Introduction
Although, social media has been a great guide to the generation of the 21st Century, it partakes also in the corruption of this country and even the world. Social media is a collective term for websites and applications that focus on communication, community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. People use the media to stay in touch and interact with friends, family and loved ones from both far and near.
Technology is not evil but, its use can lead to temptation to do wrong. Social media has affected young adults and even adults in different ways; in this article, I will be highlighting my points under the key phrase – Social media as a secret room for sin.
Social media as a secret room for sin
Under this are: X-rated videos/pornography, cybercrime, Nigeria Dating Site, etc.
• X-rated Videos as we all know are being posted online. And in this era, you find young adults and even children who are not up to 11 or 12 years old involving
themselves in X-rated videos, which kill slower than poison. It also agitates one to
involve in sexual immorality; early pregnancy, which has almost become a semi-
mandated thing in this era, is 50 percent a result of X-rated movies. Sometimes, blood relations do get themselves involved in sexual act all in the name of “come watch a movie with me”. Some students, whom parents had assumed to be very busy in the room making research on school project, are in there committing sin against their own body. Some primary and secondary school students even download it in their phones, take it to school, and share among their peers.
All of these acts are complete success with the help of technology.
• Cybercrime is another major aspect of corruption in this country. Young boys all over the nation have dropped their morals, culture and the goodness they were raised with; all going deep into cyber and making money from it. So many young adults have left school to seek greener pasture; following the popular saying, “one cannot serve two masters at a time”.
Due to cybercrime, impersonation and lies have become an order of the day. Parental control can be seen as an empty pack of noodles in most families now. Beside, how can you control the little boy of yesterday who now has money more than both parent put together? Teenagers under the age of 18 are now seen in areas like clubs and bars with opposite sex of same peer group, of which these areas are supposed to be restricted to them. I have not even talked about the people they deceive with their bitter twisted lies just to extort money from them and lavish the fruit of another person’s labour.
• Nigeria Dating Site is another I perceive to be very dangerous. As I said before, there are different ways in which social media has affected the life of every young adult in one way or the other. Nigeria dating site is a part of a larger dating website and world shingles network. The site has been in existence for more than 15 years and claims to have led to more than eight million connections with over a million in the last year. Here are two critical issues of online dating.
First, online dating in Nigeria has become quite dangerous. Scammers are pretending to be looking for a partner only to blackmail others into sharing their details and stealing their money. This has sometimes led to depression of the victim.
Second, meeting the supposed potential soulmate can be a risky affair; it has often led to killing, kidnapping, and sexual abuse which can eventually results in emotional trauma. A current survey finds that online dating is especially popular among certain groups, particular young adults and those who identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). On a broad level, dating users have described their overall experience using this platform in negative rather than positive terms. It has become a venue for bothersome or harassing behavior, especially to female users who had said someone on a dating app have continued to contact them after they said they were not interested; while similar share of (57%) report being sent a sexually explicit message or image they did not ask for.
In all of the three aspects I consider to be very harmful effects of social media on Nigerian youths/young adults, there also are ways of preventing these to be harmful to the youths since most of their life experience revolves around Social media. And as I’ve said before, social media is neither good nor bad; using it wrongly can only lead to temptation.
In other to keep the young ones from involving themselves in X-rated movies, parents should educate their young on the dangers of watching and getting involved. Parents or guidance should make sure the cell phones of adults below 18 should be security free and enable to check their search history frequently.
Regarding cybercrime, government should provide empowerment for the youths; many graduates in the county today have involved themselves in cybercrime because of lack of employment opportunities. In other to make ends meet, sometimes a man got to do what a man got to do.
Lastly, on Nigeria dating site – meeting your potential soulmate physically can be a risky affair. It is highly advisable to meet your online catch during the day and in an open location where there are people around. Let a family member or a friend know you are doing this. Don’t leave anything to chance.
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Uyo Favour Oghenevwarohme is a student of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Delta State University, Abraka
