Recently, a friend asked me a question that elicited deep thoughts. His question was why is there more violence now than in the ‘80s and the ‘90s? He further explained that in the ‘80s and ‘90s, two persons fighting would usually be separated by people around. Still, now, instead of separating the persons fighting, people would rather use their mobile phones to video them. While listening to my friend, I remembered watching a video about an accident that happened along the Lagos – Benin expressway recently. It was fatal. To my dismay, I counted more than ten other people who were not involved in the accident, videoing the scene of the accident instead of helping the victims. I could not but agree with my friend. In the ’80s and the ’90s, the first action people around an accident scene would take would have been to help take the victims to any nearby hospital.
Why are people interested in videoing people fighting rather than separating them? Why do people film accident scenes rather than helping the victims? The answers lie in understanding what they use the recordings to do. All such videos and photos end up on social media platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. It has become a business for many people. Whenever the image or video is viewed, the creator earns money. The desire to earn more money naturally makes people record every event that has the potential to go viral. Now people deliberately share false information because false information gets higher views. This is a worrisome trend.
Amid the negative sides of social media, there are benefits. Now every voice can be heard no matter how lowly placed it is. As soon as a concern is raised on any social media platform, people within the network of the creator will begin to broadcast it until it reaches the right authorities. The “End-SARS” campaign was a good example. Before the campaign, brutality by the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was a menace. They were terrorizing innocent citizens and extorting money from them. It was social media platforms that gave people the opportunity to expose their evil. Eventually, SARS was disbanded.
Because mobile phones can be used to access social media platforms, they can serve as a lifeline during emergency situations. Recall the incident that happened recently where a young man killed his girlfriend after celebrating her birthday. The only clue that unraveled the circumstances that led to her death was the photo of the celebration she posted prior to her death. When the family declared her missing, her friends alerted the parents that she celebrated her birthday at her boyfriend’s house. The parents made this information available to the police and when they searched the boyfriend’s house, they found the decomposing body of their daughter where it was hidden.
Social media has proven that information cannot be covered for too long. There are numerous benefits. However, the negative effects abound. Like the saying, “Everything that has advantages has disadvantages”, it is, therefore, important to apply caution while using social media. It is a blessing when used rightly and a curse when used wrongly.
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Learning the Art of Problem-Solving