There have been many instances that show that Nigeria in recent times would desist giving supports to their fellows than lending a hand of support to salvage them from the possible looming situation(s) due to the intermittent deterioration in the habit of togetherness culture.
In Nigeria today, our culture of togetherness is sporadically growing into extinction with the advent of social media and the internet in 1998. The public is now getting used to the new cultural heritage of loneliness rather than togetherness. It is becoming extremely impossible to threaten somebody with isolation but homicidal to threaten one of social media or internet usage.
With critical assessment on most trending videos, you can’t but say that Nigerians may not care for one another in the nearest future. Owing to the simple fact that many just are chasing clout on social media, expecting to be the first to release exclusive content to the public even if they seem threatening and extremely provocative.
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An ample example is that of Iloma, the supposedly rumoured ‘runs girl’ in Ajah who ran mad and was reportedly dropped by a luxury salon car. Iloma was left lying on the bare ground for hours without help from anybody despite the mammoth crowd that rounded her up. None of them was willing to render her help to salvage her of the predicament.
Another is the drowning man in Lagos State, a report had it that for a few hours, the man was lost in thought, communicating with the people around about his inability to pay up a certain debt despite several attempts. It dawned on them when he made way for the sea, jump inside to avoid the possible shame that might thence come, meanwhile, when he approached the sea, somebody saw him and instead of scolding him from jumping into the water, the person recorded it and shared on Twitter, with no sympathy whatsoever.
According to Statistica, the number of Social Network Users in Nigeria in 2019 was put at an approximate 24.59 million with the prediction that it will project to 44.63 million users in 2025. The prediction seems partially realised as a quarter of 2020 shows an increase of 4.03 million users.
Also, a social media marketing platform, Hootsuite also reported in 2019 that there are 98.39 million internet users in the country compared to 2018, there has been a 4 million increase in the number of internet users.
In the report, of the 98.39 million Nigeria internet users, 54% access the internet on a daily basis while only 12% (24 million) have active social media accounts.
The report found that 3hours 17 minutes is the average time Nigerians spend using social media. This is higher than the global average which stands at 3hours 14minutes.
WhatsApp stood as the most active social media platform in the country with 85% users. The second is Facebook at 78%, Instagram is third at 57%, followed by Messenger at 54% and Youtube at 53%.
Reacting to the growing pace of isolation social media is causing among Nigerians, Sidikat Adewole, a 300L student of Social Works in the University of Ilorin said she could barely leave her phone for a minutes or let it go off. She added that she goes around with power bank to recharge her battery when it is draining because it is her life.
“My phone is my entire life. I can do without talking to people for weeks, in as much as I have my phone with me and on. I transact business with my customers there too, my business WhatsApp is really helping me to grow as an Entrepreneur so I can’t imagine staying out of social media,” she explained.
Mr Dada Pelumi, a business mogul in Ibadan explained how he got one of his biggest contracts on Facebook. “I didn’t expect, I just got a call that day from a woman who told me that she saw the adverts of my newly arrived products on Facebook and is interested in patronising me
“I want to buy those clothes in bulk, do you have it?I do, if you want me to supply them to you now, there’s no problem, I intercepted.”
However, with varying instances and observations of Nigerians’ usage of social media, if one’s online presence is inconspicuous, there’s every possibility that the person might not be noticed forever.
