Facebook has been in the news for some time now. By now most of you must be familiar with the suicides that happened over the last few weeks. For a recap of those incidents you can read Ishara Moulana’s entry

As a solution to these recent developments, the government is considering banning Facebook for those under the age of 17. Five years ago when a girl committed suicide over a mobile phone fiasco, the Ministry of Education banned mobile phones in schools. Five years on, society has yet again failed to identify the real problem at hand.

Is this really how we should be tackling the problem? It’s clearly the easiest option available; however it fails to recognize the root cause of the suicides.

Sri Lanka is a rather conservative country. Our society is bound by traditions and norms (some of which are long outdated), and is reluctant to discuss certain topics out in the open. I say this because to date, no one has stepped forward and opened a dialogue on why these girls got caught up in such messy situations in the first place.

Adolescence is a rather rough and challenging stage in our lives. I know this because I was an adolescent once and I used to be quite stubborn. However I was brought up in a household that encouraged open discussions on matters that affected me. So the more I talked with my parents, the less rebellious I became.

The thing is, if we keep on imposing restrictions on these children, they’re going to feel alienated from the very own society they live in. We live in an age where technology has become a part and parcel of our lives. Therefore instead of banning Facebook, it’s important to create awareness about it. Children need to be warned about the dangerous people who exist on social media and how to protect themselves from such people.

This requires more effort and time, but it is worth all the trouble we take if it means we can prevent people from getting mixed up in such traumatic situations. Because there is no cure for suicide; it can only be prevented.