Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga believes parents and guardians play an enormous role in ensuring their children are shielded from exposure to indecent or inappropriate content online.
Mr Turaga made the comment while closing the Safer Internet Day deliberations organised by the Online Safety Commission (OSC) in Suva on Tuesday.
Issues in the online space, he said, ranged from cyber bullying to social networking and digital identity. Negative posts online, he said, were often detrimental to the health of people, especially the younger generation. In effect, attention span, he suggested, had decreased because of so much time spent on phones and the internet.’
“The term social media is an irony since technology is used, however, it causes young people to be more anti-social than being social. Privacy is another issue and as we have heard there have been a number of complaints of cyber bullying harassment and image based abuse.
“It’s safer to say that a lot of people are not aware of the online commission so if a lot of people are fully aware, the office, the three staff won’t be able to manage the complaints lodged.”
Conversations pertaining to online safety and measures to be taken to protect one’s privacy and security, he said, must reach down to those most vulnerable in such spaces.
Laisana Ratusokosoko, from Lifeline Fiji, suggested the psychological imprint left on younger minds because of the increasingly negative impacts of social media was a concern.
About 38 per cent of complainants (children), she revealed, admitted to being bullied online. She said there were 234 students who underwent counselling at the centre from January 4 to March 31.
Ms Ratusokosoko said the internet and social media had advantages, however, it must be used in moderation to avoid addiction.
In saying all this, we are reminded about our roles as parents and guardians to safeguard our children from the dangers of the digital world. That means ensuring their time on the internet is carefully monitored.
We agree that parents and guardians have a responsibility to protect children from the risk of exposure to inappropriate content. Now that should demand time and effort. Far too many parents and guardians are using cell phones, and access to the internet as a means to keep their children occupied while they indulge in social activities.
Understandably, it is easier to keep many children under control with a mobile device and data than it is to keep them occupied with fun activities for instance.
So what matters now is how we plan activities for our children, what we allow them to watch on the internet, especially the sites they can get into, and how much time we allow them to surf the web.
In a fast changing world, and with so much access, and information overload, we have a massive challenge before us.
