Social Media Is As Destructive As It Is Instructive, Varsity Dean Warns

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A university dean on Wednesday cautioned secondary school students in Anambra State to be guided in their use of social media, warning that it is as destructive as it is instructive.

This assertion was made at a Mass Media Literacy Conference organised by the Department of Mass Communication of Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State in conjunction with Anambra State Ministry of Education for secondary schools in the state.

In his speech, the Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Stella Okunna, says it is imperative for the young generation to be guided in the use of the Social Media in the areas of ability to access, analyse, evaluate, and disseminate information sourced from the internet for intellectual and social upliftment and stability.

Students from various secondary schools across Anambra State converged on Nnamdi Azikiwe University Auditorium, Awka, to be part of the conference.

At the conference, it was highlighted that promoting critical media literacy is essential to students in their understanding of the Mass Media and its impact on the events that shape their daily lives.

The growing interest in the new form of Mass Media, the Social Media, by the young ones has shown clearly that it has definitely become an integral part of their life and other young adults.

According to 2015 Pew Research Centre Study, a staggering 90 per cent of college students use social media and this informs the decision of the organisers of the program to undertake the conference where the impact of social media on youths and how to use it are discussed.

While a large number of students and young ones know about the Social Media, some others do not.

Other resource persons note the need for every student to know about the social media as well as the positive and negative activities that go on it.

For the organisers of the conference and some of the participants, a new knowledge had been sent out and gained.

With the Social Media, everyone is connected to one another and a lot of pieces of information pass through them massively, thus creating the world in the image of a global village.

Any information, either by audio or video sent can hardly be retrieved, a situation that made the conference resource persons cautioned the students on the use of the social media, warning that it is as destructive as it is instructive.