Tom Facchine – What Does It Mean For Our Muslim Youth-A Book Reflection with Dr. Ahmed Radwan, Ph.D. – Part 1
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My name is Mohammad Radwan. I'm a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a professor and dean of Health Professions at Utica University. The book that I was reading is called IGN, or the internet generation. And it's pretty long title, but it says why today's super connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy and completely unprepared for adulthood. That was written by Professor Jean Twenge, University of San Diego, California. What I liked about this book is that it taught me about my kids, it taught me how to handle my kids in a better way. The book nicely summarized the issues with the what is known as the I Gen, or sometimes we call the Gen Z or
Generation Z, those who were born after 1995. The main issues that the author described in the book is the fact that they are super connected, but only virtually. So they are experts in technology, they are tech savvy, as we like to say, and they are very social among each other. But only virtually, they like a lot of face to face social skills, though, and that's worrying. The other element is that they are less rebellious. So they are mostly easygoing, they will be great followers in the future. But not a lot of them tend to be an entrepreneur or a risk taker, they have a great advantage, which is they are definitely more tolerant than our generation and the generation before
us. And their tolerance to race, ethnicity, and diversity in all forms are far better than our tolerance. According to the research and the statistics mentioned by the author, they are less happy. And this could be strongly related or correlated with the time they spend on social media and on electronics. And the lack of physical activity can also explain how their happiness has decreased. What is worrying a little bit is when the author said they're completely unready for adulthood. And that's in terms of their desire to work and work hard, and how they prefer not to work and an easygoing life. And that's worrying to the point that the author says they're also
because of their not willingness or the unwillingness to take risk, they are not interested in marriage as well, because they look at marriage as a responsibility. And they are not ready to take the responsibility or at least as young as we all took it. And that's a problem. And the author even expanded and said, If this continues to be the case, we our generation will be lucky because we will have them to help us when we grow, but they will not be lucky because our numbers will decrease and they may not find the qualified staff to help them when they grow. So these are the issues with the iGEM through my reading, I think a lot of it can apply to Muslim young children. But Alhamdulillah I
think there is also a lot of solutions that we have in the Quran and the Sunnah that could protect our kids. What is most important is the way we handle them. And if we don't understand that generation, well, we will not be able to guide them in the right direction.