Young people have been advised to surf the internet to obtain information to create value for themselves and society.
They have been admonished to have a plan before going online to determine what will make them sign out, know where the help button is or where to report an incident.
Also they should think critically before clicking on links, sharing posts because anything they share, post or like builds up their digital reputation which they must not do anything to mar, otherwise they will regret it in future.
The Executive Director of Child Online Africa, MsAwoAidamAmenyah, gave the advice here Wednesday when she delivered a presentation on the topic “Digital resilience, the role of the youth.”
The meeting organised by the National Youth Authority (NYA) for the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Youth Parliament, sought to give participants the skills to use the internet confidently, spot various risks, report harms and unacceptable content, seek redress and increase opportunities for them.
MsAmenyah said digital resilience empowered young people with confidence to spot risk online and take appropriate action to deal with it.
She said threats and incidence such as cyber bullying, sextortion, sexual exploitation of young people and grooming which unknowingly changed their perspectives, misinformation, disinformation, fake news among others exist online and that could scare them away from the internet or in some instances make them suffer psychological implications.
“However we want to create the situation where young people will feel empowered to connect online, become masters of the digital space and be able to design solutions to problems in society,” she said.
“Provisions in the cyber security Act of 2020, ACT 1038, show where and how to report cyber offences, how to seek redress or better still give feedback on their experiences to improve the provisions in the Act,” she added.
MsAmenyah urged people to send text to shortcode 292 on all networks to report incidence to the cyber Security Authority. Email report@cybersecurity.gov.gh WhatsApp on 0501603111. Also smart phone users can go to the Playstore to download the national cyber security Centre app to report cases.
“For instance, one needs to have the skill to spot a nice predator online so that he will not be carried away by an information which is too good to be true like you have won a lottery so you are being given a link to click on or call a number to retrieve your prize when you know you have not entered any lottery, then you should know that is not the way to go,” she said.
The Municipal Chief Executive of Kpone-Katamanso, Mr Samuel OkoeAmanquah, said digitisation had many benefits but it has its bad side too so it was important to point that out to young people to enable them to use technology to solve problems and enhance national development.
The Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Director of NYA, Mrs Janice Anaman-Mensah, noted that the youth parliament in the municipality was inaugurated in 2019 to groom young people to understand the tenets of democracy and inculcate in them attitudes that would model them to be agents of positive change in society.
Child Online Africa promotes the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in Ghana and across Africa.
FROM GODFRED BLAY GIBBAH, KPONE
