The Executive Director of Child Online Africa, Awo Aidam Amenya has admonished parents, guardians, and all to avoid asking children to fact-check information online as this limits their creativity.
According to her, preventing children from fact-checking information online will allow them to analyze information critically at their level with emphasis on parents bringing information to a level where children can understand.
“I do not subscribe to the concept of fact-checking. Fact-checking limits the creativity of young people. Because if you give information, to a group of young people, the understanding may vary.
However, it points to the same outcome at the end of the day. If you ask children to go onto a website to fact-check information or rely on meta to get factual information, you are limiting their creativity”, she said.
Awo Amenya also suggested that parents must prioritize ensuring their children receive information from trustworthy digital platforms, a measure she believes will enhance media literacy.
“So, clearly the best check for that is media literacy and critical thinking. When you look at the constituents of such discourse, you could see that one could be digital readiness, rather than digital literacy because that’s what they need”, she advised.
She expressed that globally, there are discussions regarding building a strong coalition of partners across the globe to develop concrete proposals for the implementation of the multi-stakeholder approach for inclusive governance of the space.
In Awo Aidam’s engagement with young individuals, she disclosed that children constitute a significant portion of internet users, comprising a third of the global consumer base.
She reiterated that it is necessary to ensure the information children see online is true and reliable
“Other than that, we’re going to be feeding them with concussions”, she added.
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Source: Flora Tang/ATLFMNEWS
