By Frederic Byumvuhore
Proverbs 22:6“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Children are feeling the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic- perhaps even more than we realize.
Every parent would be pleased to see their offspring inheriting the right morals of their bloodline. This builds hope that someday when the child is an adult, they will not depart from their family norms and beliefs.
This has probably been the case in most societies for centuries. But how effective it is today, where parenting seems to rely on also on technology with tradition.
Through technology, the world’s content is open to all categories-old and young people. Even children are exposed to its influence. Online content developers have ignored a reserve of a gatekeeping for children. Consequently, children can easily access content that are likely to affect their behavior especially during this time the schools are closed due to the pandemic.
For instance, movies in which sexual intercourse is shown, and posting naked pictures and language.
Over centuries, no single parent would wish to learn a strange behavior among their descendants because children were to grow up knowing society’s norms, dos and don’ts, what to say and not, what to imitate and what is prohibited.
Nowadays, technology has changed everything where parents and children are both accessing to the same content including adult content. They are both exposed to all content circulated on digital platforms.
Yet, children are much more active and addicted to technology. Thus, there is no doubt that children are manipulated. More online content especially on most trendy platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are vague and lack distinction between old and young audience.
There are no boundaries for different ages. Children freely and openly access such contents while they are not mature enough to distinguish what could be harmful to them.
Dear parents or guardians, help the children to be free from any technology harm. Be more concerned with what your children are consuming these days when the schools are closed.
Dear social media users, note that adult online content should be limited to create a child friendly environment.
There should be a limit of such kinds of content to protect children and keep them safe in the hi-tech era. Content developers shall be gatekeepers, differentiate their audience to feed them accordingly and constructively.
byumvuhorefrederic@gmail.com
