Social media has created a culture where some people no longer feel a sense of shame about the content they upload on their personal accounts.
It is surprisingly striking that people can comfortably post issues that are universally regarded as immoral. Sometimes one wonders whether such individuals have family members who are most likely to get access to such ugly content.
What happened to our sense of shame? Matters which are to be perceived as personal and private have become public to some social media users. Some people can no longer distinguish between private and public issues. As a result, modesty and prudence have lost their place in the hearts of many young men and women in Uganda.
I think of the many young women in their 20s who have lost respect for their bodies. They seem unbothered about the implications of their conduct on social media. It is not surprising that the ability to excite others sexually by use of one’s body and speech is now being praised.
The sharing of any form of content has led to many other abusive behaviours that have disorganized many people’s lives. Indeed, the uploaded content of some people reveals the fact that no second thought is given to it before being posted.
We are living in a generation where concern for the consequences of our actions and words has ceased being a serious point to be considered. Our generation, as evidenced by the misuse of social media, has chosen to pay a deaf ear to the continued abuse of the virtual environment.
Evil continues to eat up our societies like wildfire simply because every person has the freedom to reveal his or her would-be private issues to the public. The loss of the sense of shame can probably be thought of as a danger to society, which has resulted from today’s wrong perception of the concept of freedom.
Everyone thinks that he or she is free to reveal the content of their hearts. Secrecy has lost its unique place in the lives of many people, and it has been replaced by immodesty and unwholesome influences.
Many Ugandans can hardly resist the temptation of exposing the intimate aspects of their lives. Gone are the days when people dealt with their weaknesses in a private manner, whereby they were able to overcome them and so, avoided scandalizing others.
As of now, with the use of the media, some people have chosen to make their weaknesses public, thus finding an opportunity to justify themselves in their wrongdoing.
Of course, the justification comes as a consequence of the comments made by the people who can hardly rebuke or find a way of helping such people overcome their weaknesses in a more ethically-guided manner.
Any morally-upright person would expect that the responses given to such revealed weaknesses are to help the victims return to their moral life. Instead, the comments made by most of the people are simply in support of the immoral way of life the victims might be experiencing.
All the comments made by the individuals in support of the victims are simply sounding one strong voice: “continue, you are the super star of our age.” The few concerned citizens who do their best to provide a few ethical guidelines to the individuals going through a disordered way of life are normally labelled as ‘social media in-laws.’
Those who try to guide others in as far as doing the right thing is concerned are simply taken to be old-fashioned people who are still stuck in the ancient times. In case we are to realize a change of behavior among those who abuse their freedom by using social media in a manner that is degrading, we must first show contempt for any form of immorality that is exposed to us.
The people who show support for such degrading acts must realize the effect of their comments when such ugly content is posted. It is not something easy to stop all people at once.
However, if each one of us makes an effort never to regard such acts as being good, a step along the path of restoring a morally-upright society will be reached in the long run. Civil authorities need to realize the extent to which the nation has reached in as far as the misuse of social media is concerned.
Among the regulatory authorities here in Uganda is the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), which is tasked with regulating the telecommunications sector, including internet and broadcasting services.
The intervention of this commission is needed more now than ever before. I have a conviction that in collaboration with the ministry of Ethics and Integrity, the communications commission can restore rectitude in the use of social media.
alexkanyemera@gmail.com