. Besides, we have mutually agreed that she will not access the internet late at night, and she will only log in when there’s an adult in the room. I even recognise all the friends she has on her profile.” said Zeba.
Many youngsters are increasingly isolating themselves and today, they suffer from a malady called ‘social anxiety’ disorder, also known as social phobia.
Fear of scrutiny, heightened self-consciousness and apprehension about being judged are some of the reasons why youngsters would rather be on their own on the internet.
Dawood Khan, a first year Management student does not like to mix with his peers. “I have great difficulty making friends. “I don’t like interacting with my peers either. They always talk about studies and careers. I would rather be left alone with my laptop chatting and listening to music on my iPod.”
Razia Baig, adds that, “Youngsters who are not socially adept get increasingly isolated in life. Low self-esteem is one of the main reasons. They would rather be with their gizmos and chat with people online than meet them personally.”
According to Dr. Anita Mehra, clinical psychologist, “Parents’ fault is that they don’t stay in touch with the child more often. They don’t bother to meet the teachers and interact with them about the child’s behaviour and studies. A child who is into negative things cannot be doing well in school either. The problem is that children think ‘I’m old enough to take care of myself”, she adds.
Sadly, experts feel that youngsters are considering the Internet as a cure to their loneliness, and expect virtual world to answer all their problems. And what’s even more alarming is the fact that this fast growing phenomenon is not restricted to the big cities. The ubiquitous cyber cafes and the rapidly spreading mobile networks have made smaller cities very much a part of the ever growing ‘global village’.
Every kid is gifted with something special called ‘Special Ability Factor’. In such cases these abilities often are not explored or positively utilized. Youth is turbulent and their energy needs to be directed to creative channels. Some forum such as Muslim Yuva Forum (MYF) needs to be established which will strive to bring together the youth of 16 to 28 years in a forum for kindling spiritual/cultural awareness through study and constructive activity. The MYF can take up various socially useful activities.
Unless today’s youth are given a proper platform to exhibit their talent and spend their energy on constructive activities, they will use the virtual world as a convenient route of escapism.
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October 2007 |
