The Sunday Mail
Tapiwanashe Chiunye, U6
Sandringham High School
I DEFINE social media as the modern day online lingua franca that has brought different races together, allowing them to interact with each other.
Social media growth has been rampant over the past years as it has taken the world by storm, being the most common aspect of the internet. It now seems as if it is the air we breathe because hardly anyone can do without using social media.
On Friday 13 September, 2019, our school, Sandringham High, was honoured by a visit from Nhandemutande Media, who are going into schools, teaching students about the dangers of social media.
Led by Mr Fungai Anthony Sox, a co-founder of the organisation, Nhandemutande brought us an experienced journalist to deliver some career guidance and a lesson on social media to the Quiz, Debate, Public speaking and Environmental clubs.
Chiefly, their focal point was centred on how social media is being used in the 21st century. Social media has been said to either mould a constructive and productive person or someone with a ravaged, vile mentality. Currently, there is a plethora of social media platforms like Sasai, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Tik Tok, Twitter, among others.
Statistical reports say teenagers are the most active on social media. At the same time, they are the ones who get thrown into the social media’s abyss of detrimental effects.
We learnt that on these sites, cyberbullying is very common as people may post acutely negative reflections on someone’s time-line, leaving them depressed to the extent of committing suicide.
Another example is the issue of getting involved with complete strangers online, and having relations with them. This usually affects girls as they usually fall prey to perverts, they are invited to visit them and get abducted, raped or even killed.
This remains the most harrowing effect of social media. If it were possible to monitor today’s children’s online activities, the world would be a better place as they would be protected from online grooming and pornographic material, just to mention a few.
Social media, however, also has its positive effects, which are currently outweighed by negatives. The most significant advantage has been that of making communication relatively easy, fast and cheaper, courtesy of people like our very own Strive Masiiwa, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
As a computer science student, I am greatly inspired by Bill Gates. I aspire to be like him in the near future. Mr Sox also took the initiative of giving us some hints on making career choices. He said for a person to have a great and enjoyable career, he or she must choose one that is directly linked to his or her passion.
Most people are now stuck doing jobs that they hate; they cannot do anything about it as they need the money to support their families. The problem is that they will not be motivated to work hard. This results in low productivity. However, the workshop encouraged us to discover our talents first and in turn use them, if possible, to build careers that will make us happy.
I strongly believe that if people take heed of this advice, they will be intrinsically motivated to work hard. On behalf of Sandringham High School, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Nhandemutande for enlightening and taking us on an epic journey through the effects of social media, thereby leaving us with enough knowledge on how best to use social media, bearing in mind that it can build or destroy someone.
Students, you can send your articles vie e-mail, Facebook, WhatsApp or text. Just app Charles Mushinga on 0719936678 or send your articles, pictures, poetry and art to Charles Mushinga: [email protected], [email protected] or follow Charles Mushinga on Facebook or @charlesmushinga on Twitter.
