BEWARE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media has changed a lot of things in today’s world. When I see mainstream companies and media, doing reels and short videos on Facebook just to attract more sales, it shows the powerful force social media has in today’s society. Social media comes with its own merits and demerits. Today I’ll be focusing on the demerits and how this affects the society.

Con men/women:

Social media is a place where most people live a lie, they present themselves in a very attractive way to entice others into believing they have a magic wand to turn your life around. We now have a lot of fraudsters poising as motivational speakers.

On of the professions who have gained massively in social media are photographers and picture editors because people now tend to tell a lie through pictures and videos. Today every one is a ‘celebrity’ or ‘ wana be’ celebrity courtesy of social media….faking it till they make it.

Once you take a professional picture, wear good makeup and clothes, you can now pose as motivational speaker that can turn people’s life around. A lady I know is charging $10,000 dollars for a few hours, she claims after coaching you, you will now start making six figures. Some other lady charges as much as $2000 per hour to offer career and relationship advise.

They often post pictures of their homes, cars and clothes to show you they are living the life. Please look before you leap!

Increase in botched cosmetic surgeries:

Today everyone wants to live a life of reality TV show, young women who would not ordinarily go into cosmetic surgery are now lured into cosmetic surgery in other to enhance their mammary glands and bum with a view to earn cash online. By doing this some of them attract men who would slide into their inbox for more explicit pictures which they will pay for. It is now a multimillion-dollar business.

Young women in their teens are drawn to this lifestyle, an easier way of making money. White collar jobs are soon going out of fashion.

One lady lost all four limbs after a botched bum injection. Others didn’t live to tell the story. One of the ladies who places a camera in front of her family to make money, once said she had to do her boobs, tummy and bum after undergoing child birth, but today, she is seen walking seductively around a beach naked and her followers are asking some questionable TV shows to sign her up because her body is ‘hot’. Was she lying about the reason for her surgery, has she done it to sell her body online? I don’t really know, to each their own.

Everyone adult has a right to what they do with their bodies, but don’t be lured into doing things because others have done it, because often times they lies on social media to deceive you, do it because of your own reason, out of your own evolution and make sure you research the surgeon, do not go for quacks.

Relationships:

We now have a booming community of interracial marriages operating a reality tv shows on social media. Once you are black married to a white person, you can now make money by placing a camera in front of your spouse or kids for people to like, judge, buy stars and offer unsolicited advice. Some marriages operating in this way have ended in divorce due to the influence of the so called ‘online in-laws’.Be mindful what you put out there and do not do it because everyone is doing it.

Soft sell deceptive blogs:

Everyone has become a blogger of some sort, sometimes they just upload false videos and stories to attract people like flies, when they have gained thousands of views, they will now come out and say the video or publication was a prank

Increase in mental health issues/suicidal rates:

The trolling, hate and exposure on social media, has led to an increase in mental health issues, people who would ordinarily not make a marriage proposal in public for instance are now ‘forced’ to do so, and when the engagement breaks, one party could die by suicide because they don’t want to go through the trolls and shame from ‘online in-laws’.Your emotional wellbeing is very important and if you feel social media is bringing negative vibes, it's better you keep away, until you are able to manage the energy it presents in your situation.

Rat race:

Everyone wants to keep up with the Jones’s, some couples going through domestic violence would pose for pictures and post them, just to show strangers they are happy in their marriage, meanwhile they are slowly dying in silence.

Some people believe they have to create a positive image of a happy life by posting ‘happy pictures. I do think we should work towards being truly happy for out mental health as pretence would only fade after sometime. Please seek professional help if you are in a bad place.

False narratives from professionals:

What baffles me most is when some professionals who have worked for 10–20 years in a high earning careers, buy their mortgage, invest their money retire early and now come out to tell fresh graduates to abandon their careers and start making money on social media, by posting reels or doing cat work. They will never tell you how they worked odd shifts for 20 years to save money to fall back to, they would be telling you their primary profession was useless, which is a big lie. They just want to take your money, do not fall into their sweet mouthed trap.

False Religious prophets and magicians:

What does it take to become a prophet in some quarters, just a face book page and a phone. These days some fraudsters just create a page on social media, sponsor an advert and start prophesying, others become magicians who can pray you out of poverty for a handsome fee. Some gullible people would pay for such services with no result whatsoever.

I can write a book about the demerits of social media but I would love to keep this article as brief as possible.

I can only say, look before you leap, lives have been ruined because of the influence of social media, do not become a statistic.

…..penned by Adaku Efuribe