Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Teaching, Learning and Education
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Youth Perception of Using Technology during COVID-19 in Rural Pakistan
Nadeem Saqlain, Usman Naeem
ABSTRACT:
Rural communities face many challenges across the globe. Some of the challenges are a shortage of qualified teachers, lack of staff, lack of facilities, lack of connectivity, and poor infrastructure. These issues heighten concerns about learning, specifically, in rural communities in developing countries. COVID-19 has devastated effects on rural communities. Like rest of the world, most of the educational institutes were closed. There was a lack of sports and recreational activities during the Pandemic. Youth had to stay at homes. It was a major challenge for energetic rural youth to stay at home. Most of the adolescent started using technology to spend time. In this study, we have investigated perceptions of youth about use of technology in one rural community in Pakistan. In this study, ten participants were purposefully chosen to gain better understanding of the phenomenon. The data were collected through interviews and questionnaires. The participants reported frequent use of technology for schooling as well as for playing. Whatsapp was the most used application for schooling. They also reported playing online games e.g., PUBG and Fire Free. Additionally, frequent use of youtube and tiktok was also reported by the participants.
keywords: Rural communities, youth, technology, COVI-19, Pandemic