Sajid Opines

  Social media is everywhere. Anyone with a smartphone is using at least one social media. The reach of social media is so massive that organisations have setup their own social media pages. With so much benefits, it has its fair share of negative points that should be mentioned here. The one most commonly cited problem with social media is that it is a breeding ground for fake news. It has become very difficult to control the spread of fake news. In case of traditional media, which used to be the only source of information, there were lesser chances of a news turning out to be fake. The primary reason being mechanisms of checks and balances in case of traditional media. The editors make sure the authenticity of the news item. That said, there were still chances of traditional media being the spokesperson of the government. Social media is different. There are no checks and balances for whatever is published. Moreover, the news breaker could be anyone, with or without journalistic know

  Pakistan's population is roughly evenly divided between the two major genders i.e. Male and female. On this basis, it is beyond comprehension how could a nation flourish with half its population domesticated. Meaning that, the tradition of men working in offices and women staying back to look after the household matters. It is this tradition that reinforces the concept of educating men only. This is because, if the women are destined to stay home, then why bother wasting resources on their education. There is also a religious reason behind not educating girls, but that is not a significant proportion of the problem. The culprit is patriarchy. If the society is not willing to educate girls, it is the state's responsibility to come forward and lead from the front. Because it is state that is bearing the brunt of the economic losses for not educating for girls.

If the humanity has any significant survival threats in the 21st century and which is beyond direct control of individual states, it is that of climate change. It is the test of humanity to cooperate at such a global level to mitigate the threat of total destruction. Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable nations due to the effects of climate change. We are among the ten most vulnerable nations to be exact. This is despite Pakistan being the least contributing country to green house gases. We contribute less than one per cent of green house gases. The devastating rains of 2022 are not a distant reality. What is more, there is serious lack of awareness for the effects of climate change. Hence, we heard people in Pakistan calling it an "Azaab" from Allah. Pakistan is already ground zero of the repercussions of climate change. What we can do is to push for climate justice and climate reparations.

  Social media has been denied access to users in Pakistan for 'N' number of times.  The reason, always all the time, is to restrict the unwanted voices against the ruling party or the current establishment. The victims are same, all the time. This is what happens when every branch of the government machinery is headed covertly or overtly by a military person. All they know is on and off policy, as they learn in their training years, when to stop and when to march forward. They do not realize that our economy is hurt when they block internet access. They do not understand that someone working as a freelancer does not earn due to their stupidity, because what they know is that their salary will be transferred in their accounts well on time.

  Pakistan emerged as state on world map with many vulnerabilities. One of those was 'security'. So, from the very beginning, we started seeing everything from the security perspective. Initially, the security perspective was confined to our foreign policy, but gradually our entire society have developed a security mindset. Our media cannot report on matters of security unless allowed. Our film industry cannot make movies that characterize men in uniform except when ISPR is itself involved. What is more, each and every organization in Pakistan is hesitant to share data with the public. Even if a researcher wants data or want some kind of interaction with any organization, it is hard to get that data. The reason being security of the organization. We need to move on, and come up with better solutions for security concerns without restricting the public of the information they need.

  As it is said, excess of anything is bad, so is the case with population. In other words, we can term it 'over population'. When power of a community was muscle based, bringing in more lives was preferable, as more muscles meant more power (may be).  But now, when the power has shifted to brain, there should be no motivation for increasing the quantity of lives.  Rather, the focus should be on increasing the quality of lives. Anyone with a basic knowledge of economics or even a slight share of common sense would know that resources are limited.  With limited resources, there could not be a good justification for unlimited users of those resources. Coming to the Pakistan's case, we are the fifth largest country in terms of population.  Population may not have been such a big issue had we not been grappling with a myriad of issues. We have unemployment issue of even educated people. Our economy is not stable. Our education system is outdated. We lack resources to educate ou

  Generation Z is referred to people born in a range of certain age groups, especially those who are born after 1996. The behaviors and attitudes associated with Gen Z are different as compared to the ones before them.  The people born in this age group are digital natives by birth. They do not have to learn how to operate social media handles and how to navigate a website. In sum, they are more independent and autonomous than their elders. Hence, to educate them requires a paradigm shift. The age old tradition of considering students as 'Tabula Rasa' or empty minds is not going to serve the purpose. The modern day classrooms should be places of discussion and mutual learning and not just copy and paste platforms. The early we learn and realize this, the better to produce productive minds.