Overcoming illiteracy

Nathan, a 26-year-old bachelor, who works as a mineral water supplier, dropped out of school before finishing primary education due to family issues. His friends often claim he has an inferiority complex due to illiteracy. Until about a couple of years ago he had no phone, but his friends persuaded him to invest in a smartphone. As a film buff he started watching movies and Tamil film clips on YouTube by clicking on links his friends sent him. All he needed was to recognise the YouTube icon and the still images. He was then able to follow YouTube recommendations, based on his watching history, and so to gain access to new videos with his favourite South Indian cinema stars. 

After his experiments with YouTube, his friends helped him create a Facebook account. His daily activity on Facebook takes the form of:

Step 1: Clicking on the Facebook logo.

Step 2: Scrolling to browse posts.

Step 3: Looking at a picture and, if he likes it, clicking on the ‘thumbs up’ sign.

Step 4: Sharing the picture by clicking on the forward arrow and, once again, clicking on the last picture on the top of the screen.

This is also how he shares video clips via Facebook. Using the graphical interface on Facebook it is entirely possible for those who are illiterate, such as, Nathan to use social media.