'I Am Dying, They Are Tweeting': The Effects Of Social Media On Our Conscience

We are all guilty of the bad habit

I had just checked my wristwatch before it happened. It was five minutes past noon. We had just gone past a checkpoint and the road seemed all clear before us. The driver expectedly changed gear, and put his foot on the accelerator to increase speed. About four kilometres afterwards, the story changed. Our vehicle rammed into another vehicle that erroneously chose to make a reverse on a Trunk A road thinking he was all alone on the bend.



The impact was loud. I passed out and regained consciousness to find my limbs numb. Just as I managed to look around, there was already a crowd. I noticed three of my co-travellers were lifeless. I was told later that I was lucky to be alive as others died immediately from shock and huge loss of blood. I however noticed a number of people encircling me had their phones in their hands. I was shortly glad they were trying to call for help. I saw a flash briefly and it occurred to me they were either taking pictures or shooting videos while I laid there helpless.



They are the new journalists of the new age. I fainted. By the time I woke up, I saw the white ceiling and felt partly relieved that help finally came. I was later informed that another vehicle that went past the scene contacted the Federal Road Safety Corps personnel some metres ahead of us that an accident had happened. I was still in excruciating pain; I was moderately conscious but could not speak. It was not long before I saw about four nurses enter the room I had been kept. They looked at me and shook their heads in pity. Again, I saw two of them bring out their phones to snap me while I heard another requesting one of them to send the image to her on Whatsapp. I felt scandalised. I felt humiliated and used.



It is the curse of the new age. It is the age when people will rather pull out their cell phone and snap pictures or record videos instead of offering help to a victim(s) of an unfortunate happening or call those who can provide help.



There is that fresh need to discuss our humanity in view of new media tools and technologies that we now own. In 1993, the New York Times published a picture of a Sudanese child who was trying to make her way to the refugee camp hoping to get food and water. While at the difficult task given her malnourished state, a vulture was preying already; waiting for the starving kid to die and have its own meal.



Kevin Carter took the picture; it became famous. He was criticised by several people who wanted to know if and why he did not help the child. Given the graphic genius of the picture, Carter received the Pulitzer award in 1994, but he committed suicide the same year, leaving speculations as to why he took his life. The debate of the appropriateness of Carter’s picture has lingered since 1993 wrapped around self versus others debate. The disputation is fresher given the new media generation who are readily empowered with tools to take such pictures and even have them in motion picture form. There is the growing fear that despite how connected we are, there still exist disconnections among us. The huge access to social network points and the population this generation has on it should become an asset but it does not seem so on all fronts.



This is where bloggers and social media influencers can play a role. It is time to control narcissistic cravings. It is time to think of the others first. Now is the time to arrest the self-obsession many young people of this generation have and replace such with community love, empathy and ability to be there for others. Injustice to one must become injustice to all.



A good starting point will be to police one another, provide the check and balance for usage of new media tools in our digital ecosystem.



The target of every tweet or update in times of emergency care need should first be how it can help the victim(s) and not how to garner more followers, get more likes, or more annoyingly be the first to break sad news. There is the need to empower young people of this generation to see beyond themselves.



Our infrastructural problems and institutional setbacks make care for one another even more significant. Our bad roads, our ill-equipped hospitals and several other malaises that regular assault us make living a tough business. The advantage of social media technology enabling quicker response and capacity to call out public officials should be with all the momentousness it deserves, especially in a life and death situation.



This should be our unwritten code of conduct when using social media and all the adjoining tools. It would make for proper care if we all carry numbers needed in cases of emergencies on our phones, gadgets and even post the same for others to see and use on our status updates, blogs and other online avenues.



The official lines of the FRSC, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, State Ambulance Services, National Emergence Management Agency, Federal Fire Service, Nigerian Army and other Joint Task Forces should be handy for us all. After all, our intervention may be all that is necessary to save a life or keep another citizen alive.



Note: The National Orientation Agency alongside the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme of the British Council organised the event. The highlight in the introductory story; a true account, was recounted and shared by a participant at the workshop.

'Sola Fagorusi is a blogger.



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