'Touching' digital knowledge

Dinh Ngoc Chau, a student at Tran Van Giau Specialized High School (Tan An City), often listens to audiobooks when she doesn't have the "opportunities" to read physical books.

In the fast-paced and information-saturated digital age, maintaining a reading habit is not easy for many young people, but for Dinh Ngoc Chau, a student at Tran Van Giau Specialized High School (Tan An City, Long An Province), books remain an indispensable companion. Chau started reading at a young age. In some years, she has read more than 10 books. Chau's favorite genres are usually works about war, and thorny and profound social issues.

However, in the hustle and bustle of studying and extracurricular activities, I don't always have time to read physical books. And that's where audiobooks become a "bridge." While many young people choose to listen to music while exercising or relaxing, Chau chooses to listen to audiobooks (she usually uses the Fonos app).

Chau shared: “I often listen to audiobooks when it’s not convenient to read physical books. And I always choose to listen to books through copyrighted apps. That’s a way to show respect to the creators of the works and also a way to protect genuine knowledge.”

In the digital age, reading e-books or listening to audiobooks is becoming increasingly popular, especially among young people. Many platforms such as Fonos, Voiz FM, and Kindle are opening new doors to accessing knowledge anytime, anywhere. However, like any product in the digital environment, audiobooks are not immune to the downside of copyright infringement and illegal copying, which negatively impacts the efforts of authors and producers.

For Hoang Hai Linh, currently a university student in Ho Chi Minh City, her schedule is even busier. Balancing studying and working to cover her living expenses in the city, attending foreign language classes seems almost impossible. However, in this era of international integration, English is an indispensable "key." She knows that without mastering a foreign language, the doors to scholarships, career opportunities, or simply access to global knowledge will be partially closed.

Therefore, Linh chose a different path: self-learning English through digital applications, specifically Duolingo, a platform with a user-friendly interface. "Every day, I spend more than an hour at the end of the day studying on Duolingo. Sometimes, while riding the bus, waiting for a friend, or during my lunch break, I also take the opportunity to study a few short lessons," Linh shared.

No classrooms, no thick textbooks, no blackboards or chalk—just a phone and an internet connection—Linh is diligently accumulating vocabulary and sentence structures every day.

Young people like Dinh Ngoc Chau and Hoang Hai Linh are demonstrating a very characteristic learning spirit of Generation Z: proactive, flexible, and creative in accessing digital knowledge. They don't wait for knowledge to come to them through traditional channels, but instead forge their own paths, finding ways to learn that suit their personal circumstances, as long as they can "access" the knowledge.

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