The advent of technology has brought about great improvements to our world, and those are glaring for all to see. Unfortunately, some of this has its downsides, which pose an imminent danger to our mental health, critical reasoning, respect for one another, and several others, to mention but a few. Today, I'll love to talk about one downside of social media, which we'll all agree is great, yet it has this aspect of it that could in the end instigate violence, constitute a nuisance, and dent our mental health.
Image by Pixabay on pexels
I'm a lover of social media and have been a recipient of its good side, so it's not like I'm trying to mouthwash it important, but when you look at our world today and how people interact on these social media spaces, then you'll agree with me that if such were to continue, then I fear for the future of our world. Everyone wants to teach you how to be you, how to live your life, and what to do and not do. With this current situation, I can categorically tell you that one of the best decisions anyone can make is to not make their matter and situation visible on social media, or else they'll pay dearly for it in various ways.
For instance, I was snuffing through Facebook a few days ago, and I saw a lovely video of a dad and his cute little Quintuplets babies walking down the street. It was a lovely sight to behold, and I kind of envied the father, wishing I could also have quintuplets of my own. With that aspiration and delight, I slipped into the comments section of the post to be welcomed by loads of criticism of the dad for putting a strap on the Quintuplets as though they were dogs.
This angered most of them, and they went from raining curses on him to abusing and tagging different child care agencies to come take those children from him. Unlike most of them, I see nothing bad in the strap he used in holding them closer to himself; to me, he's just being careful, so they won't wander into the road and get hit by a moving vehicle as they journey down the road. I had to even dig further into his profile to realize he and his wife had been married and childless for the first 6 years of the marriage, and when the wife finally got pregnant, they were blessed with these lovely quintuplets.
And in my opinion, if you've experienced childlessness before, then you'll do all it takes to protect your children, so I believe social media is one reason why all of their statements broke out; none of those who walked past them at that instance had issues with what the dad was doing, but then social media has loads of people who just want to speak to seem relevant.
Take the situation of a popular Nigerian musician who passed away about two months ago. The news broke over the internet, and everyone became a detective overnight. Everyone wants to be relevant and have a say on the matter, including those who never once interacted with the young man when he was alive or when he needed help while being bullied years ago, but all of a sudden, they all came forward all over the internet after his death, showing fake love and concerns and seeking justice.
Image by Pixabay on pexels
Playing detective and criticizing the dad, the same dad who all by himself nurtured the young boy from a tender age when his mother left him behind. After throwing different shades at the father and tagging him as a suspect in the death of his own son, even though he was nowhere near the boy 5 days before his death, they didn't even stop at the father; they also jumped on the wife, claiming she's responsible, and the like. The push for blame also hit the police and several other people who tried to make people see things as they actually are.
At the end of the day, the case seems to lose relevance because every single person criticizing here and there had to eat their words when some truth was finally revealed, and there was not any evidence to testify that his former record label bullied him or were involved in his death. The innocent people would have been sent to prison for something they know little or nothing about.
In my opinion, we all use social media to make our voice open to the general public and to create awareness, but some people are abusing this and using it to share fake information, propagation, and news just so they can gain views and engagement on their posts and earn in return. They are careless about the negative impacts their lies will have on the individuals involved.
Unfortunately, even though I'm a fan of decentralizing social media, I think we need a taste of centralized punishment to make these people learn and stay away from such acts just so they can make more money. Hive, to me, is a perfect example of where such can be made. The reason I said so is because if you shared anything that Hive elites or users sense has unethical or truthful content, then such content would be nuked with a downvote until it became less visible for users.
We can only hope that things get better in order to have a wonderful legacy to leave behind for our children and upcoming generations.