Educating Young People in Communicating Peacefully Through Social Media

Abstract

Social media usage has grown exponentially in the contemporary communication landscape. This increase in usage and openness in speech results in public concern about existing practices in social networks. Social media misuse and abuse is a growing challenge in the online space and a primary concern for parents, educators, and social media activists. The consequences include public tension, intolerance, and violence and it has resulted in psychological and emotional upheavals among users. This paper reviews some of the challenges and issues in peace education, and how communicative peace is central to peace education. It also evaluates the idea of communicative competence in strengthening young people's capacity to exploit modern-day communication media to communicate for peace and make an impact in their communities. This paper concludes that teaching and learning to communicate peacefully is not only a universal educational prerequisite but has become very crucial if we are to fulfill our communicative roles and obligations with justice, and above all, peace.