The technological aspect of human relations, in the context of youth and adult partnerships, has not yet been addressed. For this reason, using the Youth-Adult Partnership (Y-AP) framework, this book chapter examines the role of mobile phone communications in the development of six constructs — authentic decision-making, natural mentors, reciprocal activity, character, compassion, and community connectivity. In this chapter, the Y-AP constructs, in tandem with the mobile phone, act as a series of human-technology interactions that can be used by youth workers to understand the dynamics of the relationship between youth and adults. The main role of this chapter is also to provide a structure that can provide guidance and understanding of the role of Malaysian youth workers when dealing with technology as a forum for collaboration between youth and adults.
TopIntroduction
Today, the demand for high professionalism for youth workers has become more necessary to ensure that the development of youth in Malaysia takes a clear path. The complexity and complexity of dynamic change in the issue of youth have drawn the attention of academics to the needs of high professionalism among youth workers. The discourse on improving the professionalism of youth workers began earlier in the western world, but in Malaysia, this speech seriously caught up with local debate around the year 2015 with the introduction of the Malaysian Youth Policy.
Historically, youth development in Malaysia through the Youth Program was managed by the Ministry of Youth and Sport (KBS) and the concept of Makmal Transformasi Pembangunan Belia was created in 2010 to synchronize the youth program between the agencies so that the program would not be ineffective (Hamzah, 2012). Several new youth programs were introduced through Makmal Transformasi Pembangunan Belia, such as Parlimen Belia Malaysia, Youth Icons and My Corps. All of this initiative brings a lot of benefits to young people's relationships with adults in Malaysia but has not yet addressed the use of technology as an enhanced forum. The technology aspect of human relations, particularly when we talk about youth and adult partnerships, has not yet been seriously discussed in Malaysia, at least as far as the researcher knows.
Technology that is becoming a need for young people and adults in Malaysia, such as mobile phones, is still not seriously included in the scope of youth development in Malaysia, where there is a disparity when addressing the use of technology such as mobile phones as a medium for youth development in particular when speaking about the Youth-Adult Partnership. According to the World Bank (2012), about three-quarters of the world's population now have access to mobile phones. It demonstrates the value of mobile phones today, for youth and adults. If this platform has not been able to take advantage of technology, particularly among youth workers who will be responsible for developing the relationship between youth and adults, there will be a major loss for Malaysia's youth development. It is also important to begin a discourse to enhance the professionalism of youth workers in Malaysia using technology (VeLure Roholt & Rana, 2011).
This why this book chapter aims to develop the Youth-Adult Partnership framework using the mobile phone, four elements of Youth-Adult Partnership (Y-AP) will be integrated with three characters of mobile phone communication to create this framework. Every section of the book can provide an overview of the resources and challenges for young workers using mobile phones to improve the relationship between youth and adults.