KARACHI: A talk on the topic of ‘Melting into Thin Air? Education in the Age of Social Media’ by Dr Farid Panjwani, Dean of Institute for Educational Development at Aga Khan University pondered one into thinking about digital literacy and critical literacy.

A part of the 22nd Hamza Wahid Memorial Lecture organised by the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences at the Pakistan Medical Association House, the lecture also shone a light on the various technological changes over history that weren’t without social and cultural implications.

“For example, there was the invention of the printing press, which had a huge impact in changing history. Before it, we had an oral culture that we now look at as pre-history, and history is that which started being documented. For example, the invention of the wheel helped trade. Similarly, social media is a change that we are passing through,” he said.

“The social media has seen phenomenal growth since 2005. Today so many messages are sent through it and so many pictures are uploaded on it. Still all this is unevenly distributed and creating divides,” he said.

“When social media arrived on the scene, people were optimistic and even sceptical. But social media was also seen as a place for airing voices to build a pluralistic world by building connections. Movements such as #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter have created awareness through the social media. In the Covid situation, it was social media that helped in the education of students through platforms such as YouTube and WhatsApp,” he pointed out.

“Although we are connecting now through social media, we are connecting in bubbles,” he said. “So if I like or share something there, I will start seeing things related to only what I liked or shared. Therefore, the facts that I get through social media will be quite different to those that someone else will get. It is a different and symbolic world. Some think that this is a grand scheme,” he said.

“Social media is taking a market-oriented direction. The like buttons, the retweet buttons came later. They were not there to begin with. It’s done to show how many like a post. Gossipy posts get bigger distribution this way. And people get pulled in. They feel anxious if they are not using social media. They start to show withdrawal symptoms. Social media has been made addictive. Now it also has immoral or bad language and ego clashes. Two people clash and their friends come to their defence on social media,” he said.

“Hence, we are becoming the data. What we like is used by marketing companies to see what to sell and where to sell it. The governments are also using social media for surveillance of individuals. There is a lack of privacy,” he said.

“Then the access to social media has also created a digital divide. Who has access and who doesn’t make a big difference in children’s learning. Also, one needs to look into the quality of educational material we are sharing with children on social media,” Dr Panjwani pointed out.

“Another issue with education in the social age is screen time. Children used to be discouraged from watching television or sitting before the computer for long hours, but Covid has forced us to change that. Its impact on brains is something that we don’t know yet,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2022