Stop Discrediting Gen Z Youths

 

What comes to your mind when you hear the term 'Gen Z group '? If you ask me the same question, I would answer that it is a particular generation of people who belong to the age group 13 to 28.  They are globally connected via the internet, so they are pretty aware of the worldly affairs and they are eager to question if they find something is going wrong or they need further explanation on certain issues. Sadly, some notorious political leaders accuse the Gen Z people of being terrorists, traitors or they even compare them with YCL (Young Communist League) people. Are Gen Z and YCL people the same? In my opinion, they are like chalk and cheese. 

The Young Communist League was born during a decade-long Maoist movement in Nepal, which dated back to 1996 and continued until 2006. Since the Maoist movement was an armed struggle, YCL was also obviously an armed youth force to support this movement. The people of my generation have experienced the terror of Maoists at that time. Do the youths of Gen Z hold the same terror? Are they calling for a civil war like YCL? Are they carrying arms? If not, then how dare those politicians address the young Gen Z people as terrorists or YCL?

Economic background 

Thanks to Aashika Tamang, a popular social activist, who, through her videos, has taken us to the places of Gen Z protesters who were injured during the protest of September 8 and 9. Tamang has shown us the real Gen Z faces. Most of the injured people seem to be college students from different villages and they have rented rooms in Kathmandu. They do not seem to be the children from well-to-do families. Through the condition of their rooms, it is clearly visible that their parents are struggling enough to support their children's education.

Whether Aashika Tamang has met the Gen Zers in their rooms or at the hospital beds, all of them look innocent, friendly and determined to bring positive changes in the country. None of them has said that they are in favour of violence. In an unequivocal voice, they simply ask for justice. I have also heard many Gen Z representatives and all of them are presenting their agenda clearly. None of them wants to instigate the violence again. They have seen a lot of loss and destruction in two days, i.e., on the 8th and 9th of September. So, they are begging for no more damage on the part of people and properties. It also does not mean that the Gen Z group is the only group that participated in the protest. There are thousands of others out there who belong to this group. Are they all terrorists?

The Gen Z protest in Nepal attracted an international audience as well. A number of international media outlets have covered the news positively. One of the Indian news channels had made a headline, 'Jis or jawani chalti hai or jamana chalta hai' or the youth leads the world. Nobody can deny that the protest was initiated with a pure intention but it is another story that it was contaminated by various anarchical elements in between. I have seen many school children in foreign countries marching on the streets with placards in support of the Gen Z protesters in Nepal. 

Not only this, in countries like India, Peru, Kenya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Morocco and  Madagascar also youth-led protests have begun to show their dissatisfaction on different issues. A recent CNN report 'From Kathmandu to Lima,’ states that youth-led uprisings are driving thousands from their screens to the streets, demanding accountability, change and, in some cases, toppling governments. In such a situation, how wise it is to blame the Gen Z group for every mishappening that can be observed recently in Nepal? When we go back to the Maoist movement, it never got international acceptance. 

Even though there was a ceasefire and the Maoist party entered open politics and signed a peace treaty, it still had its terrorist tag. It took six solid years to get this tag lifted by the US government. So, there is no point in comparing Gen Z with YCL. As mentioned above, Gen Zers are globally connected. If something happens in a corner of the world, it spreads everywhere in no time. It is people's basic right to get access to the information they need without any censorship. The KP Oli-led government tried to confiscate this right and all Nepali people are facing its consequences. 

Categorisation 

Based on their birth, the world's people are roughly categorised into eight categories. They are the Greatest Generation (born between 1901 to 1927), the Silent Generation (born between 1928 to 1945), the Baby Boomers (born between 1946 to 1964), the Generation X (born between 1965 to 1980), the Millennials (born between 1981 to 1996), the Generation Z (born between 1997 to 2012), the Generation Alpha (born between 2013 to 2024) and the Generation Beta (born between 2025 to 2039). 

According to their category, these people have their typical characteristics too. The available statistics shows that the younger generations, such as Gen Alpha and Gen Z, are growing rapidly and they are becoming a larger portion of the global population, approximately 24 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. In this way, Gen Z represents the world population instead of being a small political group of a country like YCL. Therefore, dear people, do not defame them by labeling terrorists, traitors or YCL. 

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, October 10, 2025 ) 

[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]

Ensure Justice For Gen Z Youth

 Last week was totally unexpected. I was aware of the fact that the young generation of Nepal, named Gen Z, was going to protest against the abrupt social media ban by the former government and the growing corruption in the country.  Since such protests are not unusual in our context, I did not pay that much attention. However, one thing was quite interesting in this Gen-Z protest: it was happening across the country at the same time.

It was Monday, the 23rd of Bhadra, 2082. That day, I was a bit busy at home with my household chores. When I got free, I was curious to learn about the consequences of the protest. But what I saw on the mobile screen took my breath away. It was just out of my imagination. Every newspaper was yelling, 'Police fired the gun! Police fired the gun!' By the end of the day, there was a news story that 19 people were killed and hundreds were injured. Among those 19, 17 were in Kathmandu and two were in Itahari. While I was writing this article, the death toll has reached more than 70. It has been more than a week since that protest, and many things are happening in between, but I am still stuck there. My inner voice is continuously asking, 'Why gunfire? Weren't there other means to disperse the crowd? Is it ethical to shoot the disarmed youngsters?' 

School and college students 

The term Gen Z, which was only used on online platforms and among digitally literate people, suddenly became popular among the public. Some were heard saying Gen Z, some Gen G, some Gin-G, some Zen-J, and some J and J. Until now, most of the common people know that the Gen-Z group includes those people who were born between 1997 and 2012 A. D. So, they belong to the age group 13 to 28.  This means that there were a lot of school and college students who were minors and in their uniforms. Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Nepal is a State Party, it is clearly mentioned that 'every child deserves safety, dignity, and the right to live without fear. Immediate and strict legal action is imperative against any violence targeting children during protests. Their rights must be upheld without compromise.'

In this condition, how can a State head order the police force to fire a gun targeting the students just like that? It is an inexcusable violation of children's rights. Those innocent children were simply asking for their freedom of expression. Unfortunately, their voice was silenced. It seems like it was a planned murder. Many of those deceased students were the only children of their parents. It was hard to see the lamenting people who lost their dear ones in no time. 

We are all grieving this time, but some of the Indian media have portrayed the Nepali youths as social media addicts. They have claimed that the Zen-Z protest was organised only because of the social media ban. How incorrect a message they are delivering to the whole world! But the world is also watching all this, and the world's people can analyse the situation themselves. 

In fact, not only the youngsters, but all Nepali people were affected massively by the ban of most social media platforms. For example, these days many people are doing online business, different organisations also find the social media platforms more convenient for their day-to-day communication. Not only city people but also the village people use social media to sell their products. It should be remembered that the Gen Zeers are digital natives, and what one feel if they are prohibited from entering their own native country? By and large, a majority of people became the victims of the unnecessary decision to ban social media.

Let's go back to the same Gen Z protest. If the government had not become so cruel on the first day, I am sure the second day's destruction would never have happened. What the government should have realised is that the young people of this generation are educated and quite aware of the national and international affairs. Being global citizens, they are studying the world closely. They were out on the street with a good cause; they were merely asking for a corruption-free country. Was their demand so dangerous that the government had to open fire? Were those protesters criminals? This stupid and unforgivable act of KP Sharma Oli-led government has been strongly criticised everywhere. When Sushila Karki, now appointed Prime Minister, went to support the Gen Z protest on the second day, she also condemned this act as being a 'mass murder.'

Revolution

After the Gen Z protest turned into a revolution on the second day, the old government collapsed. Even though the new government has decided to declare martyrs to those who lost their lives during the protest and to provide one and a half million rupees as compensation to their families, these martyrs have not received full justice yet.

It is the newly formed government's duty to find everyone responsible for the death of the innocent young people and punish them according to the law. Then only the Gen Z movement will be successful. Great poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota was wise enough to write, 'Natipnu hera kopila, nachudnu paapa laagdachha, nachyaatnu fula naani ho, dayaa ra dharma bhaagdachha...'. Here, the poet is addressing little children, but it is equally applicable to adults and relevant to the incident of September 8.    

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Friday, September 19, 2025 ) 

[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]

Limit Your Social Media Time

 

'Ma'am, my son glues his eyes on the mobile phone all the time. He doesn't want to read any book or go out to play. I'm worried. What can I do?' a parent complained to me. To pacify her, I said, 'It's not only your son; other parents also tell me the same story. Yeah, it's really a serious problem these days.' At the same time, my inner voice was whispering, 'It's not only the children's fault. The parents introduce their children to the mobile phone first. They don't want to spend quality time with the children because they themselves have numerous activities to attend to on social media. It's natural for children to imitate their parents.'

When I observe my surroundings, I can see that almost all children sit in a corner of the room, enjoying one programme or another on their mobile phones. They are completely immersed in it; even if you try to speak to them, they do not respond. It is not surprising that the adult members of the family also use their mobile phones. This is the common picture of every household these days. With the advent of something, both advantages and disadvantages emerge. Initially, only its bright side is visible, but gradually the dark side also begins to emerge. The same has happened with the internet and different social sites as well. 

Discourse 

Now, the whole world is engaged in the discourse on how to prevent young children from becoming addicted to social media. Many countries have already started taking a strong initiative in this direction. For instance, last year the Senate in Australia approved that children under the age of 16 will be banned from using social media from the end of 2025, i.e., from December this year. If tech companies do not comply with this, they will be heavily fined. Like the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Norway, Greece, Italy, or even South Korea, these countries have also taken initiatives to restrict the use of social media platforms by minors. 

Who doesn't know about Silicon Valley? It is a region in Northern California that is a global centre for high technology and innovation. All top-class tech companies, such as Apple, Google, Meta, and many more, are located there. What is more interesting is that many employees of these companies also prefer not to expose their children to technology. Therefore, they send their children to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, where computers are not used in the classrooms. Waldorf education emphasises children's holistic development. The goal of such education is to develop students' intellectual, artistic and practical skills, with a focus on imagination and creativity. It is believed that learning happens effectively if students interact with one another and with their teachers, and work with real materials in the real world. For all this, technology will not help.

There is a growing body of research that supports the view that social media has numerous negative effects on young children. For example, it is found that those who spend a lot of time in front of the screen tend to show more symptoms of depression, anxiety, mood swings, sleep deprivation and eating disorders. Cyberbullying can be another problem that happens on social media. There is a risk that students may be distracted from their studies, as there are numerous distractions that can capture their attention. Studies also show that early exposure to social media might cause attitude problems and risky behaviour in adolescence. In addition, there is a high chance that children are exposed to inappropriate or harmful content detrimental to their psychological development.

Parents' role 

On the one hand, there are numerous adverse effects of exposing children to social media at a young age. On the other hand, we cannot completely control their use of it, as it has become an integral part of everyone's life. However, it has many positive aspects as well, but the condition is that social media must be used wisely. Various research studies show that social media helps children to develop global connections, it provides them with different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or TikTok to showcase their creative work for a wider audience, they can be updated with current world affairs, and they can find a lot of resource materials which are helpful in their studies, among others.

Parents have an important role in balancing children's on-screen and off-screen activities. First of all, they can set a particular on-screen time slot for their children. For example, after completing all of their homework, they can use the mobile phone for an hour, not more than that. Occasionally, parents must monitor the types of activities their children are engaging in on the phone. They should minimise their own screen time. Children imitate adults. The parents should spend a sufficient amount of time interacting with their children. There are a lot of topics they can discuss. This way, parent-child bonding will also be strengthened. Most of all, the parents can introduce their children to the book world. Once children divert their attention from a mobile phone to books, then parents' worry starts melting. But to develop children's reading habits, the parents must also read with them.

(Published in an English Daily The Rising Nepal on Saturday, September 6, 2025 ) 

[The pictures on this blog are posted here with permission from their owners or have been gathered from various sources on the Internet. If you are the copyright-holder to any of the photographs herein do not hesitate to contact me. They will be swiftly removed if desired so.]