Port Moresby: With the rapid development in modern technology, young people have been urged to start using technology to share good and positive information that is intended to inspire.
These words of advice were given by Grade-10 students from Limana Vocational Training Centre during the Chat Room on Wednesday 16th June 2021, at the NBC TV Studio.
Their discussion focused on the topic, ‘Importance of Sharing Good News’. It began with a brief definition and comparison between ‘Good News’ and ‘Fake News’, importance of sharing credible information, challenges and devastating impact that Fake News posed to society, how positive information improved lives, role of young people in sharing Good News, with a stern advise made to society and the government to take heed of.
In her definition of ‘Good News’, Jermaimah Gamini, said it was information that was factual and possessed the element of ‘honesty’ that was derived from the message and salvation of our Christian faith.
Junior Varage emphasized on the benefits of inspirational information and said it not only had a way of making someone feel good about themselves, but it also had the ability to change a person’s attitude. “An effect of inspirational information is that it can trigger a sudden change in behaviour from individuals and this can be instilled in them for their benefit in the long-run,” he said.
Elizabeth Gobi, said peace, understanding and prosperity was the direct result of credible and responsible use and sharing of information, and urged for society to harness modern tech to amplify our capabilities. “Digital technology should be used to spread messages of hope and inspiration that makes people look forward to a better tomorrow. It should not be used to spread Fake News that is intended to mislead and influence how a society should think about an issue,” she said.
In his explanation of how youths played a crucial role in the dissemination of true and positive information, Lawrence Munge, advised all youths to carefully discern information before accepting any facts or statements as the truth. “Always search to know the truth by consulting credible sources or people, and never accept information published on social media as being factual,” he said.
Davina Ilumpui, made a call to parents and adults to be good role models especially when it came to spreading important information, and encouraged for the Holy Bible to be used as a tool to guide our conduct. “Fake News has an array of problems associated with it and it spreads like wildfire. To ensure it does not engulf society we all have a duty to be responsible role models to determine what is fact from fiction,” she said.
Chat Room’s next session on 23rd June will have Grade-11 students from De La Salle Secondary School discuss the issue of ‘Young People and their right to Freedom of Expression’.
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