Social Media Or Social Menace

Posted by African Examiner Articles/Opinion, Latest Headlines Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024

By Alu Deborah Oluronke

Email: alu.deb15@gmail.com

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – We depend on our smartphones for work, school, personal and social lives. Internet has become a significant part of our daily lives, so has the social media. Social media is also known as ‘social networking’, it is a platform that enables people all over the world to interact and socialize with one another. Social media has made the world a global village. The ever changing world has birth digital technology and also the evolution of the internet. People connect and interact with one another; they share ideas and information in variety of ways, they can send text messages to one another, find and connect with friends, share photos, videos, thoughts and articles and join online communities where people have the same interests. The evolvement of the digital technology came with the creation of the internet.

In Nigeria, millions of people are internet users. These users cut across different age groups and gender. The increase in the use of the internet sprung up across different spectrum, especially, during the COVID-19 era, where most activities, such as, classes, businesses and many other activities dominated the online space. The internet has also proven to be a great resource for political campaign and sensitization. Pew Research Centre surveyed social media usage and popularity among US adults early in 2019. The survey found out that while the most used social media platforms for adults are YouTube and Facebook; teens prefer SnapChat and Instagram, while TikTok is reportedly the fastest growing social network among younger users. The same is true with Nigeria. Social media usage is nearly universal among today’s teens. Pew Research Centre reports 97 percent of 13 to 17 year-olds use at least one of seven major online platforms. The amount of time spent on social sites is astounding. One report indicates the average teen, ages 14 to 18 spends about nine hours on social media each day, while other teenagers are hooked to the social media for about six hours a day. Social media applications include: Facebook, WhatsApp, GoogleChat, GoogleMeet, Instagram, Tittok, Twitter, Telegram etc. People also use the social media for commercial, religious purposes and it also increases people participation in politics. There are many advantages with the evolvement of digital technology, such as:

Staying connected with family and friends worldwide via email, text and other beneficial purposes. Quick access to information and research; Banking and bill payment at fingertips; Online learning, job skills, content discovery (YouTube); Involvement in civic engagement (fundraising, social awareness, provides a voice); Great marketing tools; Opportunities for remote employment.

However, there are some disadvantages attached to digital technology. The cyberspace has been characterized by different evil vices such as: cyberhate, cyberbully, cyberstalk, cybermob. The most common downside of the internet is, cyberbullying. It involves the online harassment of another person through digital means. These digital means can include email, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter or other social media platform. Perpetrators make use of electronic communications technology to attack people based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender etc. in order to spread bigoted or hateful messages or information. Cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon, it is an aggressive and intentional act carried out through electronic means, targeting a victim repeatedly over time, through the use of the internet, cell phones, or other devices to send text or images with the intention of hurting or embarrassing someone. It is estimated that, every 7 minutes, a child is bullied. Unfortunately, intervention is rare, with an adult intervening in only 4 percent cases, and a peer in 11 percent. An astonishing 85 percent of all cases of bullying are not addressed. According to StopBullying.org, 43 percent teens are bullied, 58 percent have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.

Often times, people deployed the use of social media to send cruel information on purpose to damage someone’s reputation. In Nigeria, it is common for bloggers to post information, stories just to damage their targets reputation. Especially, against celebrities. politicians, influential personalities and gospel ministers. Social media have been employed as a medium to blackmail. Some go as far as leaking nude pictures of their targets who they were once in relationship with. Some have gruesomely being murdered through some information they shared online and through some connections made online. A typical example is a job-seeker that got an information online of some job vacancies and decided to go and hunt for the job but was gruesomely murdered. Cybercrime is on the increase with people hacking accounts to defraud people of their hard earned money.

The widespread use of digital technology has been said to make many users experience cyberbullying either as victims or perpetrators. Cyberbullying is associated with negative emotional and psychological consequences, such as low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, anger, frustration, depression and other related problems. Research indicates that cyberbullying is linked to various real-world issues, including problems at school, anti-social behavior, substance use etc.

Many have been addictive to social media, many cases of major road accident and domestic accidents were recorded; cases of people being knocked down by moving vehicles and fire-related accidents are the order of the day. The advent of social media has created division among so many homes, family-time has been replaced with screen-time. The bond that used to be enjoyed by family members is no longer there. This explains the moral decadence in the society. The parlance, ‘data is life’ is true, teens and youths find it difficult to save money, once they are out of data, they would rather borrow and run into serious debts, just so to be online. Money used to purchase data per week or month could be used for something productive.

Overtime, celebrities have retorted to the use of the internet to troll one another. They employ the use of the internet to throw insults and abusive contents at each other, this they do to further escalate their friction offline to online. Artistes, politicians and some so-called men of God are not left out. Some people, especially the youths, have deployed the use of the internet to scandalize their victims sexually. Situations are seen overtime, where perpetrators use video or audio content of sexual scenes to blackmail and demand money from their victims and if such money is not paid, they go ahead to post such videos/audio, thereby damaging the image of the victims. What’s even more worrisome, is in the quest for some individuals to be first to break news, they neglect accident victims to their fates but found it necessary to take videos and pictures. Then I begin to imagine, prior to the evolution of the internet, what is so? Many that would have been survivors of accidents, are left to sustain more injury or even die because of people would rather capture the scenes and be the first to post online, than to rescue.

Efforts to address cyberbullying in Nigeria have been made through legislation such as the Nigerian Cybercrime Act of 2015, which criminalizes various forms of cyberbullying and provides penalties for offenders. However, there remains a lack of specific policies dedicated to managing cyberbullying in Nigeria, highlighting the need for comprehensive guidelines and procedures. Collaborative efforts involving parents, caregivers, schools, technology companies, and government agencies are necessary to promote safer online environments and to protect young people from the detrimental effects of cyberbullying. Educational programs, support systems, and policies should be developed to address the unique challenges and dynamics of cyberbullying in Nigeria. It is important to keep our online safe.

As internet users, it is imperative to capitalize on the potential benefits of social media, rather than to use it as a weapon of destruction. Do not to say or post online what you would not say, or share face to face (offline), choose your friends wisely, be careful what you share online, do not send fake news, be inclusive when you share a post, forward information wisely, and do not share personal information.. Celebrities, clergymen alike, should make use of their popularity to create meaningful and impactful content which is capable of human-capacity development and nation-building, rather than create an environment for hurling insults and spreading hate speech against each other.