Given the nature of our time, social media in its various forms has become a primary source in shaping the awareness of Arab youth, especially when considering statistics indicating an increase in the number of Arab internet users among teens and young adults, alongside a rise in hours spent online.
While social media plays a crucial role in keeping Arab youth informed about local and global events, this mode of knowledge presents challenges to the formation of true awareness. Genuine awareness forms through specific stages influenced by various factors, such as one’s religious, cultural, and moral affiliations, as well as their geographic and historical context. Consequently, certain ideas and issues warrant more focus and support than others.
However, social media promotes a culture of the “trend,” where every morning platforms are flooded with topics that many users engage with, investing countless hours discussing them. Often, these “trends” either deliberately or coincidentally overshadow more pressing issues in the Arab world. For instance, users may become preoccupied with debates on celebrating the Prophet’s birthday amid an ongoing genocide in a neighboring Arab country or lamenting the sale of a millionaire's restaurant while a brutal attack claims hundreds of lives in another Arab nation.
Additionally, relying primarily on social media has fostered a form of casual, fast-paced “general knowledge” that instills in young people a false sense of being informed about current events, encouraging them to share opinions on every topic, often without verification or a real understanding of the issue. This state has become a substitute for the deeper processes of comprehension and awareness, which involve deliberate research and thoughtful absorption of information—essential for real-life actions and behaviors.
One of the challenges social media poses to Arab youth awareness is its encouragement of impulsive reaction over reasoned thought. Reactions are swift emotional responses triggered by events that subside once the events lose prominence, rather than solutions to problems. This phenomenon is evident with every new trend, where users rush to respond to or comment on events without sufficient understanding, often sharing incorrect information or making swift, absolute judgments about partial or fragmented events. Such reactive behavior stems from the desire for immediate emotional engagement, which spares individuals the mental effort and accountability that come with thoughtful reflection.
Given the constrained reality in the Arab world, where the majority lack the means to influence real change, it is understandable that social media would hold such importance in terms of engagement and participation. The point here is not to discourage this interaction but to emphasize that any genuine awareness, which could lead to a transformation of ideas, values, behavior, and ultimately real change, must emerge gradually from fundamental sources of knowledge—beginning with divine revelation, historical experience, sound human knowledge, and reliable sources. True awareness empowers us to adopt a more effective approach to social media, transforming it into a constructive tool for our real, not just virtual, world.
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