How to Make Social Media Safe for Youths in the Future of Work

Social Media has posed an immense negative impact on the safety and moral values of young people in Africa. That is, politically, socially, and spiritually. This is partially due to the absence of a feasible way to sensitize African youths about social media usage and the its safe guidelines. As a result, tremendous ethical concerns have continued among young people, who make up most of tomorrow’s people. So, that puts the future of Africa at stake.

However, social media remains indispensable when discussing the future of Work in Africa. It is a rich source of employment for tomorrow’s people. In addition, social media is a marketplace for young people to network as professionals and market their brands. So, the only way to make social media a safe place for young people to thrive in the future of Work is by preparing them for the safe usage of these digital tools.

As an Academy advocating and preparing the youths for the future of Work in Africa, this is a point of great concern and here is how we are addressing it.

Our Backstory Research

According to datareportal.com, Uganda had 30.55 million active cellular mobile connections by January 2023, equivalent to 68.8% of her total population. But keeping in mind that 78% of the total population in Uganda are young people (15-30 years), it’s safe to assume that the majority of the 68.8% with active cellular connections are youths. Hence, that makes a subset of age groups who are most impacted negatively by the effects of improper social media usage.

With the rate at which the internet penetrates Africa, Uganda in particular (24.6%) by January 2023, the worry is that many young people are exposed to unethical social media behaviour daily. And this will worsen as we move closer to the future of Work.

How Social Media is Affecting Youths in Africa

Social media can present certain safety risks for young people due to improper usage, for example, corrupting their moral values, defying their mental health and causing self-doubt, amongst many other dangers as we see below:

• Inappropriate Content: Social media, from time to time, contains inappropriate or explicit content that is easily accessible to young users, who in turn engage in circulating it around, a behaviour that may impact their emotional and psychological development.
• Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying is a prevalent issue on social media, affecting youths in Africa. Harassment, trolling, and online abuse can have severe emotional and psychological consequences.
• Privacy and Security Concerns: Youths need help understanding the importance of privacy settings and the consequences of sharing personal information, such as being vulnerable to identity theft, scams, or online predators.
• Hate speech: These have caused emotional harm, incited violence, perpetuated discrimination, and created a hostile online environment since individuals have failed to draw a line between Freedom of Speech vs. Harmful Speech, which has caused chaos more so politically.
• Mental Health Challenges: The constant exposure to the above will automatically lead to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and depression, which haunt several young people in Africa.

How we are making Social Media a Safe place for young People in Africa

Addressing the above challenges requires a multi-faceted approach involving sensitizing youths about improper social media usage and its consequences on their future. Additionally, young people must get acquainted with the available internet laws in their respective countries. For example, there is the Social Media Act in Uganda.

 So, through this digital literacy model, we have developed a Social Media Ethics course to educate the youth about the safe, healthy usage of the internet. With this, we aim to mitigate the existing negative impacts of social media on African youth, ensuring healthier and more beneficial social media experiences. As a result, we are preparing them for a brighter future of work in the digital space.

What does the “Social Media Ethics Course” entail?

The “Social Media Ethics Course” comprises five main topics under which we sensitize young people about responsible and morally upright social media usage principles as explained below:

1. Introduction to Social Media Etiquettes

This is the beginning of the course that introduces the relevancy and benefits it has to the learner in this growing generation of the internet. Learners will understand the theoretical background of social media activities and their traits. Additionally, they can tell the difference between ethical and unethical social media behaviour and its consequences. And how they can contribute to a healthy digital community.

2. Social Media Security and Privacy

Understanding social media security and privacy is a fundamental aspect of digital literacy, which we still ignore in Africa. Young people must develop the skills to navigate online spaces responsibly while protecting their sensitive information.

This section of the course will detail the dos and don’ts of social media regarding security and privacy. Teaching them about privacy settings and the importance of limiting the information they share online in regards to protecting their identities from misuse.

3. Hate Speech VS. Freedom of speech

The inability to distinguish between hate speech and freedom of speech has landed many young people in trouble, more so politically. Educating, promoting critical thinking, and encouraging open dialogue will help youths develop a more nuanced understanding of the boundaries between freedom of speech and the harms associated with hate speech. We cover all this under the above topic.

4. The Social Media Act Overview

Even though in place, many youths in Uganda, for example, cannot understand what it is and why it is there. However, Understanding the laws related to social media helps individuals know their legal rights and responsibilities when using online platforms.

Sensitizing the youths about the social media laws in place will also instil some discipline in managing themselves digitally.

5. Social Media Careers & the Future of Work

Social media has become a robust and influential aspect of modern communication, and as a result, it has given rise to various careers. The future of work in social media is dynamic, with continuous evolution driven by technological advancements, changing consumer behaviours, and the evolving landscape of digital platforms.

As an academy preparing young people for the future of work in tech, we decided to incorporate this section into the Social Media Ethics Course. Having nurtured their online disciplines at this point, unveiling further opportunities in the digital space and knowing how their online behaviour will influence their success makes the entire course effective.