I got actively involved in social media in 2011. It was what was up in secondary school. I joined LinkedIn first. I didn’t know jack about it, I was stalking a crush of mine and that was the only platform that he was on. We began chatting and we moved to Facebook. Fast forward to 2020, I am on almost all the social media platforms, still not a big fan of it but definitely experiencing the effects that come with it.
Everything comes with lessons and using social platforms is no different. I have learned so much, but here are the four that readily comes today.
Lessons from social media
1. The danger of a single story.
Chimamanda Adichie, in a ted talk, talked about the danger of a single story and explained that it could ‘create stereotypes’ and that these ‘stereotypes were not untrue,’ but ‘they are incomplete’. They make one story become the only story. With social media today, we get a lot of single stories that are making us make some decisions without knowing the full deets(details). I have learned that social media now provides just single stories hence I am slow to conclude on any matter because there might be more to it than we are allowed to see.
2. It can be a blessing or a curse.
Social media is very good or very bad depending on what you use it for. We need all the information and news we get from there. There are also the connections we make that bring beautiful relationships. You have the power to decide how you will let it work for you. A blessing or a curse.
3. Avoid comparison.
Hearing people of my age do so well or better at things I want to do usually gets me uneasy and I start doing all the ”God, when?” and ”God abeg!” things but I am learning to see them as motivation to do better rather than a yardstick to measure my life’s worth or achievement by. I am consciously training myself to avoid comparing any aspect of my life to the lives I see out there displayed on social media.
4. There is a world out there.
I don’t know how tangible this lesson is but for me, I owe it to social media, all the outside world experiences I have had. Of course, I have learned a lot from books but they were left to me to use my imagination. However, with social media, I get to see people with different cultural backgrounds live their lives and showcase their culture. It’s beautiful and I am grateful social media makes it possible to learn about the world out there.
What has social media taught you? Care to share?
Till next time,
Afiya.