Social media as an educational and enlightenment platform

With the advent of technology, and Information Communication Technology (ICT), the way and manner information is being communicated between one to another is amazing. Not too long ago, while in secondary school (boarding house), it took a minimum of two weeks to get a letter sent from school to home pleading for provisions and pocket […]

With the advent of technology, and Information Communication Technology (ICT), the way and manner information is being communicated between one to another is amazing. Not too long ago, while in secondary school (boarding house), it took a minimum of two weeks to get a letter sent from school to home pleading for provisions and pocket money. Nowadays, however, communication is on the go. One need not be physically present with another to send information instantaneously, with the kind of smart phones readily available in the market; it is only when the receiver is offline that a message might likely delay. 

Many youths in Nigeria learnt firsthand how to use a smartphone from personal experiences; there was and is yet to be an orientation organised by the Nigerian government on how to effectively use this medium to bring about change in our immediate environment. This inability of the Nigerian government to educate and enlighten its kids, teens and emerging adults on how to handle the internet frenzy, has led to it being used in negative ways.  We find youths using the social media to upload pictures and celebrity gossips, with little attention paid to the enormous information available on the internet that can help develop the individual and society.

According to Strive Masiyiwa, in his work ‘Building an Internet Business’, “The titans of the internet – Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Tencnt – are all bigger than nearly all mining, manufacturing, telecoms, and natural resource companies in the world today! Even the likes of Apple and Microsoft are only able to compete with them because they manufacture phones or provide software used to access the internet,” meaning the internet can also be a source of income for our youths, if used appropriately.  

It is my belief that if the internet, with specific reference to the social media can be used as an enlightenment and educational platform, the next generation would be better for it. Take for instance, if bloggers, online users who post information beneficial to the society are empowered by the government, this would create a paradigm shift in the minds of our youths on how best to put the social media to use.

Information is power, and so the kind of information one is exposed to in the internet (social media) should be more of contributory to the development of the minds of individuals and the society.

This in effect would be a motivating purpose of the social media to Nigerian youths. There would then be a large number of Nigerian online users sharing valuable information to the society, thereby improving the perception of the country abroad, and also creating an entrepreneurial zeal in the Nigerian youth.

In the legal environment, we have facebook pages like, Young Lawyers Column, The Young Wig, Discover Lawyers, Metrolawyer, Lawyers Pilot, DNL legal and Style, etc. providing online medium by which to disseminate information enriching the practice of lawyers in Nigeria, and the legal profession as well.

One would realise that the intent behind the creation of these legal media outfits is to contribute to the development of the legal profession by making information beneficial to the profession available to all online lawyers. Sadly, little attention is given to them in terms of financial support or getting sponsors. Initiatives like these, that service a legal community of close to 120,000 (One hundred and twenty thousand) lawyers is a viable market for any advert placement of goods and services, which begs the question, how then does the society reward the creators of these online media platforms?

To my mind, the social media is a good enlightenment and educational platform with over five (5) billion active users every day. To benefit from this large network of users, the government and stakeholders alike, ought to encourage creators of online contents that develop the citizens of a state and the general society.

Encouraging acts like these, would go a long way to re-awaken the spirit of online users (most especially the youths), to post developmental content, other than solely social proclivities. The information we feed our mind plays a role in determining who we are tomorrow.

Godspeed!

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