The Mirror's Health , Lifestyle and Fashion
‘Use social media positively’
She asked them to focus on the myriad of opportunities that social media offers instead of promoting and concentrating on the negative, which, she said, were gradually becoming the new normal.
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She cited sites such as LinkedIn and Alison as social media platforms that provided professional training with certification while YouTube and Facebook had many skills and educational materials that supported learning, branding, networking and skills development.
“We don’t tend to witness much of the productive use of social media among the youth; rather, it is mostly about the promotion of pornography, betting, gaming, smoking and behaviours that are culturally unacceptable such as showcasing of excess piercing by young ladies, men wearing earrings, insult and nudity,” she said.
Advice
Ms Puni Nyamesem said the above when she addressed the youth of the St Paul Catholic Church at Amakom during their youth week celebration on the theme: “Today's youth and Social Media”.
She also asked the youth to showcase the good and acceptable norms, traditions and Ghanaian culture on social media to the outside world rather than blindly copying what they saw on social media.
She charged the youth to balance their social media activities with human interaction to avoid screen addiction.
According to her, across the globe, screen addiction had become a problem among the youth with dire consequences on their health and social relationships.
“Screen addiction affects the brain section responsible for emotional control, self-regulation and decision-making. It is just like alcohol and drug addiction,” she explained.
She mentioned some side effects of screen addiction to include relational problems, low academic performance, financial drainage due to data bundle access and job loss as some of the consequences of screen media addiction.
Ms Puni Nyamesem called on gatekeepers and regulatory authorities such as the National Media Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education, the Ministry of Information and the ministries of Chieftaincy and Culture and Gender and Social Welfare to come up with a framework to regulate the activities and content on social and traditional media, especially those promoting foreign contents like telenovelas.
Attention
For her part, former Deputy Ashanti Regional, Minister Elizabeth Agyemang, who is also the Executive Director of People’s Mother Foundation, urged parents to pay much attention to their parental duties to protect their children from harm and external forces such as screen media influence and peer pressure.
She said parents should limit their children’s access to screen media and inculcate in them the good Ghanaian values and charged the youth to be disciplined in their dealings with others.