SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE REWAKE OF TERRORISM IN NIGERIA

In the break of the New Year, everyone is hopeful about the future, about goals to achieve and objectives to check as done. Everyone sets out as optimistic as they can be from December and prepare to strive to live through January. It is in this pursuit that Nigerians experienced the heightened wrath of the re-wake of the Boko Haram attack. From one attack to the other; to the killing of Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa state CAN Chairman, Reverend Lawan Andimi and Ropvil Dalyep, a student of the University of Maiduguri in addition to the abduction of Lilian Daniel Gyang and several others. 

I am not concerned with recounting the ordeals we have been faced with since the inception of Boko Haram in Nigeria, but I want us to see something we all have been missing as a people and as a Nation. 

Over the years and especially in recent times, this terrorism has been given a louder voice through social media. We have to realize that one of the strong tools now employed by these terrorists is fear. They set out to spread fear to the citizenry. There is propaganda by Boko Haram to specifically send out a message to Nigerians that they are strong and still in control of their territories.

And how do they achieve this?

Through the social media, of course, and you have helped them achieve this by sharing and spreading the gruesome murder videos of the above state victims and that of many others over the past few years. 

When we continue to share these videos and images we help them spread their demonic influence and terror. We help them spread fear even to those they are far from. Over the past month, social media has been saturated by the videos of these gruesome murders. Yes, some of you even have it on your smartphones and tables right now. Every time you upload these videos or pictures; for every time you share on Facebook or send to a WhatsApp group, you are furthering the agenda of Boko Haram and the enemy to spread fear and plant its seed in the lives of people.

We have become complacent and unaware that the enemy wants to creep into our very homes. It wants to enter into our very minds and desecrate the very sanity of our minds and spirit more and more. And when the battle of the mind has been won, victory is won. When our peace becomes destabilized then we cannot not even sleep or walk without looking behind.  

We now live in what is known as the “age of anxiety”.  And the very first step to this great anxiety is fear. Our world today, not just Nigeria, has become a frightening place to live. Many of us live with a sense of underlying dread about things and uncertainties around us. And sadly, technology, especially the social and general media continually immerse and leave us with pictures, videos and headlines of violent crimes against humanity, terrorism, epidemics, etc. we have become drenched in these images, our minds now play them subconsciously and we are gradually been haunted by these terrible acts. People are more and more being tilted towards trauma. Most Nigerians, not just in the Northeast are living with post-traumatic stress, yes. Thanks to you and me, we have successfully facilitated and spread this fear through social media. 

Today in the Western Nations, there is a growing diagnosis of anxiety amongst people of all ages even among teenagers, young adults and college students who are growing up in the age of technology “full of anxiety-producing images”. We have leaned on, leveraged upon and become attached to technology and the social media for everything. The same tool has stood out to infect us with some of the ills it carries. We have become sucked in and burdened by what we see. Young people have not even dealt with the anxieties that come with comparisons, poor self-perception and self-worth online, now have to deal with dreadful contents designed to instil fear and defeat, to cast hopelessness and purposelessness.

People are already living with the intense fear of tomorrow in addition to the unanswered and unresolved existential questions – about why we are here and the purpose of life. This mindset of inadequacy or purposelessness facilitates an endless circle of worry and anxiety in people, families and even communities. And now we have to deal with something more. Don’t you think you should get out of the social media now and then in other to gain perspective of your living, purpose and accomplishments? Social media engrossments hinder objective self-examination. While we are there, our standards will subconsciously remain what we are engrossed with online. Saliently, those likes, reactions and social media engagements we get online make you begin to feel you have arrived when actually you have a long way to go.

Here are the basics about how this terror work: first you experience an immediate fear which you contemplate on, then it leads to worry and when worry stays long enough it grows in anxiety. And depression can likely set in. Today anxiety is one of the leading cause of stress among people. 

We must, thus, cease to aid the enemy spread fear by sharing terrifying contents online. We must turn off the TV or any other media when they begin to set us off. Nothing is news. It’s the same old tale of wars, crisis, crimes, etc. It’s the same. And it’s not going to change until Jesus comes. Rather, we must seek the workings of an inner peace – which Jesus offers. Hope that he brings and assurance that he gives. In Him we are secure, not in whatever pleasure the media offers. 

If you must, spread hope and love. May your engagements be full of grace.                  

Reference

Manning, Margaret Shull. “Age of Anxiety”. A Slice of Infinity. Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. 05 Feb. 2020. Web. 06. Feb. 2020.