This new era had been greatly affected with the continuous improvement of technology.

However,
these changes don’t necessarily approach the greater version of society. In fact, the quality of life is
deteriorating at a relatively fast pace, in terms of common and academic knowledge. And probably, if
this becomes consistent, the future generations might have to bear with adults who are always mindful
of gossips, but can barely find their way home, due to blurry vision and poor memory skills.

These days, simple media posts can be used to oust a small fry, and yet the most concrete, specific
evidences showing the greatest flaws still fail to bring down people in the ruling class. Fake news are
easily spread, covering up the actual credible information. Behaviors that might result to delinquency
are slowly being normalized, which visibly affected younger generations. And most importantly, the
integrity, in which past generations value a lot, slowly fades due to increasing information leakages in
search engines.

In the Philippines, where about 74% of the population has access to social media platforms, these
mentioned results are absolutely not everything, and perhaps, might triple for the next few years.
Hence, this essay will put an emphasis on the greatly needed solution that can eventually stop the
technology from further tainting the knowledge grasp of the Filipino people.

According to Statista, approximately 11 hours are used up by Filipinos daily on the internet, in which,
only an hour was dedicated for reading at least the news about current happenings. Considering the
country’s situation, that only about 59% of ages 25 and above have obtained at least lower secondary
education, more credible information will be buried due to the mindlessness posting of some internet
users. This might only apply for adults, however, knowing that this is the condition for those on the
older range, it could mean that it might be even worse for the younger members.

Hence, in order to prevent further spoiling of information, I have thought of the most practical
solution. I suggest that the internet, along with the gadgets, shall only be accessed by people with a
college degree, and is paid by 5% of their actual income. To sum it up, anything connected to the
internet is exclusive to people above the age of 21, and received college education. Therefore, using
counterfeit diplomas will remove the privilege of anyone from purchasing the services.

This is absolutely not a biased opinion, but a simple encouragement for people to get out of
mediocrity. Maybe a handful might contradict this, because of the fact that poverty is widely observed
on most parts of the country. So to cure that, the fund gathered thanks to the educated people’s need
for the internet, shall be used to provide learning support. And if this is still not enough to sustain
every poor student’s education, some shall instead resort to the political field.

Once this is completely agreed on by the people and the government, which I expect to happen, there
will be a huge turnaround in terms of the country’s education. The dear students will be in contact
with books, in replacement of the traditional internet, which will require them to use analytical skills.
As gadgets are far from reach for the learners, there will be more physical activities.

This is not a way of rejecting modernization, but a step to remain civilized despite the indolence given
by present-day gadgets. I, myself, am born in the current generation and was also surrounded with
modern equipment, which I won’t deny, was helpful in everyday life. However, along with its benefits
was the rejection of original ideas and opinions. People were far too invested on depending on the
online database which cannot be seen by the naked eye, as if it was the modern-day God. The
straightforward suggestion I mentioned does not intend to obliterate the internet. It was just purposely
made to give the privilege only to those who can make use of it the most.
References:

1. Index Mundi. (2019). Philippines – Educational attainment. Retrieved from

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/philippines/educational-attainment
2. Statista Research Department. (2021). Average daily time spent using online media in the
Philippines in 3rd quarter 2020, by activity (in hours). Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/803812/daily-time-spent-using-online-media-by-activity-
philippines/
3. Statista Research Department. (2021). Internet user penetration in the Philippines from 2017
to 2020, with forecasts until 2026. Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/975072/internet-penetration-rate-in-the-philippines/