The rapid rise of the social media is spreading like a new obsession among teenagers and children as young as ten are using it to voice their opinions and share ideas that normally parents even government’s authorities don’t have time to listen.
It is happening right here in Oman and many parents see the social media as a challenge to local cultures and traditions. It is also seen as a probable threat to rule and order as the government looks nervously to its rapid expansion.
But the quick exchanges of short messages, viewed as potentially lethal and even a threat to political and cultural values, have the approval of the ‘liberal minded’ Omanis to promote free thinking.
Oman has already gone through one successful revolution. His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has orchestrated and revolutionised progress lifting the country from relative obscurity to a nation of international status.
The social media is a second wave of the revolution that Oman experiences and the real difference is that it is not economical but about the mindset.
In a country that is fiercely defending its ancient values, the spread of intellectual discussions through the electronic media is frowned at. Young people, with technology at their disposal, develop an unrestrained mind and the logical system that their parents never knew about.
They bridge knowledge through the international network making the social media a global culture that has precedence over a multitude of national cultures. For the conservative Omanis, whether parents or those in the corridors of power, there is no going back.
By enforcing laws that would limit access to the Internet, would force young people to be rebellious to the public order. Similarly, when parents snatch away their mobile phones, teenagers would find an alternative channel to vent out their frustrations, which may not go very well with the role of parenthood.
Preventing young people the right to use such tools would severely restrict their social development and mental faculty growth. It will also restrict their education because schools and certainly parents are not equipped to dispense knowledge of worldly affairs.
At closer scrutiny, social media works well to bridge the gap between major towns, where real progress takes place, and the largely underdeveloped interior of Oman.
The more developed minds of young people living in the cities such as Muscat, Salalah and Suhar, readily share their brain power with their counterparts in smaller towns. The fear of transgressing traditional values or losing authoritarian control is completely unfounded.
The political upheavals in the global arenas give opportunities young people to discuss what went wrong so they could learn to adapt.
Yes, there are concerns about the influence of the electronic pages on the youths. There is also a real harm out there but when you put it on the scale, the advantages outweigh the bad by far.
There is no denying that the media influences play a part in shaping teenage behaviour. But when a child is aware of its influence, she will be able to handle media pressure better both in their private lives and careers. It also means they will be well prepared for all eventualities the way we were not when we were growing up.
The fear is not about whether they will rebel but they are able to go through something we never had the chance to experiment. Surely, that cannot be a bad thing. To look it in another way, if we worry about teenagers picking bad influences, parents can be a source of that if they grow up in broken marriages.
They can also pick up bad habits from their peers, role models or even teachers.
Government’s regulators, parents and teachers, instead of banning teenagers from social media activities, they can encourage them to filter out what they read and discuss. Constant monitoring or taking the facilities away from them will drive them underground where they can be out of control.
saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com
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