Steps must be taken to teach children the dangers and threats that come with excessive social media use, a faith-based campaigner said on Thursday as his charity launched a social media awareness programme.
Arnal Goslyn, CEO of registered charity EKCO Nation, blamed a rise in negative behaviours among children on addiction to social media during the launch of the EKCO Wise Campaign at the Deighton Griffith Secondary School.
The campaign, which will take the form of a ten-week social media addiction awareness programme, seeks to help educate students on the negative effects of high social media use.
Following a noticeable increase in anti-social behaviour among students, the idea for EKCO Nation was born, Goslyn said. The charity is a Christian development and outreach campaign using Christian music and performing artists. It seeks to build public awareness, educate and equip youths and parents about the threats and destructive influences present in social media, the internet and music; and the need to safeguard their minds and families to minimise the negative impact these influences can have.
“One of the things we recognised was the threat of the negative influences in technology, in media, in music, and how that impacted the behaviour and how it impacted the brain development, socialisation [and] value systems of our youth. We wanted to do something about that. We wanted to build awareness of these threats.
“We started EKCO Nation in 2016 with a vision to change the culture, change the future. Our campaigns are geared toward patterning with youth, families, communities, organisations, [and] educational institutions to understand these threats, and to counteract them by providing wholesome strategies, education and information alternatives where families can enjoy these same mediums positively and responsibly.”
Three other secondary schools – Springer Memorial School, The Lodge School, and The Alexandra School – will also be included in the programme, with over 400 participating students being targeted before the campaign’s completion.
Goslyn added that it is hoped some work can also be done at the primary school level, given some of the worrying behaviours being seen among students there.
“The curriculum will help these students evaluate how social media impacts them, the dangers of social media addiction, and the importance of being good digital citizens. We’ll also be conducting several one-off intervention and awareness sessions in other secondary schools and primary schools, because we have realised a lot of these institutions are calling us, especially in primary school [where] we are seeing a lot of issues with students using their devices, whether it’s porn, whether it’s cyberbullying or so on,” he said.
Director of Massy Foundation David Neilands, who spoke on behalf of the corporation after it donated $40 000 in support of the initiative, praised Goslyn and his team for the work they have done so far.
He said: “This is such an important programme, since we as a nation, and indeed the world, are still reeling in some cases from the aftereffects of the pandemic which sent educational systems into a tailspin and forced the transition to a digital classroom platform during the period of restricted interaction. And we know that this had a huge impact on our children – some thrived, but others struggled –, affected by an explosion of issues of social media addiction, cyberbullying, and other forms of digital misuse and abuse.
“Our Massy core values dictate that we must practise love and care, and promote growth and continuous improvement of our youth. And so, this is the basis on which we are proud to collaborate with EKCO Nation and, by extension, parents, teachers, guardians and custodians to support and encourage our young people. It is heartening to see the EKCO Wise programme in action as an investment in our youth and the future of our nation.”
(SB)
