THRILLS AND ILLS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING
Consequent on my business tourism trip to several locations in Shanghai, Yiwu, Taizhou City, Beijing and Hong Kong, China last month and personally experiencing the non-existence of Facebook and the near absence of many major social networks in the area as every attempt to hook on to the online world of social networking proved abortive, it kept on redirecting me to an expired internet browser.
Apparently, the Chinese Government has controlled the cyberspace, the 'monternet', no Google, only 'Baidu' and limited access to yahoo and I equally had to cough out much yuan daily to purchase Megabyte on my China mobile sim inserted in my Blackberry smart phone in order to communicate with family and friends. It was during one of such chats with my cousin, friend and professional colleague, Barrister Toba Alaba of the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom that the awkward reality of social networking's highpoint and pitfalls dawned more on me more when he suggested that I should write on this topic which he coined: 'Social media: a blessing or a curse?' I have therefore undertaken this modest but comprehensive research to lay bare before my audience as an after clap.
There are so many advantages of social networking which might lead one to spending more time connecting with people Online whilst there are several disadvantages too. To be fair, social media does have its benefits. If Facebook were to become a country, it would be the third most populous country in the world with over 1 billion citizens.
Therefore, it is undeniable that the scope of influence social media has reached is enough to define our generation and pave the way for growth, communication and development of the 21st century global village. Nevertheless, we must come to the realization that the forefront of the most
advanced technology in history is in the midst of our fingertips and should not be abused. The ills of
social networking is therefore the abuse, rather than its undoing.
THRILLS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING
1. The Social network is the hottest online trend of the last few years that is capable of positively
assisting the users' career progression. Not only do social media sites provide a way to keep in touch
with friends, but they can also offer opportunities for professional online networking. Social networking could be of tremendous advantage for your career in form of a plausible platform for
advertising your trade and showcasing your talents. Yours truly is in the business of words and you don't want to know how much fortune seemingly 'meaningless' posts like this one you are
reading fetches me regularly ranging from securing contracts to write Biographies, edit Autobiographies, edit books, projects, long essays, law brief writing, short stories, CVs/Resumes arrangement and restructuring, 'shadow writing', personality profiling for prominent Nigerians and foreigners alike, freelance columns, communique issuance, political branding and strategy, internet magazines, drafting of citations and writing PhD/Masters(Research proposals) because of the literary consciousness and matchless dexterity the brand 'word bank' has garnered on the social media as a repository of words over the years.
2. Social networking offers an easier than ever opportunity to keep in touch with old friends and
colleagues. Specific mention must be made of the professional networking site called LinkedIn which allows users to request introductions to business people who are known to their contacts. LinkedIn
is a particularly valuable business mechanism comprising well over 200million subscribers across
all continents, including hiring managers and Chief Executives from top companies. Your profile is
designed to function as an online resume which includes your educational and career history with
recommendations from your colleagues and it contains a creative portfolio. The platform
encourages users to connect with people working in their organisations and to endorse their colleagues' skills at work. The potential of this enhanced connectivity is indeed tremendous. This is a far cry and a better improvement over the initial primordial sifting through of business cards after a networking event and the ensuing arduous task of remembering the details of each contact obtained. You can now easily look up a connection’s credentials and business interests on their social media profile with a click of the button!
3. Social networking is a vital springboard of success for entrepreneurs. Freelancers and upstarts
can find contacts via professional groups on LinkedIn and Twitter while business owners can make use of the large user bases of Facebook and Twitter to market their products and services
online. Twitter is particularly useful for Business owners as a tool for effective promotion. Facebook
for instance has a range of services designed to help businesses market themselves more
effectively, including the ability to target advertising at the precise demographic groups and interests
that are likely to respond favourably to one product or another. You often find the adverts of Jumia,
phone service providers and shoes on Linda Ikeji blog, you equally find advertisements as flashes on
your facebook wall, these are classic examples of online advertisements aimed at targeting a set
audience that regularly visit the blog and Facebook.
4. The social network affords us the opportunity to reach out to many people that we would not have
known without it. We have the thrill of 'knowing' and 'meeting' people without actually knowing or
physically meeting them.
5. The Social Networking is a great tool of sensationalism and propaganda! There is no better
proof of this viewpoint than the story of the contoversial Edo widow, Mrs. Joy Ifijeh who was
rebuked and humiliated by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state for blocking the road with
her wares and was later given a cash gift of 2million naira and an appointment in the Edo civil
service as compensatory apology from the remorseful Governor. This vehemently lends an
unshakeable credence to the power of the social media as her story was circulated quickly with the
speed of light by social networking sites. News, rumours, scandals and propaganda are also
peddled with the same strength and vigour. There are also social pall bearers in the cyberspace
always eager to share bad news with excitement and enthusiasm which is a virulent thrill and a
hybrid ill.
6. Another thrill of using social media is its unlimited access at minimal cost. People can send
as many messages as they please and stay connected. They only have to pay a fixed rate
(either monthly or annually) for the internet connection, whereas, they have to pay a fixed rate
per minute to contact people by making calls. Thus, social media is less expensive to nurture
friendships. We have Facebook to thank for being our birthdays and wedding anniversaries' diary, If
not for it, some of us would not remember the birthdays of our friends, let alone send them
birthday wishes.
I tend to discover that there are more disadvantages of Social Networking and I will prove this soon with the following points.
ILLS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING
1. Perhaps the greatest ill of the social networks is its lack of privacy! I remember I posted something
about 3years ago where I stated that our enemies and 'monitoring spirits' have no need to consult
'spiritual mirrors' and extra-terrestrial calabash to peep into our lives before they discover what we
are up to any longer, all they need do is to check the social networks from Facebook through Twitter
to BBM updates, they can see clearly what we do, where we are, who we are friends with, who we
date, when we break up, what we ate and even how well we are doing! It becomes more worrisome
when we post pictures of suckling infants with no rights to self-determination and choice of privacy
within minutes of their birth on the social network for both your friends and enemies to see! No need
for your detractors to research vigorously into finding the picture of your little child for submission
in the home of herbalists to unlock his destiny and tie up his infantile glory, all they need to do is print out a copy of the baby's picture you posted yourself! This is totally wrong! I have no fuss with
you posting your own pictures or that of your spouse, but for crying out loud, let this little child
arrive the world properly before you expose him or her to the abundant danger of this wicked world.
May the eyes of the wicked never behold us (Amen). Half a word is enough for the wise! On the other hand, social media has changed the definition of privacy. In the past, mankind was
careful not to share any private information over the internet. But now we have become so accustomed to social media that we provide all our private information to our loved ones across the
internet. This can lead to identity theft which can pose a serious problem in our lives. Imagine a pure
stranger but with a mutual friend on facebook commenting and mentioning the fact that I have
obtained an LL.M in a United Kingdom varsity, how else could he have known that If I had not filled my academic profile on facebook? He lives in a remote part of Nigeria faraway from my current domicile and as such should not be furnished with such detailed information about me. I am sure he, like many others would naturally know If I had commenced my PhD programme or not by a click
on my wall. I believe that there are better ways of sharing pictures of our new blessings, (Children, cars, homes, etc) with trusted family and friends- emails and album postage, not an uncontrolled publishing of details in the cyberspace. Similar to this scourge are those overtly overzealous friends who without permission, consent or authority use people's unofficial badly taken, sweat-soaked ugly wedding pictures of couples as display pictures or even upload them on Facebook, they prevent the official photographers from taking good snapshots by covering their views with tablets, phones and other mini cameras, they also do same on similar occasions, this is totally unacceptable! Forget the argument that the African spirit is one of gregarious disposition, communal accommodation and extended familyhood, most of those 'friends' getting in touch with you or acting interested in
your welfare are actually checking whether you are doing better than them or making jest of you in the innermost recess of their minds. I am also culpable of the ill of showcasing a few of my activities but not totally as I always retain a little! The well-grown yam is better eaten in hideous corners- 'Ti
isu eni ba ta, a n d'owo boo je ni' so the Elders say in Yoruba land. It is not everything that happens in your life that must end up on facebook or other social networks- Be discreet!
2. Another primary disadvantage of social networking is that it robs the users of the quality
use of their time! Most people do not know how to use social networks effectively or manage their time. As a result, the few benefits they get from their networking activity are not worth the time
invested. They stay glued online 24/7 doing nothing. The best way to avoid being disappointed
in this way is to devote a set time to be online and not more, decide on a strategy for using social
sites and stick to it. For example, if you are going to use Twitter to draw attention to an exciting new
content on your website, then resist the temptation to waste time tweeting about irrelevant things,
reading uneducative Facebook posts or 'retweeting' what is not productive to you. This charge is
targeted at those making an appropriate use of social networks- for advertisement, business
cultivation, growth and expansion and not those who stay online to say 'Hi', 'Xup', 'How are you?',
'Hey', 'How far?', Who are you? When are you? What are you? to those they don't know beyond
facebook! You won't catch me replying such discourteous and unproductive chats. Without the
risk of sounding like an utterly anti-social vaunter or a swell-head egotist, I find it totally annoying
when 'intimate strangers' in the cyberspace bug me with informal greeting mannerisms with no
meaningful message or compliments to convey. Time is more precious than money, use yours well!
3. Social network has reduced friendship to mechanical arrangements and turned real
conversations to mere chats. In most colleges and Universities in the western world, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram conveniently allow students to integrate into their enormous collegiate setting one click at a time, thus, your institutions and associations regulate, choose and formulate your
network of 'friends' for you. I think this is an inappropriate way of making true and enduring
friendships! True Friendships are consciously cultivated over time and hatched through
circumstances and meetings.
The Social media has simplified the process of creating great friendships into a matter of exchanging messages, social grouping and tagging other people in photographs we took of them and with them. We can't choose our family but we should at least be allowed to choose our friends! This is why we are gradually losing our subliminal feeling of compassion, brotherhood and neighbourliness as we no longer have true physical friends but virtual and imaginary acquintances and chat buddies on the social media and in the cyberspace!
4. Social Networking mostly breeds 'plastic friendships' and wider followership of intimate strangers: At a first glance, it may seem as if we are successfully forming enduring bonds that will last a lifetime, but a more realistic view will confirm to us that using Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media can never be compared to reaching out and making friends face to face with real
people.
The social media is said to serve as functional windows through which we can observe
others without necessarily having to converse-what is that? Friendship without communication? The
hallmark of friendship is that we should 'befriend', If all we do to our social network friend is see what our supposed 'friends' have written again each day through our news feed, then, we need to redefine the term 'friendship'. Moreover, the core ingredient of a relationship is to 'relate!', If we can't relate physically even If its occasionally, then something is amiss.
In an era where the number of Facebook friends and Twitter followers a person has determine how
famous he his, his social status and where in the social networking parlance, the number of likes,
comments, shares, retweets and favourites a post or a tweet gets determine the celebrity status of the author, we end up choosing quantity over quality, collecting without connecting and amassing
'friends' to add to our list or to follow instead of directly interacting with them. In our mission to
add the most friends, we forget the value in getting to know someone on a personal basis.
The truth is that exchanging emoticons, smileys and typing 'LOL' when we are not in fact smiling or laughing at all but rather keeping a straight face, 'ROTFL' when you are in fact not rolling, let alone
on the floor, 'LWKMD' when you are still alive, 'SMH' when your head is in a straight and stable position, and 'OMG' when you are not one bit surprised is not the same as seeing someone smile
and importantly realising that you are the reason behind that smile or seeing a person’s reaction to
your physical action. There is this type of aesthetic beauty that we can only see when interacting with
someone in person which constantly escapes us in having only online 'friends'. Since our friends are
figuratively tucked away in our pockets and 'buried' within the hidden recesses of our smart phones,
they are available to us 24/7, thus eliminating the need to see them, call them or even take them out.
Paradoxically, as we connect more and more people we don't see, (wider reach, lesser depth!), we become increasingly distant from those around us.
5. Social networking is extremely addictive! I felt so uncomfortable for the 8days I was in China main area and could not access Facebook! I had also missed a few 'friends' that I would normally say hello to and I could not post a few thoughts on my mind. We often find young men and women with
eyes fixated on their smart phones and hearts travelled to Facebook 'country' and Twitter
province, pressing their keypads vigorously and crossing the highway- that's how engrossing and
infectious the social networking can be. A poor young lady met her untimely death recently in the
United Kingdom when a train crushed her at the train station whilst she was pressing her phone.
Moderation does it-too much of everything is bad.
6. Strangers can steal your money, property and other assets in an instant. Therefore, we must be
careful not to disclose our private information on the internet. The bottom line: The pervasive nature
of social networks and their power is hard to ignore. The permanent over-exposure and risk they
present is similarly hard to imagine. There are enemies and dangerous monsters and fraudsters
masquerading as 'friends' on social networks!
Remember Cynthia Okosogu who met her rapists and assailants on the social network sites. This is a live example of an abuse of social networking.
CONCLUSION
The invention of social media has changed our lives tremendously. With instant messaging, unlimited
access, being a cheaper method of communication, raising awareness, and generating income by
promoting goods and services, social media has revolutionised modern day society. However, by
developing addictions, changing the definition of privacy, creating scams and spreading anti-social
messages, breeding sensationalism, causing break-up of marriages, destroying friendships and relationships, promoting promiscuity and lewdness, social networking can prove to be harmful to
humanity. Thus, social networking can be either a blessing or a curse, a thrill or an ill to your world
depending on how you use it.
The solution lies in finding a balance between spending time in the real world and online. As
tempting as it is, students should not log into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. during class,
face your book and don't facebook! It will most likely evoke unwanted attention from peers and
serve as a distraction from class work. Moreover, social media should be used to create experiences,
not fake them. Whichever part of the divide we tilt, we should always do everything in moderation and know where to draw the line between living in the real world and existing on the social media.
Your Pen pusher online,
'Tosin Ayo,
'The word bank'
Apparently, the Chinese Government has controlled the cyberspace, the 'monternet', no Google, only 'Baidu' and limited access to yahoo and I equally had to cough out much yuan daily to purchase Megabyte on my China mobile sim inserted in my Blackberry smart phone in order to communicate with family and friends. It was during one of such chats with my cousin, friend and professional colleague, Barrister Toba Alaba of the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom that the awkward reality of social networking's highpoint and pitfalls dawned more on me more when he suggested that I should write on this topic which he coined: 'Social media: a blessing or a curse?' I have therefore undertaken this modest but comprehensive research to lay bare before my audience as an after clap.
There are so many advantages of social networking which might lead one to spending more time connecting with people Online whilst there are several disadvantages too. To be fair, social media does have its benefits. If Facebook were to become a country, it would be the third most populous country in the world with over 1 billion citizens.
Therefore, it is undeniable that the scope of influence social media has reached is enough to define our generation and pave the way for growth, communication and development of the 21st century global village. Nevertheless, we must come to the realization that the forefront of the most
advanced technology in history is in the midst of our fingertips and should not be abused. The ills of
social networking is therefore the abuse, rather than its undoing.
THRILLS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING
1. The Social network is the hottest online trend of the last few years that is capable of positively
assisting the users' career progression. Not only do social media sites provide a way to keep in touch
with friends, but they can also offer opportunities for professional online networking. Social networking could be of tremendous advantage for your career in form of a plausible platform for
advertising your trade and showcasing your talents. Yours truly is in the business of words and you don't want to know how much fortune seemingly 'meaningless' posts like this one you are
reading fetches me regularly ranging from securing contracts to write Biographies, edit Autobiographies, edit books, projects, long essays, law brief writing, short stories, CVs/Resumes arrangement and restructuring, 'shadow writing', personality profiling for prominent Nigerians and foreigners alike, freelance columns, communique issuance, political branding and strategy, internet magazines, drafting of citations and writing PhD/Masters(Research proposals) because of the literary consciousness and matchless dexterity the brand 'word bank' has garnered on the social media as a repository of words over the years.
2. Social networking offers an easier than ever opportunity to keep in touch with old friends and
colleagues. Specific mention must be made of the professional networking site called LinkedIn which allows users to request introductions to business people who are known to their contacts. LinkedIn
is a particularly valuable business mechanism comprising well over 200million subscribers across
all continents, including hiring managers and Chief Executives from top companies. Your profile is
designed to function as an online resume which includes your educational and career history with
recommendations from your colleagues and it contains a creative portfolio. The platform
encourages users to connect with people working in their organisations and to endorse their colleagues' skills at work. The potential of this enhanced connectivity is indeed tremendous. This is a far cry and a better improvement over the initial primordial sifting through of business cards after a networking event and the ensuing arduous task of remembering the details of each contact obtained. You can now easily look up a connection’s credentials and business interests on their social media profile with a click of the button!
3. Social networking is a vital springboard of success for entrepreneurs. Freelancers and upstarts
can find contacts via professional groups on LinkedIn and Twitter while business owners can make use of the large user bases of Facebook and Twitter to market their products and services
online. Twitter is particularly useful for Business owners as a tool for effective promotion. Facebook
for instance has a range of services designed to help businesses market themselves more
effectively, including the ability to target advertising at the precise demographic groups and interests
that are likely to respond favourably to one product or another. You often find the adverts of Jumia,
phone service providers and shoes on Linda Ikeji blog, you equally find advertisements as flashes on
your facebook wall, these are classic examples of online advertisements aimed at targeting a set
audience that regularly visit the blog and Facebook.
4. The social network affords us the opportunity to reach out to many people that we would not have
known without it. We have the thrill of 'knowing' and 'meeting' people without actually knowing or
physically meeting them.
5. The Social Networking is a great tool of sensationalism and propaganda! There is no better
proof of this viewpoint than the story of the contoversial Edo widow, Mrs. Joy Ifijeh who was
rebuked and humiliated by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state for blocking the road with
her wares and was later given a cash gift of 2million naira and an appointment in the Edo civil
service as compensatory apology from the remorseful Governor. This vehemently lends an
unshakeable credence to the power of the social media as her story was circulated quickly with the
speed of light by social networking sites. News, rumours, scandals and propaganda are also
peddled with the same strength and vigour. There are also social pall bearers in the cyberspace
always eager to share bad news with excitement and enthusiasm which is a virulent thrill and a
hybrid ill.
6. Another thrill of using social media is its unlimited access at minimal cost. People can send
as many messages as they please and stay connected. They only have to pay a fixed rate
(either monthly or annually) for the internet connection, whereas, they have to pay a fixed rate
per minute to contact people by making calls. Thus, social media is less expensive to nurture
friendships. We have Facebook to thank for being our birthdays and wedding anniversaries' diary, If
not for it, some of us would not remember the birthdays of our friends, let alone send them
birthday wishes.
I tend to discover that there are more disadvantages of Social Networking and I will prove this soon with the following points.
ILLS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING1. Perhaps the greatest ill of the social networks is its lack of privacy! I remember I posted something
about 3years ago where I stated that our enemies and 'monitoring spirits' have no need to consult
'spiritual mirrors' and extra-terrestrial calabash to peep into our lives before they discover what we
are up to any longer, all they need do is to check the social networks from Facebook through Twitter
to BBM updates, they can see clearly what we do, where we are, who we are friends with, who we
date, when we break up, what we ate and even how well we are doing! It becomes more worrisome
when we post pictures of suckling infants with no rights to self-determination and choice of privacy
within minutes of their birth on the social network for both your friends and enemies to see! No need
for your detractors to research vigorously into finding the picture of your little child for submission
in the home of herbalists to unlock his destiny and tie up his infantile glory, all they need to do is print out a copy of the baby's picture you posted yourself! This is totally wrong! I have no fuss with
you posting your own pictures or that of your spouse, but for crying out loud, let this little child
arrive the world properly before you expose him or her to the abundant danger of this wicked world.
May the eyes of the wicked never behold us (Amen). Half a word is enough for the wise! On the other hand, social media has changed the definition of privacy. In the past, mankind was
careful not to share any private information over the internet. But now we have become so accustomed to social media that we provide all our private information to our loved ones across the
internet. This can lead to identity theft which can pose a serious problem in our lives. Imagine a pure
stranger but with a mutual friend on facebook commenting and mentioning the fact that I have
obtained an LL.M in a United Kingdom varsity, how else could he have known that If I had not filled my academic profile on facebook? He lives in a remote part of Nigeria faraway from my current domicile and as such should not be furnished with such detailed information about me. I am sure he, like many others would naturally know If I had commenced my PhD programme or not by a click
on my wall. I believe that there are better ways of sharing pictures of our new blessings, (Children, cars, homes, etc) with trusted family and friends- emails and album postage, not an uncontrolled publishing of details in the cyberspace. Similar to this scourge are those overtly overzealous friends who without permission, consent or authority use people's unofficial badly taken, sweat-soaked ugly wedding pictures of couples as display pictures or even upload them on Facebook, they prevent the official photographers from taking good snapshots by covering their views with tablets, phones and other mini cameras, they also do same on similar occasions, this is totally unacceptable! Forget the argument that the African spirit is one of gregarious disposition, communal accommodation and extended familyhood, most of those 'friends' getting in touch with you or acting interested in
your welfare are actually checking whether you are doing better than them or making jest of you in the innermost recess of their minds. I am also culpable of the ill of showcasing a few of my activities but not totally as I always retain a little! The well-grown yam is better eaten in hideous corners- 'Ti
isu eni ba ta, a n d'owo boo je ni' so the Elders say in Yoruba land. It is not everything that happens in your life that must end up on facebook or other social networks- Be discreet!
2. Another primary disadvantage of social networking is that it robs the users of the quality
use of their time! Most people do not know how to use social networks effectively or manage their time. As a result, the few benefits they get from their networking activity are not worth the time
invested. They stay glued online 24/7 doing nothing. The best way to avoid being disappointed
in this way is to devote a set time to be online and not more, decide on a strategy for using social
sites and stick to it. For example, if you are going to use Twitter to draw attention to an exciting new
content on your website, then resist the temptation to waste time tweeting about irrelevant things,
reading uneducative Facebook posts or 'retweeting' what is not productive to you. This charge is
targeted at those making an appropriate use of social networks- for advertisement, business
cultivation, growth and expansion and not those who stay online to say 'Hi', 'Xup', 'How are you?',
'Hey', 'How far?', Who are you? When are you? What are you? to those they don't know beyond
facebook! You won't catch me replying such discourteous and unproductive chats. Without the
risk of sounding like an utterly anti-social vaunter or a swell-head egotist, I find it totally annoying
when 'intimate strangers' in the cyberspace bug me with informal greeting mannerisms with no
meaningful message or compliments to convey. Time is more precious than money, use yours well!
3. Social network has reduced friendship to mechanical arrangements and turned real
conversations to mere chats. In most colleges and Universities in the western world, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram conveniently allow students to integrate into their enormous collegiate setting one click at a time, thus, your institutions and associations regulate, choose and formulate your
network of 'friends' for you. I think this is an inappropriate way of making true and enduring
friendships! True Friendships are consciously cultivated over time and hatched through
circumstances and meetings.
The Social media has simplified the process of creating great friendships into a matter of exchanging messages, social grouping and tagging other people in photographs we took of them and with them. We can't choose our family but we should at least be allowed to choose our friends! This is why we are gradually losing our subliminal feeling of compassion, brotherhood and neighbourliness as we no longer have true physical friends but virtual and imaginary acquintances and chat buddies on the social media and in the cyberspace!
4. Social Networking mostly breeds 'plastic friendships' and wider followership of intimate strangers: At a first glance, it may seem as if we are successfully forming enduring bonds that will last a lifetime, but a more realistic view will confirm to us that using Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media can never be compared to reaching out and making friends face to face with real
people.
The social media is said to serve as functional windows through which we can observe
others without necessarily having to converse-what is that? Friendship without communication? The
hallmark of friendship is that we should 'befriend', If all we do to our social network friend is see what our supposed 'friends' have written again each day through our news feed, then, we need to redefine the term 'friendship'. Moreover, the core ingredient of a relationship is to 'relate!', If we can't relate physically even If its occasionally, then something is amiss.
In an era where the number of Facebook friends and Twitter followers a person has determine how
famous he his, his social status and where in the social networking parlance, the number of likes,
comments, shares, retweets and favourites a post or a tweet gets determine the celebrity status of the author, we end up choosing quantity over quality, collecting without connecting and amassing
'friends' to add to our list or to follow instead of directly interacting with them. In our mission to
add the most friends, we forget the value in getting to know someone on a personal basis.
The truth is that exchanging emoticons, smileys and typing 'LOL' when we are not in fact smiling or laughing at all but rather keeping a straight face, 'ROTFL' when you are in fact not rolling, let alone
on the floor, 'LWKMD' when you are still alive, 'SMH' when your head is in a straight and stable position, and 'OMG' when you are not one bit surprised is not the same as seeing someone smile
and importantly realising that you are the reason behind that smile or seeing a person’s reaction to
your physical action. There is this type of aesthetic beauty that we can only see when interacting with
someone in person which constantly escapes us in having only online 'friends'. Since our friends are
figuratively tucked away in our pockets and 'buried' within the hidden recesses of our smart phones,
they are available to us 24/7, thus eliminating the need to see them, call them or even take them out.
Paradoxically, as we connect more and more people we don't see, (wider reach, lesser depth!), we become increasingly distant from those around us.
5. Social networking is extremely addictive! I felt so uncomfortable for the 8days I was in China main area and could not access Facebook! I had also missed a few 'friends' that I would normally say hello to and I could not post a few thoughts on my mind. We often find young men and women with
eyes fixated on their smart phones and hearts travelled to Facebook 'country' and Twitter
province, pressing their keypads vigorously and crossing the highway- that's how engrossing and
infectious the social networking can be. A poor young lady met her untimely death recently in the
United Kingdom when a train crushed her at the train station whilst she was pressing her phone.
Moderation does it-too much of everything is bad.
6. Strangers can steal your money, property and other assets in an instant. Therefore, we must be
careful not to disclose our private information on the internet. The bottom line: The pervasive nature
of social networks and their power is hard to ignore. The permanent over-exposure and risk they
present is similarly hard to imagine. There are enemies and dangerous monsters and fraudsters
masquerading as 'friends' on social networks!
Remember Cynthia Okosogu who met her rapists and assailants on the social network sites. This is a live example of an abuse of social networking.
CONCLUSION
The invention of social media has changed our lives tremendously. With instant messaging, unlimited
access, being a cheaper method of communication, raising awareness, and generating income by
promoting goods and services, social media has revolutionised modern day society. However, by
developing addictions, changing the definition of privacy, creating scams and spreading anti-social
messages, breeding sensationalism, causing break-up of marriages, destroying friendships and relationships, promoting promiscuity and lewdness, social networking can prove to be harmful to
humanity. Thus, social networking can be either a blessing or a curse, a thrill or an ill to your world
depending on how you use it.
The solution lies in finding a balance between spending time in the real world and online. As
tempting as it is, students should not log into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. during class,
face your book and don't facebook! It will most likely evoke unwanted attention from peers and
serve as a distraction from class work. Moreover, social media should be used to create experiences,
not fake them. Whichever part of the divide we tilt, we should always do everything in moderation and know where to draw the line between living in the real world and existing on the social media.
Your Pen pusher online,
'Tosin Ayo,
'The word bank'
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