Employment Minister deplores abuse of social media
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has bemoaned the abuse of social media by Ghanaians, insisting that those platforms have been wrongly applied in many instances, while they attract the valuable time of some workers, at the expense of productivity.
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He said the positive intent and effect behind the creation of social media were being eroded in the Ghanaian context by the unfortunate trend that had left many virtually addicted to their phones and tablets and other sophisticated gadgets.
Addressing students of the University for Development Studies (UDS) on the theme: "Communication as an effective tool for social development", in Wa last Saturday, Mr Iddrisu said such platforms had become outlets of "insults, vilification and abuse" of public officials and other members of society.
The forum, which was organised by the Development Communication Students Association (DEVCOSA) as an intellectual event, attracted students from other faculties who were thrilled by Mr Iddrisu's rhetorical power.
"The abuse, the insults, the vilification, the untruths cannot characterise the generation of social media. The essence of social media is for people to be able to share vital information to elicit appropriate responses from society for the good and benefit of society," Mr Iddrisu said.
Advice to youngsters
Mr Iddrisu said he was appalled by the publication on social media of the gory pictures of the unfortunate victims of last Wednesday's road accident that claimed 63 lives around Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region.
"Within seconds of the accident, those unacceptable pictures were all over on social media, without courtesy to human life, human dignity, the bereaved families and even to the dead.
"That behaviour is not known to Ghanaian culture, nor is it known to Ghanaian values," he said.
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"Ghanaians' romanticism with social media, whether Facebook or WhatsApp or Twitter, is beginning to affect productivity. The amount of attention young people give to social media and the purposes for which you use them I do not think are in many respects desirable.
"I think that we have to do a rethink of it as a country. I know that at the workplaces many of our workers spend time on social media. Instead of spending that time on productive working activities, it is spent on those exchanges of social media messages,” Mr Iddrisu said.
Communication
On communication, he said as a communicator, he was mindful of his choice of words, his integrity and the lasting impression he could make on people in his daily engagements, whether in politics or in social life.
"First impressions are lasting impressions," he said, and advised the students to be wary of the impressions they created by being direct and truthful in their communication,” he said.
Mr Iddrisu, said communication remained a major tool for development, but its misuse and abuse could prove counter-productive.