Al Bilad newspaper Member of the Bahraini Social Media Association Al-Baqali: Negative effects of the harmful use of “social media” on youth and children – 2024-06-20 00:18:00

• Bullying and depression are the most prominent effects of poor use of social media platforms
• The presence of clear laws protects the rights of users and holds accountable for violations
• An important role for the family in protecting children and youth from harmful digital content

Member of the Bahraini Society of Sociologists and member of the Gulf Society of Sociologists, Muhammad Al-Baqali, stated that reliable, accurate, objective, and purposeful content for the user is considered useful content in the electronic arena, while content that is misleading, biased, or harmful to the user is harmful content, and therefore there are several factors that determine whether electronic content is useful or harmful. These are: source and reliability, as reliable content published from reliable sources such as academic institutions, government, or well-known organizations is usually useful, while content issued by unknown or questionable sources may be misleading or dangerous, in addition to accuracy and objectivity, as the content Accurate, objective, based on facts and evidence is useful content, while content that is biased or spreads false information or rumors is harmful.

Among the factors, according to Al-Baqali, are context and purpose, as content that addresses useful topics and aims to provide the user with useful information is positive content, while content that aims to manipulate feelings or incite hatred or crimes is harmful content, in addition to influencing the user, as content that It increases the user’s knowledge and understanding. Content is useful, and content that causes addiction, anxiety, or psychological distress is harmful content.

In his participation in the “Al-Bilad” newspaper symposium, Al-Baqali summarized the most prominent effects of the harmful side of publications on the age group of young people and children as follows: The impact on mental and psychological health, as depression and anxiety result from repeated exposure to frightening or offensive information, feelings of stigma and social isolation, developing an image. Negativity about oneself and disturbances in self-esteem, in addition to affecting behavior and social relationships, such as resorting to dangerous behaviors such as violence or cyberbullying, difficulty communicating and proper social interaction, staying away from positive activities and spending time on negative activities, and affecting academic achievement, in addition to cognitive development such as distraction. Difficulty concentrating on educational tasks, decline in cognitive skills and ability to think critically, decline in academic achievement and academic performance, impact on physical health, excessive use of electronic devices, leading to visual and muscular problems, neglect of physical activities, impact on physical fitness, and excessive reliance on Fast food is the result of intense exposure to advertising.

He stressed the need to adopt effective methods to protect children and youth from harmful digital content and educate them on the skills of dealing with it safely.

On the other hand, he stressed that “social media” can be a means of serving society through several methods, such as launching awareness and education campaigns using social platforms to publish educational content and purposeful information about community issues, sustainable development, communication and community cooperation, as “social media” enables the creation of digital communities. It facilitates the exchange of opinions and ideas between members of society, organizations and parties concerned with public affairs, in addition to mobilizing donations and aid, as it can be used to collect donations and aid to support community initiatives and projects, in addition to volunteer coordination, as “social media” allows coordination of volunteer efforts and organizing volunteers to implement community service initiatives in addition to Monitoring and accountability, as “social media” can be used to monitor community issues and contribute to increasing accountability, transparency, and supporting community projects, as social platforms facilitate the promotion of local development projects and initiatives and provide a platform for interaction and cooperation regarding them.

He explained that to achieve these goals, a clear strategy must be developed for the effective and ethical use of social media to serve the public interest.

Regarding whether the absence or presence of regulating law has an impact on social media, he stressed that the absence or presence of laws and legislation regulating the use of social media has a major impact on how it is used to serve society because, in the absence of legal regulation, negative and misleading content may spread without controls, which affects… Negatively on society, the presence of clear laws protects the rights of users and holds accountable for violations, which enhances the ethical and responsible use of social media. In addition, legal legislation regulates the activities of companies and institutions on social platforms, obligating them to social responsibility, and regulating laws may specify the necessary controls to protect personal data and privacy. It is vital to build community trust.

He concluded his speech in this regard by pointing out that the absence of legal regulation of the use of social media provides the opportunity to encourage the incitement and spread of hate speech. Therefore, a balanced and comprehensive legislative framework is important for using social media to serve the public interest and protect the rights of users.

He explained that social media has positive and negative effects on society, and must be dealt with with wisdom and balance to maximize benefits and reduce risks, and that the best way to educate young people and children about the potential dangers of harmful digital content is to activate the role of educational institutions to develop an educational methodology and strategy through school curricula, while the family’s auxiliary role in Protecting children and youth from these risks comes through healthy family relationships and cohesion so that the family can build trust among its members to support any legislation or government policies that exist or will exist to address this problem.