When we talk about social media, we usually think of time-wasting, loafing, distracted, plagiaristic young people that have lost control of their will to technology and the massive world of the internet. We have trained ourselves that way – to concentrate on the ills of social media that we forget that the thing has its merits. And it is indeed a serious problem when we tend to see something or someone as only one thing, what Adichie likes to call the danger of a single story. How can we learn to rewire our brains? Why (and perhaps, how) should today’s teachers adapt social media into learning in schools?
Global demography is evolving in interesting ways. We Are Social, a forward-thinking global agency that estimates the use of internet and social media in different parts of the world puts the active users of social media globally at 2.31 billion in 2016. In Nigeria, for instance, the figure stands at about 15 million in January 2016 (with a ten-percent growth since January 2015), and out of the 15 million social media users in Nigeria, sixty-one percent falls between the ages of 13 and 29, a testament to the fact that a great majority of social media users in Nigeria are teenagers and young adults – probably still in school or in the early years of their careers.
Social media has come to stay. It will become even more dynamic and complex in the coming years and future generations have to be able to live with (and through) it. It is important to point out at this point that social media is not totally evil – at least, not exactly the way most of us imagine it. Maybe we can begin to talk more about the ability of social media to enhance collaboration and interaction among young people as well as the increase in the speed of research and accessibility of information for academic purposes. Maybe we can begin to show that social media (and indeed the new media) is the new world and we need to adapt learning and thinking to this new world.
Research has shown that social media is a very important platform as it provides the forum for feedback, thoughtful reflection, open communication and strong relationship with peers. It could extend classroom discussions and works beyond the four walls of a classroom to a more interactive space and could provide a platform for users to develop and share newly developed ideas.
Indeed, social media can be built into learning if teachers realize that this new crop of generation – the Generation Y – is a product of technological advancement, and by extension, social media. A typical Generation Y student thinks in terms of the internet, social media, technology. His mind is in several places at the same time and his attention span is short. Instead of fighting this (something most Baby Boomers and Generation X parents and teachers are guilty of), we can learn to live with it and, in fact, build it into the learning process in our academic institutions.
Munachim Amah
