EARLIER this week, Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes, addressing a workshop at the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School spoke about the need for educators to protect students and the education system from the dangers lurking on the internet.
Her admonition was: “Whether you are their parents or guardians, their teachers, instructors, headmistresses or counsellors or headmaster, there is no difference in the role that is required of us as adults.” Minister Hughes’ comments come at a time when technology is advancing and social media and the internet in general have become both a blessing and a curse.
Only recently, the social media was rife with discussions surrounding the release and subsequent perpetuation of a number of videos vividly displaying students from various high schools engaging in sexual activity. Minister Hughes said: “We have to do whatever it takes to make them ever so conscious of the possibilities lurking behind their cellphones, and their computer screens. We have to teach them to be cautious, when talking to people they do not know and, even with people they think they know and we have to teach them how to deal with online bullies.”
Dubbed the “sexual act challenge,” the videos had all seem to have been recorded on school premises while the children are in uniform. The circulation of the videos had also sparked widespread outrage on several grounds from members of the public. But really, a fair assessment would point to technology and the dark side that follows along with all its greatness. In this age, our children are born into the world of computers. In fact, tablets and smart phones are devices made available to children at such a young age, that there are toddlers who know to download and navigate apps and games before even learning to read.
This is the world we live in. Hand in hand with technology, goes the internet — that vast space of infinite information. This magnificent pair therefore provides us all with one thing: exposure — to knowledge; to good; to bad; to everything.
A 2014 survey by Time.com revealed that the average young person spends over seven hours a day on media devices, all of which are connected to the internet. The internet, in turn, provides uninhibited access to websites, movies, music videos and apps that portray gross sexual content and messages. The reality of the situation is that upon entry into even the tiniest corner of the internet, a person gains access to the world.
The other side of the coin is that, even without the internet, young people’s knowledge about sexual activity is no less limited. In fact, discussions on this series of events sparked comments that these acts have been occurring for years, and that today’s version in video form and social media popularity is simply an evolution brought on by technology.
But we continue to miss the point. The fact is that our children are exposed and always have been exposed, but the breakdown lies in the lack of boundaries that induce the making of bad decisions. Exposure to the internet makes it impossible to assess exactly how much children learn from each other, both in person and online. But this exposure does not come with advice on how to deal with these elements. Our children are exposed to the point of overexposure and we must now meet them halfway by ensuring that the knowledge and wisdom we instill in them is just as evolved as the technological world they now explore.
It means that sex education must be upgraded– at home and in schools. Studies show that Sex Ed is not being taught enough in schools and for those schools that do have it on their syllabuses, many students have already been privy to sex and sexual activities by the time they are actually taught. So consideration should be given as to when the introduction of Sex Ed is made. Parents, of course, need to talk to their children and move away from the misconception that they are “too young” to deal with certain things. If “too young” does not qualify for their entry into the wide world of the Internet, then it should not qualify for instilling knowledge in them about the things to which the internet introduces them.