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Changing society using new technologies: Youth participation in the social media revolution and its implications for the development of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa

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Abstract

This paper considers the adequacy of simple access to technology for acquiring active citizenship skills. The paper posits questions and then provides tentative answers to the questions: Is acquiring the latest technology a prerequisite for Kenyan students to join the social media revolution? Is access to the latest developments in digital social media networks an absolute prerequisite for training our students to be responsible citizens in democracies? What other components of good citizenship education for building democracies exist? How can we incorporate them into Kenyan classrooms so that when the digital social media revolution finally arrives in Kenya for all, her young people will more likely to be involved as responsible citizens rather than mindless revolutionaries following a mob without knowing why.

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  1. Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute, 1550 Sandhurst Cir, Toronto, Ontario, M1V 1S6, Canada

    Alnaaz Kassam

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  1. Alnaaz Kassam
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Correspondence to Alnaaz Kassam.

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Kassam, A. Changing society using new technologies: Youth participation in the social media revolution and its implications for the development of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. Educ Inf Technol 18, 253–263 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-012-9229-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-012-9229-5

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