Call to use social media wisely

SOCIAL media users must apply common sense and be responsible when posting and sharing information, four Caritas Technical Secondary School female students say.
Gracelyn Magatu said the mushrooming of social media platforms in the last three decades had improved communications and information sharing.
“Human beings will always need to interact and the different social media platforms have been created for expression and communication,” she said.
“Social media allows people to express their opinions and it is the responsibility of users to carefully consider how they choose to use it.”
Magatu said this at NBC’s chat room programme on the topic “Social media and its impact on young people” on Wednesday.
Athalyah Paissat said just like everything else, social media had its pros and cons.
“It (social media) is used to build relationships, express how we feel and promote business growth,” she said.
“The effects are extensive and are not just positive but can be negative as well.
“It not just affects a person’s physical wellbeing, but their mental and emotional state as well.
“It also encourages the use of abbreviations and memes that are common practice among the users and this can lead to poor language development, use of slang and poor self-expression.”
Jabura Barara said social media was developed as a way of appreciating and respecting the views of others and educating oneself on the need to improve social skills to build solid relationships.
Rebecca Ruambil cautioned how certain posts on social media tended to be heinous, breaching the Cybercrime Act of 2016, but lacked enforcement.
“Social media is a tool to improve our communication and cooperation to work together in building societies,” she said.
“If it is used for anything bad, the users need to be reminded that there are laws and penalties.”