Youth urged to use social media for a good cause

CEBU, Philippines - “Use social media well.” 

This was the call of various speakers during yesterday’s Social Good Summit Cebu at the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR) which had Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV as guest speaker, as well as other social media advocates.

In his talk, Aquino highlighted hunger, poverty, climate change and unemployment as the four major problems the country is facing.

But these are concerns that the youth can help with, said Aquino, through social media.

“Now, more than ever, our younger people are in a position to do more,” Aquino expressed. 

As an example, he mentioned the Pag-asa Youth Association, Talisay City, Cebu chapter who made initiatives to help prevent flooding concerns in some barangays in the city.

The PYA is a barangay-based organization accredited with the Department of Social Welfare and Development that has out-of-school youth members ages 15 to 24 years old.

During the open forum with the students, a question was posed on whether there are enough laws that protect social media users from its negative effects like cyber bullying.

While Aquino mentioned a number of bills that have been passed which include responsible usage of social media, he emphasized on the responsibility that lie on social media users.

“To be clearly honest with you, even if that’s already part of the bill, I think it shouldn’t be the government that decides that. It should be you. I don’t want the government to tell me na ang sinasabi ko mali na,” said Aquino explaining that as responsible users, one should know when to make use of social media.

“Kung tingin natin cyber bullying na to, wag na nating gawin. Kung tingin natin false ito at kinakalat natin, wag na natin gawin. (If we think it’s cyber bullying, let’s not do it anymore. If we think it’s false information and we’re spreading it, let’s not do it anymore).”

Further, another social media advocate also shared the advantage of the digital age which helped her save her kid’s life.

Hannah Almira Amora, 31 years old from Cebu City, said her baby boy, Maven Ross, was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) two days after he was born.

Months after, Amora said the doctors advised for her son to have an open heart surgery which would cost close to P1 million. 

Since both Amora and her husband were working, she said they could not qualify for the aid of government agencies since most required for them to declare that they are indigent.

Amora said they decided to turn to social media where they created Maven’s Heart Fund in social media sites which in turn helped them raise P1.2 million, enough for them to have their child undergo open heart surgery.

Yesterday, Amora brought with her Maven, who is now turning two years old and showed no signs that he went through an ordeal,  although Amora said it would be a lifetime of recuperation for Maven.

Amora shared how social media has greatly helped them, which made them decide to help other parents too who have children with CHD by creating a support group called “Let it ECHO.” (FREEMAN)