TwoCents | Social media is not an actual place

A statement used to mock ideas and opinions on the platform, while this is true; like a lot of things, it is only half true. Social media is not an actual place but is filled with real people. As a person that believes in the power of ideas, I know that ideas, if pushed long enough, hard enough, and by enough people, take on a life of their own. Social media is a vacuum, an echo chamber. Without people in it, it would be like an abandoned house. It is because of this I know that, while a lot of people say and post up things that may be dumb, made up, and whatever polite ways for roasting the dumb things we all think to ourselves and do our best to let die in our minds, these people put it up, some purposely, why? Because the idea of social media is, the more engagement you get, the more popular you get. With all my belief in the human race, I believe most in their ability to do great things; good and cruel, but most of all, I can never underestimate the depths they can go for the dopamine hit of attention. They will make up events, and stories and purposely misinform and slander just for their next hit, as well as push agendas that have no bearing in reality, to pander to a target audience, hence the reason for the saying "social media is not a real place". But if you doubt my stand on this, you're free to ask the government and the old guard that thought Endsars was just something that some bored youths were doing for clicks or the four Obidients in one room doing "influencer things". It is a vacuum whose usefulness is determined by the people using it. There's a reason they say the Chinese version of TikTok shows kids doing commendable things like maths competitions, building things, and the like. It is a way to program people, especially as people are so unaware of this power it has. It was so unreal that the government banned Twitter for some time; and the reason was evident, fear. Why do you think a lot of times you see posts and stories of infidelity and unfaithful partners? Then you go offline, be you male or female, and you subconsciously think the opposite gender can not be trusted, or you start imagining made-up scenarios that have not happened yet as if they have. Which incidentally was the thought that pushed all those people to post up content like that in the first place. The loop closes, pulling you in as part of it. The idea of infidelity and no chance in hell that there is a loyal partner is complete and promoted. This is why I advocate for consciousness and self-awareness whenever you use the app, especially Twitter, it is easy to get sucked into the fake news and propaganda, the toxic and hostile environment of it all because let's be honest by our nature the negative, and shocking things pull us in faster than the positive. This is part of the reason why the proposed law on slander or false information almost passed by the Nigerian government was understandable, though the punishment was a bit too harsh. Still, with the amount of character assassination, fake information, and false rape cases I have seen fly about, some which have cost the life of the victim is something that we are quick to forget. The possibility of just being a few characters away from "stardom", multiple likes, retweets and follow has pushed people to the point of lunacy, doing things that will leave you speechless as to their thought process before they chose to take that action, but that's the thing, it's like an addict looking for his/her next high, the brain is asleep; it is driven only by instinct and hunger. Never forget that the actions or consequences on this platform do trickle into the real world. The list of examples is too numerous to mention.

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