In favour of a national policy on social media

A cursory look at the Ghanaian media scene and an examination of our media history bring to the fore the massive transformation that has taken place in the media with the advent of democracy in 1992 which saw the liberalisation of media ownership and operations.

Without doubt, democracy, especially freedom of speech, has succeeded in engendering an increase in news media, both electronic and print.

This is a sharp departure from the days when information dissemination was slow as a result of the fact that one had to wait for the news via Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s radio or television, while those who depended more on the print media had to wait till the following morning to know what was happening around town.

In those days, news content was highly censored and the gatekeepers, acting in line with the political order of the time, gave out news that they thought the people had to hear or read.

However, from 2000 till date, a phenomenal change has occurred with the discovery of the social media, which came with such a dramatic onslaught that has changed the face of news generation and dissemination.

Today, events are streamed in real time as the situation unravels, thereby posing a huge threat of making the traditional media moribund.

It is not uncommon nowadays to see people engaged in various activities but still on their mobile phones and tablets, ‘Whatsapping’ or ‘Facebooking’ or engaged in an activity on another form of social media.

Social psychologists have described people’s affinity to the use of social media as an addictive and worrying phenomenon that must be addressed as soon as possible.

Many Ghanaian researchers have conducted research into the usage of social media platforms and cautioned that care must be taken with regard to the negative effects that an otherwise productive tool could have on the vulnerable segments of our society.

This becomes more imperative in view of the unregulated content that is put out in such media, which is easily accessed by even children who have access to phones.

It is necessary that parents take note of the sites their children visit in order not to allow them to venture into sites that are meant for adults only.

It is in line with this that the Daily Graphic backs the call for a national policy to streamline the usage of social media.

Research conducted in Ghana and Nigeria on university students showed that Whatsapp was an academic disruptor and psychologically addictive and that students lacked insight into how to curb whatsapp’s psychological addiction.

Thankfully, a Deputy Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Ato Sarpong, has given an assurance that a policy in that regard has reached an advanced stage.

It is the hope of the Daily Graphic that immediate steps would be taken to cut short the threat that the ills of social media pose to the vulnerable segments of our society, especially our children, adolescents, youth and women.

We must be guided by the dictum: “A stitch in time saves nine.”