POLITICS IN THE AGE OF LIKES AND SHARES

As we all know, the social media is a space in the Internet that gives us the opportunity as humans to reach places where normally it doesn't seem to be possible. Knowing this, we as citizens often use this medium to err our opinion on certain things we want our leaders, both aspiring and current to look out for and also, these politicians also use this medium to reach out to the hearts of the people to make them understand their motives better or just to play them to get what they want.

The social media is just a open space for everyone and I do believe that we as citizens make use of it in so many ways to say what's on our minds that we find hard to just say to our leaders and also, these leaders also use this medium to campaign for more citizens to support them and most times also, they use this medium to clarify some misunderstandings that may arise.

So for the topic chosen for first edition this week by the Hivelearners community, we are asked to share our opinion on SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICS. There is so much to say about social media and politics but sadly, I'm not in a good place to share so much since I have less experience with this. Anyways, I'm just going to share my one cent on this.

Here in my country Nigeria, so many people abuse the privilege they have on social media to turn politics into a bad activity to get involved with. They have successfully made more people less interested in politics because they have made them believe that no matter what we do, their votes will never count. Well, at this point it is so believable because it is what is evident over the years. Since their votes won't count, so many people would rather just sell their votes and get something in return (often times it's money) rather than just vote for those they truly want to lead.

The politicians on the other hand after getting what they want, they most times show us through the social media their works but then, it is as if they are still not doing anything because majority of the people are not benefitting from them as they try to show to us. But because of the social media, we are somehow made to believe that they are making efforts in some parts of the country. And some citizens also get the opportunity to err their dissatisfaction too through the social media.

In the long run, it hasn't been a good effect politically because like I mentioned before, because of the fact that anyone can go online and share whatever they want to share, a lot of people are now beginning to lose interest in participating in politics - political apathy. Also, it has given the politicians the opportunity to show some workings even without evidence. Since not every citizens benefit from their leadership, it's now harder to believe them despite what we see on the social media bearing in mind that a lot of people now believe that nothing in the social media is true.

If there is anything I'd like to change, it would be the aspect of people just saying anything that comes to their mind on social media. Yes, we all have freedom of speech but then, we also hold some responsibility towards one another and part of that is always sharing honest and helpful contents. Once you know your content might cause harm to someone, it's best if you don't share it at all.

Thanks for reading through. ❤️