Hide your diaries regardless of “civilization”!

By Doris Yaa Dartey

In bygone years, it was common for young people to keep diaries as records of their activities. Diaries were considered as personal chronicles of early life history; mostly of little affairs and deep thoughts. 

The content of diaries were treated as tight secrets and were faithfully hidden to ensure that they did not get into anybody’s hands to be read. Having your diary read by anyone was a flagrant violation of privacy. It was an abomination! So you only kept a diary knowing that you can hide the little book from prying eyes. Hiding a diary was an obsession!

Woe betides anyone if a parent or an adult who has power over you saw your diary that reveals your innermost secrets! Such a revelation could easily earn you a good beating or some form of unforgettable punishment, which will put the fear of God in you until you become an adult and can pay your own way through life.

ENTERS SOCIAL MEDIA CIVILIZATION

But now civilization has come! The Internet and its social media platforms have become the new public bathhouse and toilet sites where people go to get naked for all to see. For many people, social media is the diary in which they journal their innermost thoughts, experiences and personal stories.

A Beninese proverb has it that “You must attend to your business with the vendor in the market, and not to the noise of the market”. Yes, the Internet is the new kid of the human information sharing and communication block. It is here to stay. Unfortunately, for some, social media is their personal diary that they throw into the noisy marketplace. Whoever told us that just because we have access to a piece of technology, we must use it mindlessly? 

The social media space is overwhelming me. It is increasingly becoming very rough. It is bringing out the worst in some people, displaying recklessness and unleashing information that should be kept behind closed doors. Some people are utterly misusing and abusing the Internet and over-socializing it.

A family member of mine was suffering from what appeared to be end-stage breast cancer. Her sister Philomena, who has the annoying habit of posting anything on social media announced on Facebook that her sister was dying! It was as if Philo was God and could determine that her sister was dying for sure. Philo’s “Friends” and “Followers” responded to her posting in varied ways. Some insulted her, questioning the need to broadcast this kind of information on social media. Others expressed sympathy. 

Clearly, Philo’s behaviour was inappropriate. She displayed insensitivity and attention-seeking behaviour, and of a person who craves for public validation.

Fortunately, her sister never saw the irresponsible Facebook broadcast of her impending death. But more fortunately, the sister has now recovered. So that social media publicity of death was truly an unnecessary posting. Philo could not have shared such a needless story with responsible media outlets like the Daily Graphic, Spectator,GBC, Citi FM, GNA, Joy FM because media gatekeepers would not have allowed it to go through. But social media is a free-for-all platform where insensitive people post anything online.

RESPONSIBLY NAVIGATING SOCIAL MEDIA 

We should be careful of cyberspace. I liken social media to non-biodegradable plastics. When you throw away those single-use plastics, you should always be in the full awareness that it will not decompose for some hundreds of years, long after your death. After some years, the chances are that no one will even remember that you ever passed through this world. Likewise, the information we recklessly dump in social media stay there for years.

Enduring Questions: Why do we mindlessly post trivial things online? What purpose does it serve? What deep emptiness is within us that needs to be cured by letting everyone know our personal issues? 

Our attitude about social media should be to share things only as treats. After all, there should be a difference between a meal and a treat even with regard to information sharing.

We should keep some parts of ourselves mysterious. The same way we wear clothes to conceal parts of our bodies, we should apply that principle to what we share on social media.

You might think that oh, it is just information! But information is power. Words and images have inherent power; they can destroy and they can build. So whatever you want to share on social media must meet certain standards of decency and nobility; and with its future repercussions in mind. 

Just because we can do something does not suggest that we should do it. Some people are laying bare their lives on social media. It is tantamount to going naked in public. Too much of private stuff have become public material. It is important to create a screen to conceal parts of our lives away from the glaring view of the public. Let’s return to the good old days of hiding our diaries that are loaded with private personal information.

THE NAM 1 POSTCRIPT: BODY WEIGHT AND CASH

Here is a metaphor for Menzgolders regarding their money in NAM 1 and his company. In our part of the universe, financial success is often displayed publicly for all to see – in body weight (with a noticeable pot-belly), and a general exhibition of flamboyance. 

The now infamous Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM 1) had the flamboyance (a lot of it – plush vehicles, aircraft, mansion); but very little body weight. In effect, the gold wealth did not show on his body. 

He had been on a lock-down in Dubai police custody since December. And against the backdrop of the harsh realities of his troubles in Ghana, he might have lost substantial body weight – the weight he did not have. I cannot help but wonder how much of him currently remains.

Meanwhile, NAM1’s Menzgolders are waiting here in many parts of Ghana to literally eat him up – and to retrieve their gold bars (sorry – cash deposits and investments). Unfortunately, Menzgolders will have very little (if any!) of NAM1 to chop up. Ouch! 

The morale: (1). The only thing that belongs to you really is what is in inside your body and soul. (2). If you come into sudden and illicit wealth, ensure that you eat very well and put on some weight so that when you suddenly lose the wealth, you will have some flesh remaining on your body for a little while. (3). Do not engage in illicit acts.

dorisdartey@gmail.com