KUALA LUMPUR: A top Malaysia government official on Sunday said that social media could have detrimental affects on the country's youth. Deputy Secretary-General of the Information, Communications and Culture ministry Che Azemi Haron called for changes in how the youth use new media. He said, in comments published by the Bernama news agency that uncontrolled use and “abuse” of new media, singling out Facebook, Twitter and blogs, could lead to a reduction in “interaction among the younger generation.” He argued that society was more controlled by the new media to the extent that it caused users, especially the younger generation, to be influenced by the writings they read on non-traditional outlets. “Sometimes they are swayed by the electronically-created presentations as the truth and we have to stop the younger generation from falling into this trap,” he told reporters after closing a Jom Generasi Y!: Stand As One program on Sunday organized by the Special Affairs Department (JASA). But Malaysian youth told Bikyamasr.com at an Internet cafe in Kuala Lumpur that they are actually interacting more, albeit in a virtual world. “Yeah we need to get out a bit more, but we do interact online and have more friends than our parents' generation because of the Internet and social sites like Facebook and Twitter,” one young high school student said, in between pauses in the shooter game he and some 15 other Malaysian youth were playing. “It is a fun time to have all this and we do get to meet and talk to many different people,” he added.
