by Mubarak Aminu

Our minds are influenced by what we see and hear. The media is playing a big role in influencing young minds, ranging from print to TV, radio houses and new media [social media].

I’m particularly concerned about the new media as we all believe it has democratized the way we share and get information.

The movement of unsolicited content is fast spread across verticals in thin air with no control over who sees it; this is how our young minds are influenced by all kind of negativity.

Do we deserve this?

Some of this content creators and media outlets believe that it only through this means they can get our attention, as it one of the vital element in ensuring the stay in the business.

But if I may ask, does it have to be this way?

The radio and television houses are not left behind, as they have their own fair share of fault here, most of the content they distribute on air are not in any way beneficial to we the youth, except maybe for the politics and happenings around the country. Apart from that, nothing is happening toward enlightening us about the opportunities around and how to leverage on them and stand on our own.

I stand to be corrected, from my last research there are very few media outlets that have a program schedule where Technology happenings are discussed. What a pathetic situation we find our elf, when government is shouting about going back to the land, none of these media outlet are organizing a campaign center around enlightening our youth on the opportunities in agriculture and the likes, yet they all expect us to go back to the land without proper information on how to go about it; this responsibility lies in the hands of the media.

Aside going to the land, there are other opportunities in Technology that our youth need to enlighten on. One of the functions of the media is to provide information that is geared toward educating our youth to take right paths in life, but how many of them are doing this?  In this information age, only a few of them are sharing content that is geared toward teaching our youth the abundant opportunities in technology, I guess they are afraid of  technology itself.

The air waves are filled with entertainment, music, and gossip about celebrities, new media is full of webmasters who write and blog about entertainment, celebrity gossip and other unsolicited content that add no value to the mind of the youth. How does this lead to opening up of new opportunities for us the youth? I see why every youth that is grown up want to be the next Wizkid.

As a youth, I dare you to take charge our your life and do not let the media have control over what you do with it. Since the media are no better place to help, you have the world at your fingertips, use your smart phones in the right way, by consuming content that will increase your knowledge base, skills, and make you better person in life.

The media has to rethink and create a strategic way of enlightening the youth to opportunities around us; Technology is here to stay, and local media has to stop looking at it as a competitor in the market.

We all need to remember the home we came from.

I will like to leave us with one question.

Do we deserve this?

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Mubarak Aminu is founder and lead content developer at techarewa.com; he loves to talk about technology solutions