Technology is the use of Knowledge to do activities, in Kenya has changed. The last 20 years we only had one radio and television stations that were state owned. Very little information was being shared to the public.
Most of the crucial issues in the country were never discussed. Some political issues could not be talked openly. The use of mobiles phones then was far-fetched, getting the phone garget was very expensive ting the airtime was something only a few elite could be sported with.
We the Gen 3 of Kenya want to share the revolution we have seen in the last 10 years, where technology is moving at a supersonic speed, a lot is changing each and every day. There are very many positive things that technology has brought for us and helped us to improve on our communication, our education and our day to day activities.
Technology in Kenya supports teens to build relationships, learn new problem solving skills, enhance their learning and be creative. We have gone digital in Kenya. We can buy goods and services with cashless transactions. We use mainly mobile money transfers through our phone by doing mobile banking which has become very handy in most of the payments that we do.
Technology has helped to build communities and also has improved interaction with others. We are young people who go to school in different parts of Kenya, geographically our locations are far apart but thanks to technology we have now embraced use of zoom meetings so that we are all present and able to keep in touch as we plan for our meetings and do our activities together as young people. Technology has made our meetings often and very efficient.
Kenya is a country where we no longer need a private car to move efficiently from one place to another. Thanks to the Uber, Bolt and Farasi which use transportation and ride-sharing technology company that allows passengers to book rides and drivers to charge fares and get paid via a smartphone.
. Recently in Kenya, in the month of June 2024, the world experienced the revolution of the Gen Z. These are young people ranging from ages 13-28 years old. These young people mobilized themselves and organized country wide protests that were aimed at informing and correcting the government of the day. Initially when it started people thought it was a joke and something not very serious. They protested for some time and in the process many of them were brutally killed, while others disappeared and never to be traced. What surprised people is how this young people formed teams, coordinated themselves and called for meetings and at the same time engaged even the head the president of Kenya. They used the X space or formally called twitter to mobilize and come together as protesting over several things that needed to be addressed. They use Social media in this case the X space to meet up with the President of Kenya. His Excellency William Ruto Samoei who was able to listen to the key issues that the young people were protesting against. This revolution brought about several changes that have since helped Kenya to progress.
Anything good always has its two sides the positive and negative effects. In focusing on the negative effects technology has is that for Kids who use mobile devices more and more, and they can become addicted to this, not spending enough time with their family and/or friends. They are likely to be virtually connected with friends, sharing photos and texting online than actually meeting them in person and this could cause challenges of withdrawals, or even promote cyber bullying amongst young people in Kenya.
People becoming too individualistic as they get lost in the world of Technology, this will make people start staying in isolation, yet no man is an island. Such isolations have made many young people get to depression while others have committed suicide.
Many young people have stopped becoming creative, because by the click of the button most of the things can be done for you, AI for instance has come with good and new insights but then some students as using it for their assignments at school meaning they are no longer thinking of engaging themselves in research of even much reading and this will create a very lazy society if everything for them is being done by the technology.
Presented by the GEN 3’s in KENYA
Edited by support of Magdaline Kasuku- A Kenyan Journalist
