The Internet today.

It’s true that internet has changed a lot either in the Rwandan culture or any other African culture but mainly in the African youth, Most adults tend to not fully understand the complexity of the online world, and the deep social divide that is opening up between those who are “always on” and those who are completely disconnected from the Internet. While adults continue to operate primarily in the physical world, youth are learning the value and flexibility of primarily operating in the virtual world. And they can navigate this virtual world in ways that most adults can’t even imagine… which make them see mainly the negative version of internet more than the positive one.

With all this said, like many different things we get to see or deal with in our everyday lives, internet has some good and bad effects, let’s first go through some bad effects mostly seen in the usage of internet which are:

• Lack of empathy because of violent scenes on internet,
• There are information that the internet provides and since everyone can access that information, kids get to see things that they are not meant to see at their young age,
• Much use of internet makes people so dependent to the info provided by the internet that they don’t get enough time to use their imagination or to read and think deeply about the material.
• There is also a difficulty to develop the social skills and the emotions because of too much time spent on the internet.

short, we are digital natives and we obviously cant change a thing about it… This new generational digital divide is only to grow. But despite the negative impacts that tech can bring to young people there are still positive impacts too to be considered. Which are as follows:

• An excellent educational research and learning tool with the advancement of e-learning, and virtual encyclopedias.
• A frontier breaker that allows you to open up to the world and discover new cultures.
• Easier communication with the rest of the world.
• A way to relax with its many forms of distractions.
• It’s also a platform for innovation and creativity.

Finally, one of the difficulties for adults facing these new technologies is to keep pace of innovation in this area. As the majority of the African youth master all these advances very quickly, adults find difficulty adapting.

It’s a matter for adults to recognize humbly and see an opportunity rather than a risk.