Having been active on social media fro the past 12 years I have some social networks come and go (who remembers Hi5 and MySpace?). I have learnt a lot (Nigerian scammers included) through it.
The world has gotten smaller
Y'all remember when online relationships were frowned upon? We've come a long way from that, haven't we? It's become a whole lot easier to meet people than we used to. It's also gotten a whole lot harder to become undetected at public gatherings (well before COVID-19). Privacy has become a rare commodity. Some random is taking pics without your knowledge and next thing you know bae hits you on some I-know-you-lied-about-where-you-were-last-night kind of vibe.
Some people aren't as smart as they look
As the world has gotten smaller it has become easier to have a peek into your fav's mind through their social media posts. Well, you can fake intelligence for an interview but day-to-day, hmmm. We've seen self-incriminating Instagram videos being used in court. Reckless tweets from years gone by being brought up to discredit people's current efforts. I imagine what horrors what I'd have have on my digital footprint if I had social media at 14.
We all know that drop dead visually-appealing human specimen whose posts are the equivalent of a dump taken by an elephant with diarrhoea. The internet never forgets.
You aren't alone
This can be creepy or fun depending on consent... Love tech and specs make you salivate? There's an online community for that. Love clothes and all things beauty? There's an online community for that. There are more people who share what you like than you think. I dare you to think of the most outrageous thing/fetish. There's an online community for that too. I'll leave the part about you can access your webcam without your consent for a future post .
Everything isn't what it seems
Fake it till you make it, right? That's a tricky one. we've seen people being called out for pretending to be someone they're not online. That's why we get lots of cases of suicide and depression, with people saying, "but they seemed happy". In my culture they say chakafukidza dzimba matenga meaning you can't judge a book by its cover. I know of couples who looked happy online but a lot of abuse was going on behind the scenes.
We currently have a controversial socialite/man of the cloth who is said to have purported a fake lifestyle online. We all know who I mean.
Sanitizing posts
Believe it or not this started before COVID-19. I have seen this happen a lot after breakups. Those "bae goals" pics are wiped from one's social media so as to distance themselves. Looking at their social media after the sanitization you'd swear that they've been single forever but check the dates and you may notice gaps....
0 Comments