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Vehbi Bayhan
2.4. New Form of Participation in Global Information Society: E-Participation
In the age of the Internet and social media being the main communication device and
platform, e-participation is emerging as a new concept in the collective participation pat-
tern of young people in the global information society. Expressing themselves through the
Internet and social media and participating in social, political and cultural contexts is the
main form of new fluid society. Y and Z generation young people born into the Internet
and expressed as “digital indigenous people” use social media as a means of collecting
participation.
Monitoring citizens and subversive citizenship are introduced as new concepts displaying
as alternative e-citizenship models for the first decades of the 21st century. Local and
transnational movements that seem to have a stronghold are coined in order to solve the
puzzle of the internet as a democratic/antidemocratic participatory tool or an alternative
public sphere.
Consclusion
Adults are naturally taken as model by younger generation. Therefore adults’ charging the
younger generations from one perspective for their entire negative behaviors is not real-
istic. Good example creates good product and bad example creates bad product. Either
educating individuals extremely individualist or extremely according to the fabric of the
community are problematic. With inspiration from Aristotle’s concept “mesotes” (middle
right), young individuals should be supported for both being individuals and fulfilling their
duties and responsibilities in society. It is important to educate conscious citizens who
are aware of globalization as well as their original culture. Instead of passive individuals
who are captives of technology, we need young people criticizing and questioning, real-
izing themselves in social relationships.
Within the context of the continuity of the importance and meaning of the targets of “Par-
ticipation”, “Development” and “Peace” determined by the Council of the United Nations
in 1985 International Youth Year, ensuring young people’s participation in society by giv-
ing them responsibility, sustaining the growth and development with young people and
realization of peace should be the basic political purposes. Because youth is the future of
the society and today’s youth will govern the society as the adults in the future.
Sociology courses at high schools should be given functionally for young generations so
that they could be active citizens, take social responsibilities and participate voluntarily
in non-governmental organizations. Sociology is necessary for everyone both for under-
standing his own society and understanding the global changes. We need sociology to
make Socrates’s motto “know thyself” and Yunus Emre’s following lines as our philos-
ophy of life; “Knowledge should mean a full grasp of knowledge / Knowledge means to
know yourself, heart and soul / If you have failed to understand yourself / Then all of your
reading has missed its call.”
