•Say Addiction Fuels Mental Health Crisis
Experts have urged youths and adolescents to harness the opportunities that abound in digital technology to improve their lot in society, stressing that abusive use of the digital space is unhealthy.
They stated this during the opening ceremony of the Fourth Nigeria Conference on Adolescent and Youth Health Development in Port Harcourt, organised by the Society for Adolescent and Young People’s Health in Nigeria (SAYPHIN).
Speaking on the theme, ‘The Evolving Adolescent and Youth in a Digital Age: Building Resilient Young People in a Changing World,’ the keynote speaker at the event, Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam, warned that digital addiction can lead to decreased physical activity and poor mental health.
El-Imam, who is the Commissioner for Health, Kwara State, stressed that enhanced communication using digital technology fosters social connectivity and opens doors for innovation, adding that it has its downsides, such as cyberbullying, fraud, misinformation, stress, and anxiety, among others.
While advocating that youths must build resilience through digital literacy, responsible use of digital technology, mental strength and emotional intelligence, she stated that youths must imbibe the capacity to adapt positively to adversity and change.
On his part, the President of SAYPHIN, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, a renowned Professor of Community Medicine, who described the conference as the biggest convening of stakeholders in the adolescent and young people’s health and development field in Nigeria, said this year’s conference “focuses on one of the greatest developments, dynamics and dilemmas in the annals of the world and development of young people in digital technology.”
He added that digital technology has so much potential for good and yet has opened the door to so many challenges.
Fatusi, however, said the conference is designed to see how participants can be “better positioned to harness the amazing opportunities that digital technology presents for a better future for young people.
