YOUNG PEOPLE AS CONSUMERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY

Mohammad Asim Shaikh1, Mohammad Adil Shaikh2, , Farzana Asar2 Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology asim@unicod4.com ABSTRACT Governments, Parents and teachers need to act as facilitators and mediators in the process of adoption and shaping of media culture rather than either acting as passive onlookers or active controllers Review of available observations and Assessment of impacts of ICTs on lives of young people in developing countries on the basis of experts views and relevant information. This study reviewed the situation and tried to explore the views and practices of young people belonging to a developing country through a small sample survey. This survey was conducted in Karachi, the most urbanized city of Pakistan. A questionnaire was used to explore the views and practices of young people belonging to a developing country through a small sample survey. Students from two colleges were randomly selected to fill the questionnaires. Most of the ICT resources were used more often by boys. Majority of respondents did not felt hat it had made significant impact on their work or family life. Most of them felt that it had made appositive impact on their lives this survey revealed that majority of college students were wer satisfied with their use of ICT resources


INTRODUCTION:
Internet and communication technologies (ICTs) are playing an important role in fostering globalization, however there are several concerns about the impact of proliferation of ICTs.All over the world younger persons are adopting these technologies much more rapidly than the older people and concerns about impact of using ICTs are focused more on youth and children as compared to other age groups.Future of the globe ultimately depends on today's youth and whatever is influencing them today is going to decide the shape of tomorrow's world.Whether the ICT's unite or divide people, whether they promote harmony or disparity among nations and regions, whether they enhance efficiency, patience, and wellbeing or inefficiency, impatience and physical deterioration are the key questions that could provide answers to future of toady's youth.Intellectuals have been trying to consolidate the differing views though the deliberations from the developing countries are very rare.The influences of ICTs are not likely to be uniform in various regions and cultures and attention, monitoring and control of the issues is needed even in developing countries.

ICTs In Developing Countries
We have moved in to an era where IT has become a really important part of people's lives.New technological inventions are being made more frequently than ever and the number of people having access to technology has also extensively increased.
Internet is one of the fastest spreading IT developments in every part of the world.Where it makes everything easier and faster, it also brings the worlds together.According to Internet Worlds stats website, there has been 200% growth in the use of internet over the world, and there are now over 1 billion internet users in the world.In developing countries, the percentage of total population using internet is relatively low compared to some developed countries, but the increase in the usage is quite high.This shows that as the use of mobile phone is increasing the number of phones being taken away has also increased, and this is the result because in developing countries not every one can afford a phone.And many people including many young people (of age 16-21) are getting their hands on other peoples phone either for there own use or just to sell them in the blackmarket.

According to the internet world stats website the internet usage growth in
As Technology in a particular field advances, the change in people's lives, and their way of living becomes more evident.Moreover IT has also brought an ongoing change in culture of a particular society.The change might be for good or bad.Though this change in our lives caused by IT is inevitable, we can asses these changes and try to reduce the negative effects of it.
In third world countries where the literacy rate is quite low and the countries lag behind in relevant research, minimizing the negative impacts of IT and guiding the use of IT in right direction can be difficult.

Potentials Benefits And Hazards Of ICTs For Young People in A Devoloping Country
It has been noticed that the there was an improvement in overall economic behavior with the prevalence of ICT investment which leads to the suggestion that technological innovations in ICT have caused structural shifts in the economy according to some researches.
Advanced technology has become more important for developing countries, for example people living in remote areas don't have many means of communication, but if every one had access to equipment like a mobile phone and computer with internet they would easily be able to communicate to different parts and keep in touch with their friends and families.
In developing countries such as India and Pakistan where the literacy rate is low, especially in remote areas like villages, technology helps people in these remote areas to keep studying through distance learning programs.Where people student don't have to actually go to the universities to attend the lesson, instead the lessons are broadcasted on television.

Influences on social and cultural life
In relation to society and culture and the debate about the meaning of ICTs for young people the debate moves between two polarities: utopias (all good) and dystopias (all bad).It is assumed that the proliferation of ICTs is causing rapid transformation in all branches of life.The second underlying idea is that ICTs function to unify and standardize culture.Some people see it as good aspect and believe that ICTs will revolutionize every aspect of the world while others that the core meaning of ICTs is that of cultural barbarism.Somewhere in between there are those who collect statistics about the global diffusion of ICTs with little emphasis on interpretations (Suoranta 2003).
By some thinkers children and young people are often seen as innocent victims of media powers Prevailing media culture is, mostly of western origin, and at least to some extent, culturally blind and ruled by a small number of media giants.As the majority of young people in the world do not live according to the Western conceptions of youth thus their consequences are likely to be somewhat different.The variance is mostly due to the different social circumstances, socio-political cultures, definitions of childhood and youth, and the different authority relations prevailing in different cultures.The breakdown of the nuclear family, teenage pregnancies, venereal diseases, paedophilia, child trade and child prostitution spreading through the Internet, drug use, youth crime, the degeneration of manners, suicide and religious cults are all seen as problems exacerbated or even inflicted upon us by the world of media.Children and young people are seen as passive recipients of messages, as spellbound viewers and dim-eyed zombies susceptible to a range of addictions from drugs to the media.ICTs steal children from their parents and eliminate the natural life phases of childhood and youth.The term media panic refers to a concern, worry or fear that arises from the use of new devices or new cultural forms that children and teenagers adopt at the same time challenging earlier cultural practices and conceptions.Without underestimating the capabilities of young people, it is reasonable to claim that children and young people are unable to manage their everyday lives on their own.They need to be loved, supported and understood by adults who also provide them with limits and advice.In the context of media culture, the basic needs of children and teenagers remain unaffected.In fact, they may even be highlighted (Nations 2004).
In short, it is a fact that ICT immensely increase opportunities for communication and social interaction.These opportunities may bring people together and can help in development of understanding and harmony.However as the mode of interactions are novel and lead to exposure to a much wider variety of values, ideologies and life styles some people fear that it may lead to chaos and erosion of established social systems.In a mediated culture, it can be difficult for young people to know whose representations are closest to the truth, which representations to believe and whose images matter.At an individual level the young user is challenged by availability of means and opportunities for various kind of social interactions.While he or she is driven by the instincts to try out the new and the tempting interactions he needs to chose the kinds of interactions and limit the extent of interactions according to his/her personal goals and values.
Media culture is produced and reproduced by diverse ICTs.Thus it would be imperative to replace the teaching and training of knowledge and skills central in the agrarian and industrial societies by education in digital literacy.Children and young people must be provided with opportunities to develop skills in multiple literacies, in order for them to be able to better work on their identities, social relationships and communities, whether material, virtual or combinations of the two.The world of young people does, and indeed should, involve other things than just ICTs.Only after a thorough analysis of these factors surrounding ICTs can we say something about the significance of the global media culture in general and ICTs in particular.the meaning of technology is not to be found in technology itself, but arises from its usages and the cultural-political context.

The eventual impact of proliferating ICTs on youth if not totally determined is at least greatly influenced by level of understanding of governing
and monitoring agents about ICTs as well as the needs of young people.Governments, Parents and teachers need to act as facilitators and mediators in the process of adoption and shaping of media culture rather than either acting as passive onlookers or active controllers.And for doing so they need to be aware of the importance of their role, alert to technological developments and very sensitive to the needs and situations of young people.

In relation to learning ICT offer numerous advantages and provide opportunities for:
• facilitating learning for children who have different learning styles and abilities, including slow learners, the socially disadvantaged, the mentally and physically handicapped, the talented, and those living in remote rural areas; • making learning more effective, involving more senses in a multimedia context and more connections in a hypermedia context; and • providing a broader international context for approaching problems as well as being more sensitive response to local needs (Rai 2006).It is hard to over-emphasize this fact, especially when taking into account ICT's potential impact on the social and educational arenas.For example the Internet can cater to special needs and abilities of various groups, that are otherwise excluded from many aspects of the social life but the same aspect, namely the uncontrollable and widely and easily available access to knowledge, might have dangerous consequences such as easy access to racist or terrorist websites.An issue that might have even deeper implications, though it gets almost no attention at all, is the Internet's possible enhancement of the blurring of the distinction between valid or sound and invalid or unsound knowledge.Such blurring might threaten the very foundations of science, enlightenment and rationality.Thus, while in the early naïve days it was widely believed that the mere spread of ICT, as well as its integration in society and education, is wholly a blessing or "progress" -today it is obvious that we should be more cautious and look for policies leading to its uses for the better and inhibiting bad uses and effect (Aviram & Comey 2002) .other infrastructure constraints such as electricity supply can also be addressed.that the use of the Internet is not limited to the literate or to English users.

All of the international organisations -including the European
. that it is possible through ICT for craft producers in poor and isolated regions to tap directly into regional, national and global markets.

Conclusion: Ultimate outcome depends on several factors
The debate on children and youth reflects not just worry for our own lives and the lives of people close to us, but also concern for the state of the world.Discussion on childhood and youth should be broadened to cover the general conditions and structures of life, or, in other words, social justice in a world ruled by global corporations.
The eventual impact of proliferating ICTs on youth if not totally determined is at least greatly influenced by level of understanding of governing and monitoring agents about ICTs as well as the needs of young people.Governments, Parents and teachers need to act as facilitators and mediators in the process of adoption and shaping of media culture rather than either acting as passive onlookers or active controllers.And for doing so they need to be aware of the importance of their role, alert to technological developments and very sensitive to the needs and situations of young people.

Review of available observations and Assessment of impacts of ICTs on lives of young people in developing countries on the basis of experts views and relevant information.
Explore the views and practices of young people belonging to a developing country through a small sample survey.

Methodology:
This survey was conducted in Karachi, the most urbanized city of Pakistan, having highest proportion of ICT users (Mujahid 2002;Wolcott).A questionnaire was used to explore the views and practices of young people belonging to a developing country through a small sample survey.Students from two colleges were randomly selected to fill the questionnaires.

Survey of young people's views and practices
In order to conduct this survey first I searched and reviewed similar research studied done in other countries and then designed my own study.I designed a questionnaire to collect the needed information.The questionnaire was kept simple so that the respondents can fill it themselves.The questions I included in this questionnaire were about general characteristics, use of various ICTs, and perceived impact of ICTs on respondents' life.(annex 1) The data was collected from approximately 100 college students of Karachi.The proportion of boys and girls in the sample was about 50:50.Data was entered and analyzed on a computer program SPSS.
Results are prepared and presented as tables, text and charts.

General characteristics of the respondents
The respondents were 17-20 years old.Total number of respondents was 111 (55 boys & 56 girls).On the basis of housing and income they could be categorized as belonging to middle income group.How would you describe your housing type: • Apartment 47 39 • Bungalow/Town house 53 61 • Do you own or rent your home: • Own 66 86 • Rent 35 14 How many rooms do you have in your house: What is the total number of adults and children who live in your house.: What is your approximate Household income (in Pk.Rs) 21628 20758

General ICT Use
Gender differences in the time spent in using ICT were marked in case of internet (8 hours per week for boys and 4 for girls) but not for computer and mobile phones but not for internet and TV (see table 3 ).Boys have been using computer for 31months while girls for 18 months.Use of internet and mobile phones was also started earlier by boys.

Use of TV in general and hat of private channels and cable transmissions was higher among girls (see table 4). TV was watched mostly in their own homes both by boys and girls (see table 5).
As compared to boys a larger proportion of girls thought that their watching TV did not have any effect on the time they spend in various activities.For some boys and girls time spent with family increased due to watching TV.As compared to girls (45%) a larger proportion of boys (74%) thought that TV had appositive impact on their life .Similarly a higher proportion of boys (49%b vs 28%g) said that use of TV should be promoted (see table 6).Mobile phones were being used by 94% of boys and 78% of girls and were being used most often just for calls and for calls and games.Girls used mobile phones more often at home than boys.For most of the respondents use of mobile phones did not have much effect on their other activities.For the ones for who noticed any change the time was not uniformly increased or decreased for various activities.e.g time spent with family and friends was increased and time spent in office was decreased for some while increased for others (see table 4a-4e).Boys (71%) more often than girls (60%) reported appositive impact on their life of using mobile phones than girls.Boys (78%) also were more often in favor of promoting the use of mobile phones than girls (50%).Gender gap in promoters was much wider than gap between users.

Computers
Computers were being used by 80% of boys and 68% of girls and were being used most often just for calls and for calls and games.Girls used computers more often at home than boys.Computers were being used slightly more often for course work and typing than for games or music/videos.For most of the respondents use of computers did not have much effect on their other activities.For the ones for who noticed any change the time was not uniformly increased or decreased for various activities.e.g.time spent with friends was more often decreased and time spent working in home was more often increased for boys but the situation was reversed for girls.(see table 4a-4e).Boys (71%) more often than girls (60%) reported appositive impact on their life of using computers than girls.Boys (78%) also were more often in favor of promoting the use of   • Getting information about products 10 16 13 • Online games.
made compact as possible, fitting as many devices in the shortest space.So phones now come with all sorts of function and software's, such as camera, memory card wireless headsets, and capability of wireless connectivity to different devices.Most phones now are also capable of sending data to different devices with the help of wireless technology such as infrared and Bluetooth.Even though in a developing country many of these phones will be too expensive for people to buy, most of the phone that now come do have these functions, even the relatively cheaper phones have the ability to play music, share data or even take pictures.Due to these numerous functions mobile phones have become a source of entertainment, especially for young people.But in a developing country most people don't have enough money to buy the latest expensive mobile phones, and in some countries where there is high crime rate, mobile phones are becoming the main attraction for thieves.According to a report 27,764 mobile phones had been taken away by bandits or thieves in 2005 Karachi, Pakistan.And the figures increased to 44,388 by December 2006.
Governments are in a position to provide opportunities to use ICT to assist the most vulnerable by connecting schools to the Internet.Some middle-income countries, such as Malaysia, and Thailand, are making good progress in connecting their schools to the Internet.Where there is a government program to increase schools' access to computers and the Internet, scope exists for young people to be trained as computer technicians to maintain a bank of networked computers within a school.At present, global media culture is an educational force that has the power to exceed the achievements of institutionalized forms of education.Some of the changes brought about by the spread of ICT entail both positive and negative potential impacts.Discussing the the Double-Edged Nature of the Impact of ICT on Education and Society an eminent educationist Aviram says: Union, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the G-8 countries and the OECD -have expressed their awareness of the fact that the proliferation and use of ICTs form yet another dimension in the division of the worlds' youth into fortunate and less fortunate ones.As Castells (2001, p. 265) puts it: "the new techno-economic system seems to induce uneven development, simultaneously increasing wealth and poverty, productivity and social exclusion, with its effects being differentially distributed in various areas of the world and in various social groups".International agencies -both intergovernmental and non-governmental as well as those belonging to the corporate sector -discuss the digital divide and compile charts and agendas for the purpose of bridging Iweb-sites exist in English alone.Critical voices have claimed that in reality there is little intention to demolish the digital divide.It can be narrowed down somewhat, but not enough to lose the economic advantage derived from it.As perceptively noted by Eduardo Galeano: And don't forget the ferocious protectionism practiced by developed countries when it's a matter of what they want most: a monopoly on state-of-the-art technologies, biotechnology, and the knowledge and communications industries.These privileges are defended at all cost so that the North will continue to know and the South will continue to repeat, and thus may it be for centuries upon centuries (Galeano, Galeano, & Posada 2001).Optimistic people think that ICTs have the potential to help the poor to acquire literacy or marketable skills, for instance, and thus to count for something in the markets.This is true for the millions of young people who are poor and who are in the prime of their learning abilities.They argue that as much remote processing of information consists of repetitive tasks and needs nimble fingers, keen eyesight, good health, and mental retention it is not difficult for people not knowing English to avail benefits of ICTs."It takes no more than eight odd weeks for young people to get up to speed, as far as competence in operating systems and applications is concerned.The English that workers need to understand is highly specific to the tasks at hand: because they are highly motivated they learn what they need to know quickly.A clear vision of the not require personal ownership of a computer; nor does it require the use of expensive computers.For example: The Simputer is a low-cost portable alternative to PCs…,.It has a special role in the Third World because it ensures that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to handling a omputer.The key to bridging the digital divide is to have shared devices that permit truly simple and natural user interfaces based on sight, touch and audio.the potential that the widespread use of mobile phones offer for young people both as an income generator in its own right and as an alternative to fixed line telephones to gain easier access to the Internet.

Figure
Figure 1: Time spent in ICTs USE