TANJUNG MALIM: The trend among the younger generation who are easily influenced by bite-size social media clips is worrying, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

During his opening speech at the National Book Award 2023 here on Thursday (Dec 21), the Prime Minister reminded attendees that the people should seek in-depth and comprehensive knowledge so they are not easily influenced by a brief overview of a topic on social media.

"(This influence is) even with regard to national policy, the economy and education in just a few minutes of a social media post. This is very dangerous because it is not comprehensive knowledge.

“An idea or issue such as the economy or policies must be studied in-depth and (exposure to) a number of complex views, following the Al-Kuliyah concept.

“It is crucial for such a concept to be adopted as Al-Kuliyah requires a deep understanding of a topic, not just through a brief summary like a one-minute TikTok video,” he said at Tuanku Canselor Hall at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris' (UPSI) Sultan Azlan Shah Campus here.

Anwar said the younger generation is more susceptible to the beliefs and views of others or certain parties due to ignorance or a lack of knowledge.

He urged the public to increase their knowledge by reading more to prevent becoming victims of parties that spread backward narratives.

“When our knowledge is limited, people claim that certain things will condemn you to hell and we will not question it.

“This is because of limited knowledge ... we want to question something but we do not have the information (so) we are trapped in this backward and old-fashioned thinking,” he added.

Anwar also advised lecturers to inculcate the reading habit among their students by discussing their current reads with them before starting classes.