Curbing addiction to social media

The social media is a vital part of the information superhighway. It has, however, been observed that youths and teenagers’ addiction to the social media is at a very high rate.

This, obviously, is negatively affecting our youths. It is doing more harm than good to their lives. People have actually lost their lives through interactions on social media platforms. This is rather unfortunate.

The invention of the social media initially was basically for the purpose of reunion, getting to meet new friends and being enlightened. But the situation is not quite the same nowadays.

The social media platform has been drastically transformed into an immoral one where youths have abandoned the culture, morals and upbringing inculcated in them by their parents. The social media now purveys different sexually explicit materials that are negatively affecting the youths in every aspect of life, especially academically.

When youths spend the better part of their time accessing immoral materials on the internet rather than reading their books, the  results should be easy to guess.

One of the most distressing aspects that needs to be effectively curbed is  “online grooming’’. There are lots of fake social media users with fake accounts on the social media. They build friendships with youths, especially teenagers, because of their naïve nature, and this endangers their lives.

These fake users take advantage of the social media platforms to get important information from the young people. They employ subtle means of  persuasion which pushes the youth to divulge vital pieces of information about themselves that will later be used against them.

I want to implore our parents to take effective measures towards this rising phenomenon, starting from the kinds of gadgets they provide their children, the company of friends that they keep and their hobbies. This measure has been found useful going by findings and testimonies by many people.

Gloria Oloche

olochegloria@gmail.com.