A local youth has assembled an aircraft as a result of digital advancement. Also as a result of digital technology, a junior high school student committed suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of a building.
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A local youth has assembled an aircraft as a result of digital advancement. Also as a result of digital technology, a junior high school student committed suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of a building.
The rapid and widespread development of the digital sphere can be viewed from these two perspectives. It can be positive as well as negative. A digital device is just a tool, as is a weapon. Its function depends on how a user wields it: It depends on “the man behind the gun”.
Haerul, a young man from Pallameang in Mattiro Sompe district, Pinrang regency, South Sulawesi, is one success story. Learning from YouTube, he fulfilled his dream of building an ultralight aircraft using recycled materials.
In contrast, the story of SN, a student at SMP 147 junior high school in Ciracas, East Jakarta, is one of tragedy. Online bullying is suspected of being behind his suicide. SN is certainly not alone. A study has found that members of Generation Z (the millennial generation) have been often linked with cyberbullying – using the internet and social media to coerce, humiliate, threaten and harassing others – as both victim and perpetrator (Steyer, 2012).
Other big problems this nation faces include digital addiction, which has already had health impacts, identity theft, spreading pornographic content, terrorism, and political hoaxes with racially and religiously motivates that has disrupted national unity.
On realizing the enormous impact of advancements in digital technology, many countries have prioritized the promotion of digital literacy. Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands are among those countries that made serious and early efforts to publicly promote digital literacy. (Kompas, Monday, 01/21/2020)
Digital literacy was coined in 1997 by Paul Gilster in Digital Literacy, defined simply as “the ability to both understand and use digitized information”.
The abilities of these hundreds of millions of digital users should be developed.
We certainly hope that the government will pay close attention to this issue. Based on 2019 data, at least 150 million of Indonesia’s 268.2 million population use the internet, while 130 million use social media. The abilities of these hundreds of millions of digital users should be developed.
We appreciate that the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) have started to pay attention, for example by proposing the gradual adoption of digital technology for teaching and learning activities at schools over the next five years.
However, this is not enough. The government needs to urgently invite all relevant stakeholders to put together a systematic and structured digital literacy plan, and then publicize it widely. Otherwise, it will be too late.