Introduction
Well, while talking about personal growth I believe everyone knows what does it mean. But to give it an introduction we can say that personal growth is what keeps you going forward in life no matter what the situation is, what your life is going through. Personal growth is what can never go waste. Or to be more concise we can say personal growth is what you should always be looking for to make your life smooth, happier and easy.
So, what Personal Growth actually means??
Personal Growth is that trait of human being which help individual’s growth may it be mental, physical or emotional. To make it more simple we can say that when you work for yourself, for your own development it is what Personal Growth is.
In today’s modern, technical era, working on just physical, emotional and mental development will not be viable. You need to work according to the changing world to be with this generation or else you will be left behind.
To be with this changing world, you need to know certain changing things which will work for you and give you benefits.
Talking about Technology and Internet, we all know how helpful it has become nowadays to be connected with any part of the world just with a single click. Easy, Right!! So, to not be left behind you should know that this changing world has much more to do with the internet than you can think.
Frankly speaking, we all know that these gadgets or internet has both good and bad aspects. When we talk about bad aspects its that we mindlessly scroll through social media for hours without any reasons. Is it worth it?? Of course not. Scrolling or using phone or any other gadget just for fun or to pass your time could never be helpful or to say, it would never give you any benefits.
While talking about good aspects we know that it keeps us connected with the entire world, with our closed ones. We can know anything about anyone residing anywhere with just a click. Amazing, isn’t it?! Of course, but besides all these we can use this for our personal growth also.
Now the question that arises is How Technology and Internet can be used for Personal Growth??
So, the answer to this question is very simple. If you understand the technology and internet, if you know how to make use of it instead of doom scrolling you can use it for your personal growth.
We all know how this internet which people use for their entertainment is a source of income for those who use it in the right way. Then why not you?? Yes, you could be the one who could use internet as a source of income. Well, this internet is a tool which helps people learn new things like recipes, yoga postures, writing skills and what not. Then why can’t you? Of course you can. You could be the one learning new things from this technology. All you need to know is how to use it in the right way. Learning new skills, working in the right direction with this technology will help you know more about its world.
DIGITAL GROWTH
Now, what is Digital Growth??
When you make use of these gadgets, technology and internet for your improvement, for your growth, for your source of income or to learn any new skills, it is what Digital Growth is.
Digital Growth often includes learning skills that you want to master through online platforms, and surprisingly it can include any skill you want to learn, there is no limits. Yes, there is no limits to online learning-the reason why anyone can be expert at anything anytime they want with being consistent.
Digital Growth can also include building Digital Skills.
Skills like graphics, editing, posting, writing can be thought of as digital skills. Any skills that you make use of digitally can be thought of as Digital Skills. Being expert at these things can help you become digitally strong. As we know of now there are many people who use their skills like writing, making graphics or any other digital skill we get attracted towards and make use of these skills for their income or to just use them as their passion-it is up to the individual how they use the skills.
Also, Digital Growth is being used as a medium for career and personal development. It is now more often used by students for their career enhancement. It is being done as many students use technology and internet for their education. They use it as a tool for their better education and many students have been successful by these. Many students who made use of online learning are at a successful place. Not every student uses it for the purpose of entertainment. Online skills often provide career oppurtunities for many people. We can think of the one who uploads recipes maybe for their passion but they also get benefitted through having a source of income. So online platforms can be used in many ways if we think and make use of it in the right way.
IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL GROWTH IN SELF IMPROVEMENT
We can make use of internet for self improvement in many ways. It helps us have better knowledge access, often giving us information about any topic we want, any news we want globally.
It helps us have improved communication skills if we learn better communication skills online. It helps us improve in every possible aspect.
Being a creative learner and explorer, we can learn and explore many things, may it be for our development, improvement or learning new skills. It always resides with us and it is up to us how we make use of it.
ESSENTIAL DIGITAL SKILLS FOR BEGINNERS
Being a beginner you should first know what are the skills that you should master first before moving on to any other or new digital skill. It always takes small steps to move to a long distance.
Firstly, you should know what basic computer literacy is. You should know the basic use of computer and gadgets which is foremost important for anyone. Once you learn the basics there will be no limits for your learning.
After this you can move to Internet Research Skills. Being informative about any topic is a must. You should know about the topic, about the skills you are making use of. Always be curious to explore because half knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge.
ROLE OF ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORMS
Talking about online learning platforms we can never think of a better option than You Tube which provides us with tutorials of any skills may it be cooking, painting, dancing or any other skills. There are many other alternatives to this too. We can make use of any online learning platform and become expert at our skills. All you need to know is the skill you want to master and it is done, because the most difficult thing is choosing a skill, online platforms make it to easy to learn them.
CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL GROWTH
We all are aware of the fact that every coin has two sides. Similarly, Digital Growth has both positive and negative aspects. We already talked about the positive aspects. While talking about negative aspects, we need to know that it can lead to information overload. It can cause screen addiction, which is not good for our health. It can lead us to distractions, because it is natural for anyone to get distracted. It often leads to fake information when the internet is filled with so many things it is obvious that not every information is correct.
It often leads to privacy concerns because sometimes people overshare on internet which can get against us in several ways. It may often lead to mental health effects because if someone is so much on the internet it is obvious that the person will be tensed about the growth, about what he wanted to do and maybe its not going according to his wish. It can lead to stress, Anxiety etc.
So it is always important for us to make correct use of it and not always being so much affected with these because online platforms can go viral any moment but if you get stressed or health is not well, then it will all go in vain. Nothing will be of any cost. No benefits at the cost of your health. So always be mindful and thoughtful of what you do.
TIPS FOR HEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE DIGITAL GROWTH
When you really want to have a healthy and productive digital growth, there are certain things you need to know and follow. It includes to set learning goals, to be aware what you want to learn or do by using these tools instead of using it mindlessly. Always limiting screen time, following quality content and no useless stuff is what will make you digitally successful and help in your digital growth. It also includes practicing certain skills continuously that you want to master. One of the main suggestions you should follow is balancing your online and offline life. Though digital skills are useful, they can also become an issue if you don’t follow it the right way or use it continuously without any reason. So keeping a balance is really very necessary. Spending time with family members, friends or with yourself is equally important. Think carefully and use the tools mindfully.
FINAL THOUGHTS
To conclude, we can say that Digital Tools are a medium of individual’s development and growth if used in the right way. For growing digitally continuous learning is essential as we know that practice makes a man perfect. Also the technology should be used positively and wisely.