Mental Health: NGO cautions on abuse of social media, entertainment

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) the Educator, on Tuesday, said that the abuse of social media and entertainment could be injurious to mental health.

The assertion was made at the conclusion of an International Mental Health Conference, which came to a close in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the International Mental Health Conference is organised by an NGO, the Educator USA/Africa.

The NGO seeks to provide information and enlightenment programmes to manage mental health as well as ways to avoid depression and suicide.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the aim of the campaign was to promote and draw people’s attention to mental illness and its long-term effect on peoples’ life.

A board member of The Educator, Mr Nnamdi Osuji, in an interview with NAN in Lagos said that depression could not be solved by sticking to the internet.

“A lot of people resort to the internet whenever they are depressed, this is not the solution, people should rather seek for physical help by consulting a counsellor.

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“People seeking for help online cannot get it, instead what they get are the negative things that have led many to suicide.

“The rate of suicide in Nigeria is high due to social media abuse; many of the things they are watching on their mobile phones are not helpful to them.

“In our society, we thrive more on social interaction which is being destroyed by social media now, many now chat online with their friends instead of visiting, this is not helpful,’’ he said.

Osuji said that destroying social interaction via the internet would not help in times of depression; instead, it would destroy social interaction.

“It has been observed now that many now chat via online thinking they can suppress depression, this is not true as investigations have revealed that social media is not helpful.

“We have our own culture as blacks to interact within ourselves and socialise. We visit ourselves and share our problems. We have an adage which says “A problem shared is half solved’’.

“In recent times social media has almost taken away our life, it is a distraction we must avoid, some don’t even bother to visit again, instead they chat up their friends online.

“We need to go back to our original culture of social interaction and communal integration, this has worked for us in the past, social media should not take that away,’’ he said.

In the same vein, the founder of The Educator, Dr Eniabitobi Kuyinu, said that entertainment has not been helpful in curbing anti-social behaviour among the youths.

“I think the entertainment industry has not been helpful in curbing anti-social behaviour among the youths.

“The entertainment industry portrays anti-social behaviour such as smoking hard drugs as a normal lifestyle.

“The sad part of this is that most of the young people look up to the artists as role models but instead they are misleading them.

“Some of the musical shows engage in the use of hard drugs as a good indulgence and these acts could lead to mental derailment,’’ she said.

Kuyinu said that government could help by regulating what comes out of the entertainment industry to curb youths.

“I believe government can help with what comes out of the entertainment industry because a showing of young ones smoking banned substances openly is not a good idea.

“Smoking of hard drugs is rampant in the society now because that is what everybody can view via explicit pictures from our entertainment industry.

“We need to get to a point where we need to care for ourselves, especially as mental health is concerned, we need to raise responsible youths for the future of our dear country,’’ Kuyinu said.

The three-day conference had participants drawn from across Nigeria, with delegates from government parastatal agencies, Prisons, Police, the Clergy and Lagos State Government officials.

The international facilitators included Dr Dan Sartor, Vice-President, Integration, Richmond Graduate University, U.S;  Dr Sonja Sutherland, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, and Mrs Andrea Jones, President, International Parenting Institute, U.S.

Others are Dr Yolanda Fountain, Founder, Play Wellness, U.S., and Mrs Renee Bryan.