The wind of information technology: Do generations have the power to digest?-Sharifullah Mukti. As the age of the earth increases, the door of various possibilities is opening before us. In our country, advanced information and communication technology has touched everywhere. It is unimaginable where the progress of science and information technology will take us to the end.
One-legged, two-legged, we are crossing every level of civilization. The contribution of information technology in the development of civilization is irreplaceable. The progress of science and information technology is also spoken very loudly.
But even though the contribution of information technology has been highlighted in various places, no one wants to pay attention to the indiscriminate use of this advanced technology that is bringing great darkness to our society. A large section of the population of the country is addicted to digital information technology nowadays. Technology is giving us a lot of new things, teaching a lot of truth, as well as taking a lot from us. The use of digital technology continues unabated in the country.
Abuse of mobile phones, internet, Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, Viber, WhatsApp, games and satellite channels in particular. Apart from this, there is a terrible aggression of other IT based media. As a result, there have been massive positive revolutionary changes in the country, society, culture and civilization as well as considerable negative changes. And the main victims are children and adolescents. Have we ever realized where the inauspicious aspects of information technology are taking us down to the next generation? The wind of information technology is everywhere; But does that generation have the power to digest?
Morality. Values. Patriotism. Nation formation. We always say these words.There is no time to come up with a new explanation. However, in recent times, there has been an opportunity for children and adolescents to say something new about these issues and there is a need to restore them.
The events will make any conscientious and conscious person think. When children and adolescents are the power partners of the country and the nation, the accomplished partners of the development of the country, then nothing can be thought of except them – be it in any family, social or political field. But sadly, the children and teenagers of our country are going astray in many ways today. Every day children and teenagers are becoming the headlines of negative news. They are constantly stepping into various misdeeds like digital games, drugs, terrorism, pornography, rape and militant activities.
Gradually a culture of separation has developed in this society. There, family ties are weakening, and their inner unity is being destroyed. Relationships with neighbors are ruined, social bonds are loosened. Children’s eye shame is decreasing. No one is respecting adults. Everyone is doing as they please. Everyone is leaning towards personal self-satisfaction. No one is paying much attention to the next generation. After all, one’s own fame and self-improvement seems to be the main issue now.
Many children and adolescents are constantly dropping out of school and going astray due to the ill effects of open cyber culture. One of the ways in which this horrible obscenity and pornography is spreading among children is through mobile phones or smart phones. Now it is seen that mobile phones are also in the hands of small students. School-age children are prone to mobile phones, the Internet, multimedia, digital games or hidden videos. And through these, our innocent children are losing moral, human and social values by watching pornography and pornography, growing attraction towards the opposite sex, creating disrespect towards the opposite sex – especially towards women. Learning inaudible language and gesture techniques. Learning to disrespect parents and adults. Moreover, many people consider themselves the heroes of the film and are trying to implement or imitate the content of the film in their lives. As a result of which we often notice various negative effects. In addition, most of the social crimes are committed by teenagers.
In almost all the upazilas of the country, there are various markets, street corners, ferries, especially where educational institutions and the movement of people are a little more permanent or floating digital tea-stalls (!), Some even call it mini cinema halls (!). And the business is booming in these. The main capital of the shop for selling tea in each of these shops is a color TV and CD. At present, satellite connection is also available in many markets of the village. Their main targets are one-time VCR visitors, pedestrians, locals, motorists, van drivers as well as school-going children. From morning till midnight, various obscene and vulgar pictures are displayed in these tea shops. And in every T-stall, people of different ages, including school-going students, are watching the TV like a hawk. As the crowd grows, the sales will increase so the shopkeepers are not saying anything to these children. As a result, many ignorant children in our rural areas are slowly dropping out of school and at one point dropping out of school.
When tender-hearted children are supposed to be in school, they watch movies with obscenities and fight scenes. Many children are watching movies at night. In addition to forgetting the education of the students, they are also going astray. They are sitting with the adults in the tea stall watching these pornographic pictures and listening and learning the nonsensical comments on the faces of the adults.
Many teenagers are falling prey to bad friends, misuse of information technology, and open-minded cyber culture. Many school-college students are addicted to drugs. Many parents understand the change in their child, but they have nothing to do. Movement, signs of strange changes in behavior! Waking up at night, lying, not going to school-college, going elsewhere in the name of private, asking for money on various pretexts. Even his hobby mobile phone is not seen in his hand one day.He also sells mobile phones to cover the cost of drugs. Drug addicts resort to lies and deception to their parents, relatives and acquaintances for drug money. They are even involved in stealing money from home, stealing valuables, selling blood, prostitution, and murder in order to raise money for drugs.
A gang of teenagers has now formed in every town. Their daily conversations go on minute after minute on the messenger. No matter how far away the gangs are, the internet has now taken all the distance away from them. So, thanks to the internet, criminals are sitting at any end and getting their work done effortlessly. The nonsense news of the world comes first in their hands. Especially the lessons learned from western culture and dirty videos are so ingrained in their minds that they are now their meditation-knowledge-addiction. It is a must have, for any Affiliate, promoting any program. Thanks to the free internet, many teenagers are getting involved in crimes like drugs, eve-teasing, extortion and militancy.
There can be many reasons behind this terrible digital program-addiction of children and teenagers. Many turn to various programs, usually as a fashion or to spend leisure time. Many become addicted day by day by playing different types of games. At present, in the name of online classes, children and teenagers are abusing mobile and internet. In addition, many children and adolescents are involved in various misdeeds due to lack of proper entertainment, group pressure or the influence and temptation of peers. Lack of necessary field-parks, reluctance to play sports, indifference of parents, negligence, over-rule or over-caress can be the reasons. Family conflicts, mistrust, unrest, the practice of subcultures in the family, parental disorderly conduct, family separation, divorce, polygamy and extramarital affairs may also be responsible for the child’s misguidance. Social media is almost ruined, antisocialism, mental retardation, extinction of joint-family, lack of real religion in life, aggression of foreign culture, degradation of values, lack of good education, lack of etiquette, lack of justice, etc. are also leading to negative digital addiction of children.
The use of information technology should not be stopped but children should be made to understand what information technology is and why it should be used. The child needs to be taught the good and the bad of technology, and given an idea of how much to use. A room with a door cannot be permanently allocated to the child. It is necessary to keep regular inquiries of the child and take care that the child does not become self-centered. As well as strengthening family ties, giving children time off from work, eating and going out with all family members on holidays, occasionally visiting historical and scenic places with children, reading textbooks as well as their various books, enriching the libraries of educational institutions, It is important to build a private library at home, to have healthy recreation including sports and cultural activities at home, and to provide adequate sports and recreation in every educational institution. We have to openly discuss with the children about the negative aspects of information technology by understanding the time and opportunity. Care should be taken so that the child does not mix with bad friends. They themselves have to live a restrained life and make the child accustomed to a restrained life from an early age. The family needs to develop religious values and religious practices.
There is no substitute for increasing religious knowledge in creating values. The true teachings of religion can develop students as human beings with moral and human values, can keep them away from militancy. In order to make education real and life oriented, the curriculum has to be expanded, the curriculum has to be streamlined – importance has to be given to moral and human education. There is no substitute for moral education in order to build a healthy individual and society.
Education should be enjoyable without being burdensome to the child. We have to give importance to patriotism. In addition to the main curriculum, various co-curricular activities should be conducted regularly in the educational institutions. The education system should include at least one ethics education class per week in all classes. In this class the teachers will teach the elders to respect, to love the little ones; Tell us about the horrors of drugs, the evils of militancy, the harmful aspects of the misuse of information technology.
You should refrain from giving smartphones to children unnecessarily. Nowadays many children and teenagers are abusing smartphones in the name of online classes, they are getting addicted to various harmful games; Involved in various misdeeds. Parents need to keep a close eye on the use of the Internet so that they do not access any of the sites other than the apps associated with the study or the required ones. The cultural flow must be transmitted in a positive way for future generations.
In order to run a society and a state smoothly, values and ethics must be nurtured, nurtured and cultivated. Children need to be taught from an early age the moral virtues of speaking the truth, refraining from telling lies, not harming anyone, avoiding hypocrisy and deception, not disrespecting anyone, respecting adults and loving children. Children also need to listen and obey their parents. Again, the child should refrain from excessive or unbridled discipline.
In our country, the government has made strict laws to stop pornography and control drugs. The Pornography Act provides for separate penalties for creating, distributing, selling, and using pornography. The minimum penalty is two years and the maximum penalty is seven years imprisonment, along with a fine. There are also provisions to confiscate pornography production equipment, propaganda equipment or media. The ‘Digital Security Act-2018’ has been enacted to ensure digital security and to make provisions for the detection, prevention, suppression, prosecution and related issues of crimes committed through digital means.
The production, collection, storage, transportation, sale and use of narcotics is a prohibited and punishable offense under the Narcotics Control Act, 1990. The penalty for drug offenses can range from six months in prison to a maximum death sentence. A new ordinance has been issued with the death penalty as the maximum punishment for rape. But even then such criminal activities are not being stopped in any way.
In fact, it is not possible to eradicate such crimes just by making laws or issuing ordinances. This requires good education, moral and humanitarian education, values and character building, strong family ties, social awareness, patriotism and social movement. Parents need to build friendly relationships with their children. Even if they do wrong, they cannot be removed.
Society and educational institutions also have to fulfill their responsibilities. Besides, the government has to be more strict and sincere in this regard and ensure proper implementation of the law. Foreign culture, pornography, various bad programs of digital technology are trying to consume the psyche of children and adolescents. They should be censored for public reasons. All evil forces must be stopped and controlled hardline and online.
Then we will be able to develop our immense potential children and adolescents as worthy citizens of the future and be proud of them. They will also be able to stand tall in the court of the world. For this, family, society, educational institution, state all have to work together from their respective positions. In conclusion, the correct and appropriate use of scientific discoveries can give us the gift of a beautiful society. It must be remembered that progress and technology are not the only thing if the society is healthy. In a sick-dying society, progress and technology will be of no use.
Author:
Sharifullah Mukti
Columnist, education researcher and instructor
Upazila Resource Center (URC)
Nandail, Mymensingh.
