PM urges youth to ignore negative influence of social media, choose peace for 2024
Vanassa McKenzie / Our Today
Prime Minister Andrew Holness says unfiltered messages on social media are negatively influencing youths and is urging them to commit to peace to reduce the country’s homicide rate.
Holness, who was speaking during a rap session with fifth-and sixth-form students at Guys Hill High School in St Catherine, said young people are being bombarded by negative messages on social media, which negatively impacts how they respond to conflicts.
“Young people today are being bombarded with all kinds of negative messages and images in social media. I see people with their smartphones making small videos of this and today everyone is a citizen journalist and that’s fine but we know the science is clear that the unfiltered information that our young people are being exposed to is having an impact, a negative impact on our behaviour,” Holness stressed.
The prime minister further stressed that this proliferation of unfiltered information is resulting in more young people becoming perpetrators of violent acts.
“As students, I want you to commit to peace, that if you find yourself in any form of conflict, if someone does you wrong, if you feel you have been unfairly treated, if you feel you have been violated or dissed in any way, that your first response is peace. Its not going to be a violent, aggressive, anger or physical response. That your first response is going to let us try to reason it out, let us try to talk about it because in 2024 we are going to make this the most peaceful year that Jamaica has experienced and that peace must start in our schools,” Holness urged.
He also urged the students to commit to achieving more academically during this year. Last year, the prime minister announced plans to establish a ministry of peace to tackle the country’s crime rate.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) reported that some 1,393 Jamaicans were murdered last year.
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