Vile online habits a national tragedy

The good: The reading culture has caught on in Kenya. The bad: It’s not about a good book or article to add knowledge. The ugly: We are reading blogs and pop-up Facebook posts and forwarded WhatsApp messages and searching for the latest profile updates on all social media platforms.

We all saw and heard what happened to the Deputy Governor of Kirinyaga; most of us were aware of the incident before it was reported on conventional media.

The news was met with laughter, fake empathy or disregard. Sadly, that is now ‘dead’ news, even after it enjoyed all that airtime and newsprint columns.

Are we really improving self, country and generation with what we write, read, hear and circulate?

ONLINE OXYGEN

Of late, ‘online oxygen’ has become a life necessity to most individuals with smartphones. The first thing they do in the morning is open social media platforms and read what is trending, latest picture uploaded, juicy gossip or even to spy on an individual. And then, without verifying its truthfulness, we accept and discuss the items throughout the day.

We then drive the same agenda by word of mouth. It is time the agenda-setting theory by Max McCombs and Donald Shaw was modified; our mouths are truly calling the shots!

It is time we learnt to do what is right, not what is gratifying for us — including quenching the insatiable thirst for calumny, slander and rumours.

UNTRUE STORIES

Most of us fill our minds with untrue stories and stale news for such a long time that, by the time the true version of it catches up with the falsehood, we are already corroded with bile and rot — so much so that we do not have space for what is true, refreshing, constructive and right. Most of the people feeding on this is the young generation driving our country’s economic, political and social agenda.

What a sad state of affairs.

‘Minister’ Chacha and his alleged misdeeds on MPs hit the social media like a tornado and was on most lips. But do we take time to verify whether the information doing the rounds is true or not?

“I’m not boarding” became almost a national slogan — even the striking university lecturers assimilated it as their clarion call. We can remember the stories surrounding the Miguna Miguna deportation and the drama that was showing on our WhatsApp pages and all the over-emphasised stories of how the government was out to frustrate him.

OBNOXIOUS BLOGGING

Those who survive on online oxygen and obnoxious blogging must have read or heard so much. Miguna’s swollen-hands-and-torn-coat photos trended more than the “handshake”. Why emphasise on the negative?

It was not until Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i succinctly disabused us of the rumours, when summoned by a parliamentary committee, explaining that that would happen to anyone who contravened the law.

The filth left behind by rumours in most of us is immeasurable. The foul talk on the Miguna incident, or even what happened last year during the elections, is so full in peoples’ brains that they can hardly embrace the handshake and let bygones be bygones. This is evidence that we value what we did yesterday and haven’t even dared to do anything today.

NATIONAL TRAGEDY

Down at the counties, Nyandarua has had its share of good and bad stories. The bad has dominated of late with it appearing in the top 10 of the most corrupt counties list. To add insult to injury, a blogger who claimed on Facebook that he writes for himself and talks about county programmes would often mislead his followers, fomenting conflicts and shamelessly feeding the youth — who are the biggest audience on social media — with wrong information.

The tragic effect of fake news was witnessed when a vehicle was torched in Ukambani and a tribalistic song composed against one community by another within a few days of the incident. This was an indicator of how fast a country can descend into chaos if the spread of fake news is not checked.

INTELLIGENT DIRECTION

This kind of flagrant blogging is uncouth. Communication experts should stop this odious trend and encourage what is noble. Yes, the popularity and immediacy of social media is a good thing, the best of its kind. But it’s supposed to help us, not kill us. We must strive to use it well. Quality is a result of good intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skilful execution, not an accident.

Unconventional ‘journalists’ who make a deliberate effort to publish hoaxes, propaganda and misinformation should be gagged.

 Ms Kinyua is a ‘Hansard’ reporter, Nyandarua County Assembly. [email protected]