Technology is no longer just a tool—it’s a stage, a classroom, and sometimes even a battlefield for ideas. At TEDxLSPR 2025, two young voices—Moch. Syahru Ramadhan and Rafa Shabira—showed how Gen Z is navigating this digital storm, not just surviving but rewriting the rules of learning and social change.

From Pandemic Screens to Gold Medal Dreams
For Syahru, everything started during the COVID-19 pandemic. While classrooms shut down, he turned his curiosity loose online. Digital platforms became his new lab, giving him access to interactive experiments in chemistry, biology, and physics that sparked a deeper passion for science.

That passion soon translated into achievements: competing in OSN Kimia, winning a gold medal at I2ASPO 2024, and eventually earning a full scholarship to study at LSPR Institute of Communication and Business.

Yet what stands out most isn’t the medal, but his mindset. “Digital classroom is a place where we can grow and evolve through technology,” he said during the interview. For him, the digital shift wasn’t about replacing teachers or textbooks, but blending tradition with innovation. His ideal classroom would prioritize three things: sleek UI/UX, engaging interactivity, and collaborative teamwork—because learning should feel alive, not static.

But Syahru also pointed out the elephant in the room: distraction. “Flexibility is both a blessing and a curse,” he explained. The flood of information online can lead to endless scrolling instead of focused study. His solution? Keep human connections at the core—through face-to-face discussions, interactive debates, and using AI as a tool for creation rather than passive consumption.

Most importantly, he warned against treating technology as an unstoppable force. “We must control technology, not be controlled by it,” he said firmly. In his vision, the next 5–10 years will bring even more digital tools into classrooms—but the human role in guiding, teaching, and mentoring will remain irreplaceable.

From Hashtags to Movements
While Syahru hacked learning, Rafa Shabira has been busy transforming how youth voices resonate online. As President of the LSPR News Club, she lives in the intersection between media, storytelling, and activism.

Her talk at TEDxLSPR cut through the noise: social media is more than just trends—it’s a megaphone for change. But she also warned against performative activism, the kind where people post hashtags without ever stepping into the real world.

So how do you turn trends into impact? For Rafa, the answer is intention. If a trend carries positive values and is applied in daily life, it can grow into meaningful change. She cited online competitions that gave opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to showcase their talents as one example of how platforms can spark positive movement.

And when asked about what makes content stand out, her answer was clear: creativity catches attention, but authenticity makes it stick. Youth audiences, she believes, can smell fakeness a mile away. What matters isn’t polished perfection, but sincerity—sharing ideas, struggles, and solutions in a way that feels genuine.

Her biggest lesson from years of navigating the online world? Social media is not the whole truth. “Don’t force yourself to chase someone else’s online standard,” she said. Instead, use it as motivation and a platform to inspire.

To those who feel their voice is too small to matter, she had a simple but powerful message: “Every movement starts with a voice. No matter how small, it still has an impact. Don’t be afraid to speak up.”

One Generation, Two Fronts of Change
What tied both talks together was a shared belief: technology is a tool, not the driver.

Syahru wants students to see digital classrooms as a space of opportunity—where experiments, discussions, and curiosity can flourish beyond four walls. Rafa wants her peers to claim social media not just as entertainment, but as a force for activism and education.

Their message to Gen Z was clear: use the tools, don’t let the tools use you. Control technology, lead the trends, and turn them into something bigger than yourself.

It’s easy to dismiss digital classrooms as “just Zoom calls” or social media as “just memes.” But if the TEDxLSPR stage proved anything, it’s that the next wave of leaders isn’t waiting for permission. They’re already out there, experimenting, posting, leading clubs, running competitions, and pushing peers to think harder.

So here’s the challenge for everyone who listened: the next time you open your laptop or scroll through your feed, ask yourself—

• Are you just consuming?
• Or are you creating, sharing, and changing?

Because in the hands of this generation, a simple classroom link or a single hashtag might just be the spark for the future.