Even before quarantine (and even more so now), the youth could always be seen as glued to their phones, laptops, or tablets—to the great disliking of our parents and guardians, for the matter. The youth can’t help it, their lives are online, whether they’d like it or not.

In the year 2019, the Philippines was found to be the number one heaviest internet user worldwide, according to Digital 2019, a report from Hootsuite and We are Social. It was found out that Filipinos had been spending an average of 10:02 hours on internet usage, most hours of which were spent on social media platforms. Another study, conducted by Statista, even produced the results of a high number of internet users from ages 18-24 with 86% of its correspondents belonging to that age gap while only the latter number of 14% belonging to Filipinos aged 55 and above.

With Generation Z being born into the popular use of technology, they were practically born as digital natives. Unlike those who belonged to the Baby Boomers until Generation Y or the actual Millennials (hate to break it to everyone, but the youth of today aren’t Millennials, they’re Gen Z-ers) who lived a life before its propagation as a necessity; Gen Z never had that choice.

From social queues to school lessons and even to businesses or professions, most of the youth today now depend and live off what information they got from the internet. This now brings the great retort almost every kid nowadays has heard from their parents every time they complain about any sort of pain, “Kakakompyuter mo ‘yan!” Most of the time, the tone there, understandably worried, guardians would have their voice in would be heavy, shameful even, as if all the work and efforts done by the child in front of their computer was as simple as merely staring at a screen. How easy would life be if it was? However, it fairly isn’t. The libraries where the formers studied, the classrooms where they learned, and all the parties where they gained friends from—their whole lives are practically all that is beyond the glass screen they heavily belittle; and alike the batteries of any gadget, it’s all draining.

It takes strong mental capacity to put yourself out there in the public like that and technology is what’s giving the youth their way. What they need is support in the lifestyle they’ve been born into, not a reason for them to block everyone off for not living the life that was normal in their era. It goes with the sign of the times, our world, especially the youth’s, are all online.

With everything being said, what can be assumed here is that computer use along with technological literacy shouldn’t be something we should be ashamed for. It’s actually something we should all take pride in. So, the next time we stand higher on the platforms risen by social media, we should say: “Oo, kakakompyuter ko ‘to!”