MANILA — Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Thursday urged millennials to use social media responsibly and to avoid becoming instruments of lies and disinformation.
Belmonte said social media inflict harm on people’s lives and reputation and on the society in general.
“Fake news abounds. Trolls are now for hire, ready to swamp a target with hatred and animosity…as graduates of this institution, your primordial task as you go out into the world is to reverse that tide,” Belmonte said in a speech during the graduating class of the Asian College of Science and Technology.
She said that young people born and raised in this age of Internet and fast-evolving technology form the most influential sector in the country.
“The world needs you but be careful not to pollute the world with more untruths for what the world needs are not simply peddlers of information. What the world needs are critical thinkers who are able to separate truth from lies,” she added.
Belmonte called on the graduates to apply every skill and discipline they learned in school about consuming information — especially those coming from various social media platforms.
“Ask questions. Verify. Criticize. Know that information does not become true by the number of likes or the popularity of its peddler. A lie peddled as truth in social media will eventually gain traction and currency and will be consumed and shared many times over, and will be eventually believed as true,” she said.
Belmonte also urged the graduates to follow the likes of Nicolaus Copernicus, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Jose Rizal who went against the tide of popular opinion to change people’s perspectives. (PNA)
