SNS and the Filipino culture

This house believes that social networking sites (SNS) have stunted the propagation of national culture among young Filipinos.

This was the motion given to us during our midterm debate. Sounds easy right? Maybe because our generation has been exposed to social networking sites for so long.

These SNS has been one of the youth’s sole reasons in going online. Young people—that is, consisting of adolescents—are very fond of joining various SNS because it is in these sites that they can interact with other people, meet other individuals sharing the same interests, and eventually, gaining new friends. But not only that, a lot of young people today rely on SNS in their search for Ms./Mr. Right. Some are successful, while others are left disappointed. Yet, many others rely on these sites so as to make their ‘long distance’ relationships work.

But more than that, it is but right for us to investigate more on the ‘culture’ side of SNS—on how it directly affect the youth in terms of preserving their culture, on whether or not these sites have a bearing on youth’s perception of the Filipino culture, and how SNS help the youth in keeping a hold of their national culture.

As the opening opposition in the debate, my partner and I believe that NO, SNS do not stunt the propagation of national culture among the young people. Why? Here are some of our arguments:

First, social networking sites are now making use of Tagalog language as one of their features. With this, a person has an option of choosing the language he/she would want to use for his/her site account. This feature is also makes the youth embrace their native language more because it can be used anywhere, and anytime, through the use of SNS. It is also a new way of reminding the young people who are now abroad about their native language, about the importance of using it, and the importance of not just putting it to shelf. Through this, our national culture, as reflected by our national language, will not just be forgotten. Instead, it will continue to grow and be appreciated by the young Filipinos.

Second, social networking sites provide the youth with information about the key people who gave major contributions to our country. A very appropriate example would be the recent death of Pres. Cory Aquino. The SNS served as an instrument for the youth to learn more about her life, and in turn, be a voice of the continuation of her legacy. It is through SNS that the youth can voice out their concerns about our country, about how they are aspiring for a more responsible and credible leader. Twitter, Facebook, and some other SNS are evidences of this phenomenon.

In line with this, advocacies regarding clean, effective, and honest 2010 election make use of social media and social networking sites in promoting their advocacies to the youth. In this case, we can say that freedom and democracy which are also part of our culture as Filipinos are being highlighted and emphasized, making the youth take part in these advocacies, thus, instilling in their minds the importance of defending the freedom and democracy of our country.

Third, and the most important one, the Filipino’s value for family. Although it has been said that young people spend most of their time online to interact with other people and gain friends, we cannot ignore the fact that SNS are also avenues for these young people to actually re-connect with their loved ones working abroad.

A lot of parents, nowadays, are now going to countries around the globe just to give their children a good life and better future. Because of this, there is a huge possibility that the youth would consider the family as a not-so-important possession since they are “worlds apart”. But through social networking sites, it is made possible for parents and their children to talk face to face, online.

More than that, this will ensure the preservation of Filipinos’ close family ties—one thing that makes our culture stand out from the rest. 🙂

The things that I presented are just some of the arguments that would prove that SNS do not really slow down the propagation of national culture among young people. In fact, these SNS are even instruments of bringing back the ‘slowly disappearing’ culture that we all have before. 🙂

(These arguments are not the ones my partner and I have presented during the debate. These are some of the arguments we prepared and were not able to defend, because as we all know, it is the right of the Prime Minister to give the definition and context in which he/she wants the debate to revolve. And as the opening opposition, we have no choice but to comply. Hello to you, eldin lao!! Hahaha! :D)

##