A Double-Edged Sword

Sylvia Mutua

A 36-year-old Kenyan in Beijing

In my opinion, social media can have both favorable and unfavorable consequences on our society. Taking the case of the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustration when most people across the world stayed at home and therefore turned to social media as a source of news, information, shopping, and also entertainment.

Children who could not go to school used social media to learn and keep themselves occupied. Business organizations turned to social media to stay afloat and appeal to their customers to make profits. My government in Kenya was not left behind as they also turned to social media in communicating with the citizenry to push the stay-at-home campaign, hand washing and other public health messages. Global organizations such as the World Health Organization also used social media in advocating for responsible health habits across the world.

However, during this time we also saw the ugly side of social media - the rise in fake news, misinformation, hate messages and some other reckless user behaviors such as cyberbullying and stigmatization. The rise of misinformation on the social media platforms, for example, led to panic in the Kenyan society with some people believing some of these myths such as drinking black tea to cure the coronavirus, or that alcohol could be used as a throat sanitizer. Increased cases of cyberbullying affected people negatively, with many of the youth falling into depression and some even committing suicide.

The Kenyan Government has gotten strict in enforcing the cyber law and also in using social media to create awareness of the law to the public. This has led the public to be more conscious in their online conduct and to raise alarms over fake news and misinformation being peddled online.

So yes... social media has had a very positive influence in society, especially during the COVID- 19 pandemic, but we have to be very conscious of how we apply it for the advancement of our society.

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A Thief of Time

Li Shuhui

A 26-year-old civil servant in Jiangxi

I have always believed that with technological advancements, life is becoming more convenient and on the other hand more complicated. The same applies with social media.

One must-have social media app for the Chinese people is WeChat. I can't imagine how I can live without it, especially after I moved to a new city far away from my close friends. On this app, I can easily communicate with them at our convenience. I also post pictures, especially those from traveling, on WeChat Moments. I feel happy and content when I get likes and comments from my friends, knowing that they are updated on how I'm living.

The unfortunate part in using this app is that my boss and clients can find me as easily with the app.

With the assumption that I would check my phone every two minutes, which I do, they send me files and make video calls with the app any time, and not necessarily during working hours. Hence I feel the app infringes on my private life.

Even social media apps designed for fun, such as short video platforms like Douyin, can be stressful. I tried to use them during the lockdown after the COVID-19 outbreak as a time killer. It is remarkable how they can help spend time with their endless funny clips. Hours could pass by before you realize it, usually followed by a sense of void and anxiety.

Despite the fact that I could still learn a lot from these social medial platforms, I still find myself deleting them soon after acquiring the information I want or entertainment they offer. I find most social media apps unnecessarily time-consuming and, as a matter of fact, even now I don't think I can really recall anything I watched on some of them.

I prefer to spend time in yoga rather than apps. In my opinion, social media platforms are competing for as much time as our normal social lives without them do. Therefore, we should pay minimal attention to them and save time for other hobbies.

chinafrica@bjreview.com