SOCIAL media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the likes are now thriving and now becoming common venues for adults and children alike to express all that they want under the heat of the sun. Good for those who have discipline in using them, who have that sound principle to post those that will give inspiration and foster positivity to their friends and acquaintances.
The proliferation of negative posts and cyberbullying alarms DepEd that made Department of Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones expressed concern over the pervasiveness of social media, and the dangers it poses among children.
The Secretary admitted that one cannot avoid social media and even noted that the influence, depth and degree of penetration of social media in all human activities are very wide-ranging.
Secretary Briones added that although social media is a powerful information tool, they are also potent forces that can be used to spread lies.
In its bid to protect children from the perils of the internet, including fake news and misinformation, DepEd will develop a social media literacy program in schools.
The Deped acknowledged the State of the World’s Children Report published December of last year where Unicef reported one out of three internet users worldwide are children. The same report emphasized “too little is done to protect them from the perils of the digital world and to increase their access to safe online content.”
It can be noted that the country ranks first in time spent on the internet, according to a report published last year by social media management platform Hootsuite and consultancy firm We are Social Ltd.
Even leading international software company Kaspersky Lab identified internet risks that children face online, which include cyber bullying, cyber predators, posting of private information, among others.
On her part, DepEd Undersecretary Lorna Dino explained that currently, social media literacy is incorporated in one of the tracks of the K-12 curriculum. However, considering the magnitude of social media and the internet, the department will develop a separate track dedicated on this after thorough consultations with their stakeholders.
Dino said that the Department would start with developing the learners’ skills of discernment like how to discern facts from fake news, and how to react to social media posts.
A welcome development is the offer of the Presidential Communications Operations Office headed by Secretary Martin Andanar, who has initially expressed intent to help develop this social media literacy program with the DepEd according to Secretary Briones.
This Corner expressed optimism that with all of these initiatives and the measures being done by the central office and its field offices in the region and division down to the schools and learning centers, responsible use of social media will be a way of life of all learners that will change the landscape of the next generation.