WITH a staggering 1,59 billion Facebook users and 200 million more on Instagram, anybody can be a super star and accumulate thousands of followers and ‘friends’ to join the population explosion of social media slaves living in their own global village.
Armed with the latest photoshop app, you can be whoever you want to be, and the unashamed self-promotion is free.
The obsession to be your own god and flaunting your sex appeal, success, accolades and rich and famous lifestyle for others to envy, is pandemic and not only among teenagers and young adults.
Narcissism really has no age cut-off and the borders between reality and illusion, are now forever blurred.
But is social media inherently evil?
With an estimated 83 million fake profiles, it is not difficult to imagine the terrible risks inherent to this modern tool, which is also now being used to share live stream child pornography and even ‘snuff films’ between highly organised paedophile rings.
Also, the latest social media phenomena, ironically called ‘Blesser’, is tapping into virtually every vice known to mankind and is indeed anything but Divine.
Sex for money, greed, lust, pride, dehumanisation, deceit, ill gain and trading in humans beings, are just some curses inherent to the latest tragic trend.
‘Blessers’, typically older high rollers, or men pretending to be cash loaded, seek out attractive young women to ‘bless’ with fancy cars, holidays and designer wear.
The ‘blessings’ however come with a price tag.
While these young women are openly flaunting their ‘blessings’ on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, community watchdogs are watching the latest society onslaught with alarm.
Tragically, interviews with students reveal they see nothing wrong with giving sex in return for luxuries, since ‘you are going to sleep with somebody, so you might as well get paid for it’ and in fact hashtag their debauchery with #moralsmustfall.
While the good uses of social media is undeniable, the use of this immeasurably powerful tool will depend on the morality and intention of the user.
Just like a hammer, which can break or build, its force will depend on the hand that wields it.
But, while a hammer’s impact is measurable and predictable, social media in the wrong hands, is like Pandora’s Box.
There is really no telling what will come out of it next.
