Member of Parliament for Akuapem South, Hon. Lawrencia Dziwornu, has described social media’s grip on African youth as a “time bomb”, urging continental action during the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values in Accra.
Speaking to the media after the conference, Hon. Dziwornu cited a presentation on communication and social media which found that young people spend an average of seven hours daily on screens. “Out of 24 hours in a day, our children, our youth — the future of this country — stay on social media for seven hours. Indeed we are sitting on a time bomb,” she said, calling for pragmatic solutions.
She also raised concerns about artificial intelligence and its negative impact on young people. According to statistics presented at the meeting, 92% of content reaching African youth online is in English, with Spanish and French making up 4%. African languages combined account for just 2%. “Our culture, our heritage is being washed away gradually through social media infiltration and its negative effect on our youth,” Hon. Dziwornu warned.
Pointing to the European Union’s success in forcing Apple to change iPhone charging cables, she argued that Africa’s 1.5 billion population gives it even greater leverage. “If they were able to be successful like this, how much more the African continent which has about 1.5 billion people,” she said, adding that Africa can demand changes from global tech platforms.
According to Hon. Dziwornu, the conference is a wake-up call for African countries to unite and urged parliaments — “the fulcrum of our democracy” — to lead the fight. She referenced Ghana’s data protection laws and the family values bill, which passed in the Eighth Parliament but was not assented to by the former President and has been reintroduced in the Ninth Parliament, as proof of commitment to safeguarding children’s futures.
