Communication is vital to the coexistence of humans, As a result of technological advancements resulting to the foundation of internet which has been one of the greatest communication channel of man kind. It is quite obvious that existence of internet has gotten rid of most communication challenges that serves as a hindrance, for example the case of boundaries have been eliminated.
Decades ago, the conventional media {Television/Radio, Newspaper and magazine} took the lead role in dissemination of information, appraised by its ability and capacity to get in touch with wide range of heterogeneous audience. It's ability is quite magnificent to the extent it was quoted to have possessed the power of a hypodermic needle also known has magic bullet theory. The basis and assumption of this theory is that almighty media is capable of influencing people's behaviour and attitude, directing them to act in way that goes in line with the objective of the media, you can say the media is capable of mind control. Such was the power attributed to the conventional media until the advent of internet.
Internet being a product of technology has been in existence for decades now, as a result of its rise and usage it has made the world a global village. As important as information is, before the arrival of internet there is this accessibility barrier due to differences in locality and geographical entity. It became an hindrance in dissemination of information that is capable of enriching and saving lives of humans but thanks to technology, internet was birthed eradicating the challenge, which was highly commendable.
Based on its features, humans have relied on its usage in sourcing for information which has been useful so far but compared to conventional media whose so aim is to filter information for the benefits of the public, when it comes to internet it does not have that feature neither is it concerned about it, information can be dropped by any individual from any corner of the earth and it will reach the masses in a matter of minutes such is the power of the internet. With less censorship, to an extent you can say through the internet our true libertarian rights can be practiced, which involves freedom of expression, right to be solely responsible to choose which information is worth being read but to what extent should this right be expressed?
Out of the abundance of the internet, we now have other innovations such as social media. Social media has taken the world by surprise through the rate of its assimilation by the masses. Becoming a global phenomenon that has impacted the cognitive understanding of the masses about the existence and Significance of the existing media that has ruled supreme over the years. Social media gained more acceptance due to its flexibility in convening information without going through gatekeeping process an attribute which is most sacred to the conventional media.
The power of the social media is less influenced by the governing bodies of a state compared to the conventional media, that is why over the years some states have tried to put some restrictions on the use of social media. Due to the capacity of the social media it has created career opportunities for people now known has social media influencers.
The world is finally becoming a global village, a theory that has been trending for decades but we never actually focussed on what it truly means or the consequences it could attract. A global village simply translate to a world without boundaries, where everything could be of reach to anyone regardless of which part of the world they are from. Just from your smartphones you could easily get an information about a place thousands of miles away from your location, you don't have to worry about moving an inch.
As intriguing as it might sound, to have a platform where uncensored information are disseminated, it does come with its own challenges such as children getting access to adult contents. Though a lot of websites and social media app have protocol in place to reduce the rate at which kids get exposed to inappropriate content but it is never enough. Our so called freedom of expression giver is now an instrument of promoting unethical practices and immoral behaviour, influencing kids who are not matured enough to interpret the contents they are exposed to.
It begs the question, how do we prevent this and whose responsibility is it, Parents, content creators or social media platforms/website owners?
It all begins with the first agent of socialisation, parents being the major guardian of a child is saddled with the responsibility of educating a child about the need to abstain from unethical and immoral content. Kids are always curious about the unknown, so before their curiosity start to form a parent should give them the information they seek. Parents have always abstained from any discussion that has to do with sexual topics believing a child will come to know when they come of age. Seeing how things are presently, is it really working out? So before they go out searching for answers on social media and website to satisfy their cravings, wouldn't it be better if they were told by their parents?
Then we have social media platform/website owners, like I said earlier they are protocols put in place to protect children from adult contents but it is not enough. How about the integration of national identity number as part of requirements for creating an account which would allow easy detection of a child's age. Having everyone's information at hand allows them to come up with a system that allows accessibility to content based on age preference. Sadly we can't eradicate adult contents because they come in different forms such as advertisement, topics e.t.c which happens to be a major source of income for website and social media platforms owners but we can reduce the rate at which children get exposed to such content.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Uncensored" in hive learners community.
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