Social media and social madness

Social networking sites which started from Orkut, followed by Twitter and Facebook, have become the vogue across the world because it makes communication easy, seamless, and interactive.
Globally, there is an array of social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter, Whattsap, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.
Facebook is, perhaps, the most popular social networking site as it is one of the two most frequented websites on the entire internet.
Facebook trades places with Google as the most visited web service, and by its estimates, it now has over 800 million active users. That is more regular visitors than the entire internet had in 2004.
Social media offers an opportunity to be seen and be heard without any restriction, which the traditional media does not give.
It has made our world a more exciting place to be. But that is where it ends.
Social media users display acts of boundless social madness. There is little or no regard for opposing views. Uncouth words such as ‘stupid’, ‘foolish’, ‘crazy’, ‘insane’, ‘idiot’, ‘empty-head’ are used to describe people who say what others disagree with.
Also, social media sometimes flourishes on falsehood. On many occasions, the genuineness of information posted is suspicious. Perpetrators usually get away with it since there is no law to insist on confutation.
Many people have been ‘authoritatively’ confirmed dead on social media and others labelled ‘looters’, ‘thieves’, ‘fraudsters’ when their cases have not been investigated not to talk of getting to court.
As useful as social media is, its abuse can be menacing. The use of a tool largely depends on the user. A doctor operates with a knife and a murderer can also kill with a knife.
For users of social media, especially the youth, the watchword, therefore, is cautiousness.
Parents, non governmental organisations, religious organisations, government agencies, educational institutions, and other stakeholders should advocate to curb the excesses of social media.
It is impossible to impose barriers on cyberspace, but with the active participation of major stakeholders, together we can tone down the negative effects of social media.
• Tayo Ogunbiyi, Features Unit, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Ikeja, Lagos.