By Maria Famakinwa

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The advent of social media dated back to year 2000, is one of the good things that have happened to Nigerians. The computer-mediated technologies which gave rise to social networks like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, TikTok, We-Chat, Blackberry Messenger, Instagram and the likes allow the creation and distribution of messages, opinions, career interest and other forms of expression.

It is indeed a great platform for users and has a great impact on the society. It is also used as a platform for business where people post their goods and display their services for potential customers. Many also organize online trainings for people where both trainers and trainees have benefitted immensely.

Despite the upside, the growth also has its downside, as the platform has recently become an avenue where users post odd materials, including offensive pictures. A week will hardly end without seeing nude pictures of different shapes on social media or ladies marketing themselves for would-be suitors.

Some Nigerians find the trend worrisome. Some smokers also display their skills on social media, giving parents concern as many teenage boys and girls abound on the social media.

There are different sites showing x-rated contents for those interested, including homosexuality and lesbianism. 

 Some Nigerians who spoke with The Hope showed high level of concern while reacting to the disturbing trend.

A civil servant, Mrs Olamide Oluwole, explained that social media no doubt has become a large market where the good, the bad and the ugly coexist, but advised that it should not be enough reason for anyone to post anything immoral on the social media spaces. The woman, who added that the medium has created lots of scandals that tarnished image and reputation of many people which took them years to build, warned that whatever is posted on social media cannot be retrieved.

Her words: “Nigerians always take everything to the extreme.

“Most Nigerians continue to leverage on the opportunities and varieties the social media present to continue to make new meanings out of their lives. However, a growing number, perhaps carried away by the limitless window for cheap popularity, use the platform to seek attention by all means.

” From posting distasteful photographs and raunchy videos to sparking controversies through all sorts of morally questionable means, the Nigerian social media space has been taken over by ‘crazy’ posts of recent.  Because Facebook asked ‘What’s on your mind’ doesn’t mean you should tell the whole world that you are hungry, lonely, in love, heartbroken or sleeping, and the list is endless. What annoys me most is the picture. Why on earth will you take a pose in the toilet and upload online? Isn’t something wrong with the person upstairs? If you don’t have what to say online, you keep quiet”.

“Parents must be alive to their responsibilities and educate their children on the evil of social media. I once saw a footage on social media which showed a nude young lady in company of another woman masturbating with a cucumber. How would someone post such? Mind you, such a post attracts the youths and there is a way the mind processes whatever we see. What behaviour do you except from those who watch such dehumanizing video? I wish there is a way these could be checked to have a sane society,” she said.

A teacher, Mr Lawrence Balogun, condemned the act of living one’s life on the social media which he observed  to be common with most Nigerians. While warning that social media could make or mar, he said that some people had met their untimely death through the platform. “I lost a good friend of mine through the social media in 2019. He was doing well in Lagos and started posting every of his achievement online, including his palatial building with fleet of cars.

“December of the same year, he travelled to his home town for Christmas celebration but he never made it back. We gathered that on his arrival people visited him and demanded for financial assistance which he did not turn down because he liked to assist people. Despite this, some were not happy with him. He was kidnapped. They collected ransoms, yet killed him. Some Nigerians outside the country who are social media adherents can easily be monitored through their postings. Who are they trying to impress? They are just exposing themselves unnecessarily. Social media is to connect with friends and do something meaningful not posting what will later harm you. I can tell you that social media is affecting students performance generally because the time meant for reading is now devoted to visiting obscene sites. How will rape cases be curbed in situation like this?”.

A parent, Mr Omololu Falade, who disclosed that apart from videos and photographs displaying nudity and perversions on the social media, the craze to attract attention and be the topic of discussion on the social media among Nigerians continue to take new and even more disturbing dimension by the day. Images and videos of individuals posing with bales of cash and other expensive items, including cars, jewellery, clothes and shoes have become common features in the Nigerian social media space in recent times too.

His words: “The unregulated nature of the social media in Nigeria has given birth to a lot of disturbing trends on the Internet, especially among young people today. Some will post their nude pictures to get viewers, so as to make money. There is nothing we cannot do for money. Sometimes, I wonder if people have brain at all by the time I see certain things they post online just to garner attention and appear to be what they really are not.

“Most worrisome were the unbelievable videos I watched on the social media sometimes ago. One of them was a video of some young ladies smoking marijuana and dancing vigorously to a song. I was surprised that many people have watched the video. Another one that I can’t forget was a video of a secondary school girl and boy indulging in sexual act in school uniform. Another unnamed young girl posted a video of herself with her boyfriend sitting on a bed shortly after a steaming sex session, according to her. Though the act was widely condemned, it should not stop at that. Those culpable should be made to face the music to serve as lessons to others.

“For me, there is no difference between this sad trend and what is happening to Nigeria as a country. Since mediocrity became the order of the day rather than merit and hard work, everything in this nation has begun to crumble. I shook my head the day I saw pictures of different sizes of penis being displayed on the social media for ladies to make their choices. It surprised me how we degenerated to this level as a country. What kind of future leaders are we building?”