Living life on social media is expensive. A report on social media last year revealed that Kenyans between the age of 21 to 35 years spend at least four hours on Social Media, probably bragging about their life, some seeking sympathy while others tearing each other apart for whatever reasons, be it social, political or spiritual.
Truth be told the social media a lot is a wild one, not for men of little faith or folks who have something to lose. Social media and reality are totally two different sides of the coin when a majority of its users are living a lie and bullying others because they suffer inside from societal pressure and frustrations.
Social activism has become a thing in protecting those who are bullied online but just how practical can these initiatives go in ensuring that culprits do not develop a vicious cycle and build a culture that contravenes the founding principles of social media platforms on connectivity and networking?
Philip Ogola aka Digital Humanitarian who is also a blogger and a social media enthusiast gave his two cents on the matter in a panel interview on Citizen Tv, having connected with Kenyans on Social Media at a trying moment in his life. Ogola put up a medical appeal seeking to raise Ksh2million for specialized treatment in India after he was diagnosed with Kidney failure and Kenyans generously contributed to raising the amount that put him back to his feet.
“A survey revealed that 68% of Kenyans don’t sleep at night. In Kenya, the biggest social media platform is WhatsApp followed by facebook then twitter. While Social media platforms are a good thing, but people have turned them into platforms where people seek gratification.
“We are a bullying nation. People seek fake gratification from the number of likes and comments. If one’s relationship is good is there a need to post it online? Are we using the internet to get or give information? We are tech savvy but cyber foolish. We use technology to share too much about ourselves. Rules that apply online should apply offline too,” he commented.
By all means, we should not live your life for social media because we are not all on the same level in real life
