WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA ESPECIALLY FACEBOOK

I woke up this morning to see two friend requests on Facebook.
I tried to look at the faces of the prospective friends. The first has
settings that stopped me from seeing anything that will help me know
if I know her from anywhere. Though I do not really remember who the
second is, but I was able to see from the Information page that we are
in the same profession and we could have gone to the same postgraduate
school. So I confirmed her request and not the other.

This is what I hate about Facebook: strangers posing as friends, kids
addressing adults like their equals, everybody acting out the "perfect
life" that they may never have in this life, not-so-beautiful and
not-so-young ladies flaunting beauty and youthfulness that that they
have lost a long time ago. Even married folks act single and
criminals, predators like rapists, paedophiles, ritualists,
kidnappers, militants and even "Boko" ply their trade on social media,
not only on Facebook.

It is for these that I recently went into my FB account with a
hack-saw to disconnect all "friends" I do not know personally. I used
to have almost two thousand friends, but when I was done, it came down
to a little above five hundred. They might be few but these are people
I claim to have made acquaintance with at one time or the other. Now I
don't confirm Friend's Request except I know you. I am even seriously
considering deleting all my friends and close all my FB accounts since
I met two young friends at different times who do not have FB accounts
and they are still alive.

It bothers me that some people do not still take the issue of privacy
seriously especially in Nigeria. Your son had his birthday, you post
pictures on FB. Your husband bought a new SUV, you post pictures on
FB. You got a new job at a bank, you post pictures. Your sister got
married, straightaway pictures are on FB. This way, you are simply
writing the story of your life for complete strangers. The number of
friends you have on FB doesn't translate to the number of real friends
you have. This is because some will have you on their list and may not
recognise your name when you meet them, let alone remembering your
face.

Real friends are concerned when you are in one trouble or the other.
They rejoice with you when your wife puts to bed or when some other
good thing happens to you. They call you on the phone to congratulate
you. Those who read your posts about success or bereavement and ignore
it are simply not friends especially on social media - WhatsApp, BBM,
2go, FB, etc. Some see it as "forming" but I see it as plain
stupidity! Why remain a contact when we can't even relate? You can't
at anytime tell me one thing - friends that don't talk? And when
something good happens to me, you ignore it? I think I need a new
hack-saw and I'll lend you one if you so need to get me off your
social media list so we can continue when we get to heaven!

Am off this case, pronto!

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