Making social media a gift or a threat depends heavily on its users, said Gen-Z

Compiled by Catholic Sabah

MORE than half of the global population is using the social media with the Millennials group (1981-1996) being the most active demographic on social and the Gen-Z (1997-2012) heads the list of using it more than two hours a day (source: McKinsey Health Institute, US). Asking the Sabah Catholic Gen-Z, all said the use of socmed, short for social media, creates positive benefits when used correctly by its users.

Let us hear from our dear young people.

Jonathan Jimmey Lucas (image), 26, St Mary Cathedral, Sandakan

1. What is the role of social media for you in your life as a youth?

For me, social media is becoming or perhaps is already a basic need in this technology era as I use it for daily communication, work and entertainment.

2. What social media are you actively engaged in? How does it help your quality of life?

WhatsApp is my main communication platform where I communicate with family and colleagues daily. YouTube is my second favourite platform that I get my daily spiritual input as I usually listen to spiritual reflection videos (e.g. Ascension Presents) while driving to and from my workplace especially when stuck in traffic. TikTok is another platform where I find very informative while entertaining as it adapts to my personal interests (e.g. DIY videos, useful life hacks and current news).

3. In your opinion, is social media a gift or a threat in our life?

It is definitely a gift from God as it has made my life more convenient and productive in this technology era.

4. How does youth should use the social media in a way that is beneficial for them?

Find God in social media to let Him be present in our technology life and balance daily hours to control the frequency of ‘blind scrolling’. Last but not least, learn to switch off social media in the most critical hours of the day to make time for silent conversations with God.

 

Rhena Rhen J (image), 29, St Theresa, Kota Marudu

1. What is the role of social media for you in your life as a youth?

For me the main role of social media in my life as a youth is to keep connected with the outside world. By this I meant by being updated about my relatives and friends’ life, well informed in local and international issues.

2. What social media are you actively engaged in? How does it help your quality of life?

There are two social medias that I mainly engaged to which are WhatsApp and TikTok. For WhatsApp I used it to converse with my families and friends, managing my works plus my involvement in church ministries. Meanwhile for TikTok, I used it for gaining information on Catholicism, other religion, mental health, cute pets and the latest youth’s trend nowadays (in a good way) in order to keep on pace with the world.

3. In your opinion, is social media a gift or a threat in our life?

My opinion on it is can be both. The social media is a gift if we use it for proper course such as keeping friendship in contact with long distance or old friends. Other than that, I able to keep on serving in my ministry even though I am far away from them. Meanwhile, social media can be a threat if we are addicted to the consumption of the content which could harm our mental health and affects the face-to-face genuine interaction between persons.

4. How does youth should use the social media in a way that is beneficial for them?

I suggest that we be disciplined in terms of our time in virtual communication and media consumption. This can help us to break our social media addiction. Use social media to keep in contact with the ministry, sharing about good knowledge and educate people about Church’s teachings. Youth nowadays can also use social media to raise awareness on important causes to gain larger interest and impact on the cause. Lastly, I quote from Pope Francis on his message for World Communications Day, on Jun 2 2019 “Use the social networks to form and promote community”.

 

Junior Reachie Justtin (image), 22, Catholic Student Group-Untuk Melayani Sesama (CSG-UMS)

1. What is the role of social media for you in your life as a youth?

In my opinion, the role of social media in my life as a youth is it is one of the main platforms for me to improve my knowledge and know the current situation about certain topics. Social media plays a role in sharing things that can have a positive effect or benefit to the youth. Not only that, social media is also a place for the youth to continue communication with family members or acquaintances virtually when living far.

2. What social media are you actively engaged in? How does it help your quality of life?

Among the social medias that I actively use are Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. These applications have helped a lot in my life because of the useful information and I can apply some in my daily life. In addition, I can also improve my knowledge in spiritual matters, general knowledge, health and many more. What means so much to me is when there are many positive things such as spiritual and verses of affirmation that are shared in social media which directly can be a motivation. Besides, it can also help me in forming a good personality because through social media, a lot of things that I can use as inspiration for myself.

My friends and I can share knowledge and information through online conversations in groups or personal messages. This has had a lot of positive impact on me because it helps me gain useful inputs for myself as a youth.

3. In your opinion, is social media a gift or a threat in our life?

In my opinion, social media is a gift in our lives because it makes it easier for us in the aspect of long-distance communication. Without it, it’s difficult for us to communicate with our distant acquaintances. Not that only, through social media, we can also get various inputs or info which is useful to our current situation. Besides, the existence of social media also brings many positive effects to our daily life, for example, we can engage in continuous communication, virtually, about protecting the environment. Undeniably, there are also negative contents uploaded in social medias, but it is our responsibility as a creation of God who are a ‘thinking being’, to always be aware of bad contents and against falling into it.

4. How does youth should use the social media in a way that is beneficial for them?

Searching for useful information for themselves and others such as related to spirituality, is one of the benefits of social media. It can be a platform to increase knowledge on positive matters by getting guidance from credible resources.

Youth should always prevent themselves from being influenced by negative contents in the socials. For example, do not follow any pages or actions that are not healthy when seen in social media, nor shared anything that is incorrect and be consistent with this.

Youth and everyone should also reduce their time in the media to ensure balance care on physical, mental, and spiritual health. Take time to stop from social media to do other activities such as exercising or spending time with the family.

 

Caroline Mathew Yong (image), 24, Holy Cross Toboh, Tambunan

1. What is the role of social media for you in your life as a youth?

Social media plays several roles in my life as a youth. Firstly, it greatly helps with facilitating communication. Thanks to social media applications, I am able to keep in touch with those around me even though they might live in or come from another city. I also depend on social media for information sharing. Of course, I would make sure to re-check the reliability of the information’s source before using or reposting, as people could be spreading false info. Other than that, social media plays a big role for me as a ground of self-expression. I am able to create and share my poetry online and have the time of my life exchanging opinions with other people on many platforms.

2. What social media are you actively engaged in?

How does it help improve your quality of life? At the moment, I am actively using several social media platforms including WhatsApp, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). I use these applications mainly to communicate with others. They have been great tools to help me keep up to date with the news and daily lives of those around me, whether they’re close to me by location or not. It certainly helps with maintaining close relationships, even when I can’t see them in person. When I need entertainment in music and media, I also use YouTube, Spotify, and Pinterest to cater to that.

3. In your opinion, is social media a gift or a threat in our life?

When used correctly, it is a gift. And when not, it can be a threat that could ruin the lives of many. The responsibility of making social media a gift or a threat depends heavily on its users. If we use social media for communication, networking, self-expression, and community building, then social media could be the most powerful gift in today’s world. However, it is clear that some people use social media to engage in negative activities such as virtual bullying, spreading false information, and creating toxic standards about appearance and how a certain thing should be done, all of which could harm the mental and physical well-being of people. So, in my opinion, social media is but a tool. The answer to if it’s a gift or a threat depends on us, the users.

4. How should youth use social media in a way that is beneficial for them?

Youth can benefit from social media by using it mindfully. Instead of focusing on the negative sides, it should be used positively instead. This way, youth can use social media to cultivate positive online relationships, consume content wisely, and balance screen time with real-world activities and face-to-face interactions.

 

Allysha Bingkasan, 28, Holy Family Telipok

1. What is the role of social media for you in your life as a youth?

The role of socmed for me as a youth is to get into the newest trend, not to gain popularity, but to see the newest trend as an opportunity to approach the newer generations of youth. Youth nowadays are more advanced and most likely choose to express themselves through socmed, so, instead of sticking to the old way, I chose socmed to be my platform to get to know the newer generations of youth even better.

2. What social media are you actively engaged in? How does it help your quality of life?

It is none other than Tiktok, IG and FB. I used to look up for information using Google, but nowadays I find myself using Tiktok more than I used Google. Though I’d still reconfirm the information I got from Tiktok with Google. I use FB and IG more on promoting and advertising any church events happening in my parish as my FB and IG have more followers and friends that I ever see face to face before compared to followers on Tiktok which I never even seen them in real life. Overall, socmeds help me a lot in giving out information and letting other people know what is happening around them.

3. In your opinion, is social media a gift or a threat in our life?

It really depends on how we use them. Personally, I’d say that it is a gift because we can finally get to know more youths from outside the country just by having a zoom meeting, especially during the Pandemic where all of it has to be done online. Socmed can become a threat when it is used to give out false information and eventually encourage other people to show hate to other religion. Socmed life and real life should be balanced so that we would not be too dependent on other people’s belief.

4. How does youth should use the social media in a way that is beneficial for them?

Use it as an instrument to spread out the good news. I have seen lots of good feedbacks after PBK14 (Pesta Belia Keuskupan 14) that was being held at Papar last year especially when youths startedto create short quotes or poems inspired by the emcee during PBK14. It was a good effort from the youth and I was delighted to see so many posts on my fyp (For You Page in Tik Tok), sharing their experiences during the youth festival. As a result, lots of their friends also commented that they wished to join the next youth festival after watching these sharings. In conclusion, let the youth be the ‘influencer’ to influence their friends by sharing their experiences through socmed.