Social Media and Reading Culture: The More They Read, The More They Fail
Social media platforms, an off-shoot of the World Wide Web (WWW) present us with an enormous opportunity and likewise, if not well managed, it is a destructive mechanism that has the tendency of terminating and sending all the previously held social standards and moral ethos into the dustbin of history.
For those who can still control their minds while surfing the net, it is a world of unlimited opportunity. But the irony of the matter is that majority of us are slaves to the web. Slave in the sense that the social media platforms control us. It throws information that we do not need to us. In other words, destructive information are package beautifully for our destruction. But that is not the focus of my discussion today.
However, it is no longer news that half of the whole population are already surfing the net, the devastating news is that the negative impact of social media on the population is not only alarming, but more disturbing is the inability of the agents of social control to do something about the abuse of the media platforms by the young ones.
One notable implication of the social media on the young ones is the time dedicated to social media and its effect on their academic performances. One of the challenges that is confronting the educational sector today is the issue of dwindling reading culture. With the advent of Information Technology, easy access to information, availability of e-library, open journals and thousands of educational websites on the World Wide Web, one would expect that students would embrace the opportunity of free access to information to improve their academic performances. However, the opposite is the case.
As a matter of fact, the World Wide Web has led to the bifurcation of the space; there are now two horizontal worlds: the physical world and the real world. The physical world is where the biological body occupies a space, while the real world is where people interact and where their presence are felt. For so many people, especially the youth, the World Wide Web is their real world. In their school, at home and even in the church, a lot of them are merely physically present in the physical space but their essence and real presence can be found online.
With some astounding digital facts and figures, it is obvious that the real world (WWW) is not only active than the physical world, but more engaging, interactive and as time goes on will be more populated than the physical world. As at today, Global Active Internet Users now total 3.175 Billion; that is nearly half of the world’s population. Facebook alone adds 500,000 new users every day; 6 new profiles every second. 12 new active mobile social users are added every second, that is 1 Million per day. (Source: Social Media Today)
With the proliferation of social media users in the last ten years, particularly with the invention of Facebook in year 2004 and other subsequent social networking sites that are currently shaping the whole essence of humanity in the postindustrial society, one can say that the reading culture has actually witnessed an astronomical increase because students and youths now spend between 6 to 18 hours on the web on a daily basis, particularly on the social media platforms, reading all forms of materials.
But the question is; what kind of information are they reading online? Is it the type that benefit and enhance their academic performance? The generation Y spend useful hours on social media checking profiles of thousands of friends or friend-to-be online. Assessing and admiring photographs of thousands of people they would never meet. They waste useful hours in lusting after pictures of celebrities and other hyper-reality pictures. The social media generation are always online reading updates on trivial issues, rumors, shows, footballs news, and celebrity gossips. However, the more they read the more they fail. They become so knowledgeable in the things that do not matter and become so much ignorant of the things that matter.
To say that social media platform is a destructive mechanism is an understatement. It is not just destroying individuals, it is also destroying corporate institutions that are socializing the young ones into the ethical standard of the society. For instance, the traditional Newspapers such as The Punch Newspapers, Vanguard and other newspapers that are known for their reliability and in-depth analysis have also joined the rank of social media sites and platforms that are known for rumors and gossip dissemination such as Linda and gossip.com.
Of course, traditional media and media houses are expected to be visible on the web for simultaneous broadcasting of events as they occur, but the in-depth analysis that these newspapers are known for are also disappearing as they have also joined the train of bloggers in sharing rumors and gossip just to attract followership online and to increase patronage.
The trend now is how short and attractive the information that you are sharing online. If it is too long, you can be rest assured that only few people will read it. Everything about social medial is short and skimpy. From short text messages to abbreviation of words. Students are now so used to this skimpy form that they can neither read long articles nor write without abbreviating, even in the examination hall. They are so much carried away by their social medial lives and live-styles. Imagine, secondary school student now writes ‘You’ as ‘U’ in WAEC (Nigerian Tribune, November 15, 2015).
Again, the young ones are so carried away by artificiality, nothingness and hyper reality. For instance, if the information you are posting online is not something that has to do with celebrity gossip or an updates on trivia issues, be assured that it will not attract them. The World Wide Web has regrettably become a source of ill-socialization for the young ones. All that youths consume online are information that add little or no value to their future.
However, just like the internet is bedeviled with negativity, there are thousands of educational resources and websites online that can enhance quality education. The question is; how many of the socially inclined students are even aware that almost all the things that they are learning in the school is just a single click away on the internet. Such information are freely available on Google Search, Yahoo Answer, Slide Share, PDF, Open Access Journal, Wiki Know, Wikipedia and thousands of other educational resources centers on the World Wide Web?
The Likes of Aare Afe Babalola, Osuntokun, Ojo Ugbole, Osundare, Olubummo and other academic giants in Ekiti State spent between 12 to 18 hours in library, while our own generation are wasting between 6 to18 hours in surfing the net on a daily basis, reading updates on trivia issues! Now, I guess you know one of the reasons why the older generation succeed and why we fail. Successful people know they are what they read. If the social media craze continues with the present level of social madness, the world is destined to have a future generation of morons.
-------------------OLUWAGBOHUNMI ADURALERE: 08087110224