Generation Z and Technology — best friends or mortal enemies?

RoundPier
RoundPier
Sep 2, 2018 · 4 min read

By Sally Meseret

Take a walk down any major street in the US, and you will see people’s eyes glued to their cellphones, fingers scrambling to send autocorrected sentences. Unprecedented access to a world of knowledge and connection have left people — especially millennials and “Generation Z” with the ability to do anything through a few clicks of a button. With all this power, come both positive, and, some fear — negative impacts.

CNN came out with research stating that the average teenager is exposed to screen time for nine hours a day. A major issue parents take to this statistic is the fact that those nine hours are perceived to have been wholeheartedly unproductive. With the likes of social media and instant connection, the perception becomes that the time has been spent simply chatting to friends all day without doing anything. If, for example, a similar study came out and reported that the average teenager spent nine hours a day reading books, or learning to code, there would not be such a concern among parents. That is because technology often times triggers the “unproductive” alarm bell for parents. Luckily for us, as will be explained further in the article, there is a solution — RoundPier.

RoundPier App

The Stigma

One of the biggest fears parents have is that technology is synonymous with laziness and low — achievement. “Overall, around two-thirds of parents (65%) say they worry to some extent about their teen spending too much time in front of screens.” The fact of the matter is that a lot of times, what is available to students online through various applications is generally not useful for the purpose of education, learning, or self-improvement.

To put it rather bluntly, social media aids with connecting students, giving them a space to express their opinions, and enables them to contact family from different parts of the world. Despite these uses, a Huffington post article claimed “The challenge with millennial(s) is that they spend a lot of time on social activities instead of undertaking beneficial (learning) on social media”

The best of both worlds?

It was the desire to bridge the gap between the versatility of social media and the reality that often times, what it offers students is not pushing them to achieve, that a solution became illuminated.

What if we took the passion students have to use technology and created a social media platform in which learning and education are the major takeaways? What if students could still use technology for nine hours a day, but instead of those nine hours being a waste of time, they were unique learning opportunities? What if they engaged students around the globe in experiential learning that could never have existed merely twenty years ago?

Enter: RoundPier

A platform (and app) designed for the sole purpose of giving students around the world connection to one another through an enriched learning environment

The app enables students to create profiles, add detailed descriptions about their likes, talents, interests, and accomplishments, then from there converse with a global platform of youth. RoundPier was designed to include unique chatrooms where interests from aerospace engineering to debate and music are explored. With connections to programs at MIT, Paul Gasol Academy, and the University of Delaware’s Diamond challenge, to name a few, the app also connects student with internships, job opportunities, start-up companies, college advice, and most importantly, a unique, diverse, group of students they can learn from in real time. Both the RoundPier team and the community provide unique, personalized advice for students. As well, all content is screened for relevance and appropriateness in order to ensure an authentic, intellectually cultivated experience is enjoyed by all users.

What can it do for me?

For the average teen, connection like this exposes them to the world in a way unheralded before. Say a teenager is doing a project about the caste system in India — students on RoundPier can post questions on “Eduniverse”, a function within the app, and as a global community, students who are from India themselves can answer with their first hand experiences having lived in the system. On the same token, an interested student from India can ask questions to their peers in North America about the importance of pursuing extracurriculars in the college application process.

RoundPier was created as the alternative. Through giving students access to such unprecedented, and experiential learning, it helps educators, parents, and students understand that instead of fearing technology, they can use it for the positive opportunities it can provide. For teachers especially, RoundPier opens up a new avenue for personalized education. Five or ten minutes spent on RoundPier looking through the profiles of students they teach can provide educators with an understanding of the passions of their students, and can help direct lesson plans, and more nuanced learning.

Who is it for?

Whether you are a student, educator, parent, or an organization, you are highly encouraged to check out the app, available for download on the App Store, visit the website (www.roundpier.com) or shoot myself an e-mail (sallymeseret30@icloud.com) to learn more. It is truly a one of a kind opportunity.

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