One of them is the exponential expansion of social media platforms. These involve purpose-designed applications to facilitate communication between individuals and groups beyond the moderating influences of governments. They make communication easier, faster, interactive, convenient and cost-effective. Such platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, 2go, Meow, etc. One important attribute is that they provide real-time feedbacks in conversations.
From the foregoing, it’s simple knowledge to predict that the social media platform is home to Nigerian youths. The high rate of young people associated with this trend has made social media a marketplace where otherwise leaders of tomorrow are influenced, manipulated, indoctrinated and abused. High rate of social crime and sex-related incidents have become pervasive through the unrestricted use of this medium. Recently, there was a reported case in which a 200 level student of a state university in Niger state went to visit her online friend on a blind date. At the end, she was gang-raped by him and his accomplices and abandoned on the side of the road.
More disturbing are situations where parents pay little or no attention to the content of the websites their children visit and the type of company they keep. Underage children are given devices that take away the productive time of the child with very little supervision.
As a result of this, many young children have been indoctrinated into extremists groups; others have become social deviants, with their educational pursuits cut short. The frequent massive failures at public examinations are pointer to this decadence.
To address this menace, parents and guidance must pay more attention to the activities of their wards with regards to handling of phones and other smart devices. Besides, mass campaign should be carried out highlighting the dangers of making friends online and giving out vital or personal information. These measures, and more, if taken keenly and enforced vigorously, could curb the menace associated with social media misuse.
Aisha Abubakar, Mass Communication Department, IBB University, Lapai, Niger State.
