FALSEHOOD, FAKE NEWS AND FAKE LIFE: THE PERIL OF SOCIAL MEDIA

 FALSEHOOD, FAKE NEWS AND FAKE LIFE: THE PERIL OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Apostle Paul while writing to his adopted son Saint Timothy wrote: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come," and that seems to be exactly the state of our world today. Since the advent of internet and Social media in particular, the world has grown in leap and bound in terms of information dissemination. In a nanoseconds, millions of information is being spilled out in different micro blogs and media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Instagram, among others. The question is how reliable are these information?

Your guess is as good as mine, most of it are rooted in falsehood but very few people are discerning enough, such that the traditional media are sometimes victims of it. In the name of clout chasing and popularity, people fabricate stories that will make people emotions to be tongue wagging. So the unsuspecting members of the public fall for it hook lines and sinkers.

Many have died of depression because they've become oppressed by the seemly flamboyant living and lifestyles of celebrities and influencers. Some have been outrightly lied against, and have embarked on suicide mission. For instance, one Izu Mmadubueze reported by The Guardian Newspaper on July 21, 2020 to have committed suicide because a lady falsely accused him of raping her. A lady early this year faked his kidnapping for clout chasing and followers gain on Twitter.

Politicians and their gullible followers have been known to spilled out corted stories about their opponents, and engaged in propaganda for political gains. Till today, I still have some friends who believe Buhari is dead, the person in Aso Rock is Jibril of Sudan. What an age we live! What a time to live!!

Since yesterday, the Nigeria social media space have been awashed with the news of the arrest of one David Lyon for kidnapping, but whose lifestyle on social media would ordinarily not suggest he is such a person. It may not be surprising that many of his friends who have envied him or prayed to be like him. There will be some young folks who are looking up to him too, unknowing to them that everything about him was a facade. This is the reality of our world, this is the reality of our time.

Fake life and fake news are twin partners that may consume the world. Through fake news, tribes are being set against tribes, nation against nation, leaders against leaders and followers against followers. It is time for humanity to 'borrow itself some brain.'

Who is humanity? It is you and I, so I speak to you and I speak to myself. We must desist from being harbinger of falsehood. It is time for us to show some measure of decorums in how we live, what we say and what we do on social media for consciously and unconsciously we may be endangering some people's lives.

Much more, don't believe everything you see on social media. People borrow clothes to snap pictures. People go to people's houses to snap pictures. People stay in front of stranger cars to pose and snap pictures. Some have taken their falsehood to a higher level, they photoshop.

Please be yourself. If you see your mates prospering more than you, wish him well and wait for your time. It will come, don't be envious and put your hands in illegal and diabolical things that will cut your life short or endangers other people's lives.

Thank you for your time, have a lovely week ahead.