By Suleiman Shehu
Stakeholders from academic, legal and religious circles have called for the responsible use of social media to help instil values gradually eroding in society.
The Criterion, Association of Muslim Women in Business and the Professions, Oyo District, made the call at its 10th Annual Ramadan Lecture in Ibadan.
The lecture had as its theme: “Raising Children in a Connected World: The Impact of Social Media on Islamic Parenting.”
The guest lecturer and Director of Islamic High School Central Mosque, Ustadh Lukmon Kharoshi, said that raising children in the modern world required more than knowledge, wealth or personal ability.
He said that raising children required spiritual support and divine guidance, which parents must constantly seek, adding that the excessive and unguided use of social media posed serious concerns.
He said that although social media had both positive and negative aspects, its misuse could negatively affect young people and society at large.
According to him, social media can serve as a valuable tool for learning the Qur’an, Hadith, mathematics and other fields of knowledge, as well as for intellectual growth through beneficial online resources.
He added that while social media could build and connect, it could also cause harm if misused, stressing that its impact ultimately depended on how it was used.
Kharoshi advised parents not to remain ignorant of social media trends so they would not be misled by their children and would be better positioned to guide and supervise them effectively.
The Ameerah of the Criterion, Oyo District, Prof. Morufat Balogun, said that preserving societal values and addressing moral decline depended largely on successfully instilling good values in children.
Balogun observed that the high global connectivity provided by the internet had created parenting challenges due to expanded peer and non-peer influences largely driven by social media.
She said that this had resulted in children adopting foreign mentalities, habits and cultures without proper parental guidance.
Balogun explained that the topic of the lecture was conceived to address contemporary challenges surrounding child upbringing.
She urged parents to take full responsibility and contribute their quota toward improving the upbringing of their children.
The Chairman of the occasion, Mr Yusuf Ogunrinde (SAN), commended the Criterion for its commitment to the spiritual and moral development of children.
Ogunrinde urged parents to engage their children meaningfully and to adopt a balanced approach to social media use, noting that it had both advantages and disadvantages.
The Chairperson of the occasion and Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Oyo State, Alhaja Simiat Akande, said that value systems in Nigeria were gradually eroding due to social media and other factors.
Akande said that NOA would continue to work tirelessly to restore these values and called for collaboration among parents and other stakeholders to ensure proper use of social media by children.
The wife of a former Oyo State Deputy Governor, Prof. Hamdalat Olaniyan, urged parents of children in higher institutions not to leave them unsupervised.
Olaniyan noted that many issues related to social media use were occurring in higher institutions and required closer parental monitoring. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Chinyere Omeire
