Here is the question, What do you lose by not posting that
wad of cash, the new wristwatch, your
new car, new bag, your fabulous new
boo, or whatever it is that you’re
enjoying now on social media? There is a Yoruba adage that roughly
translates to; If your harvested yams are big,
you cover them with your hands as much as
you can, for those who can read Yoruba, here
it is “Bi isu eni ba ta, a fi owo bo ni”. This has always been my motto, because I
found out that flaunting of wealth isn’t my thing
maybe its because I don’t have anything to be
shown to the world via social media. I believe if
you’ve got something really precious to you,
you should hide it from the world not because you ain’t proud of it but because you would
rather keep it private. The world is immensely
filled with “haters”. Albert Eistein once said, “two things are infinite: the universe and human
stupidity; and I’m not sure about the
universe”, he should have added haters to that list because they’re everywhere. Which is why I believe in censoring most of my
personal information on the internet, whatever
you have, some people don’t have it or haven’t
even entertained the idea of owning it. So,
when they see such, they just use the
opportunity to lynch you, especially from people you don’t even know. This has happened to mostly celebs, and there
is the new thing which is to clapback, i.e reply
with harsh comments as well. From what I have seen on Nigerian twitter/
Linda Ikeji comment section, people have bad
mouth and you wonder how vile people’s
tongues can be against others. I have a friend who has updated us all on how
his life is flashy, from pictures of his cars, to
wristwatches and every other thing he feels
the world should know and I have tried to have
the conversation about not showing the whole
world what you have because many of them don’t even want you to have it in the first place. I have another who will say its the fake one he
bought while all evidences point at him been
wrong about the authenticity, the same guy will
tell you that he got a Rolls Royce in a very
good deal, like 75% off and he has lied about
that too. He owns a Tesla abroad, he has said it was given to him by his company, but we
know it is his, which company gives you and
your wife a Tesla car each? I’m not against posting special occasions, like
your marriage proposal, wedding pictures,
your new child. The truth is when you rock
these your expensive possessions to events
or anywhere, people who recognize these
things will appreciate your taste. The announcement to everyone about your new
possession is kinda immature to me, my own
humble opinion. You don’t need anyone’s approval to live your
life as you want, so why show it to all and not
just the most important people in your life?
What satisfaction is even derived from posting
your personal stuff on social media, likes and
retweets? That’s all. Because of likes and retweet is why you would give people access
to your privacy, so someone can you “You go
girl!” ?! There is another bandwagon of people in
relationships with 1001 pictures, Jesus Christ,
protector of everything good and holy, save
me from these bae and boo pictures! (Now,
even I sound like a hater!) I’m indeed happy for you but yall aint as happy
as you portray in those pictures and because
of those your made-up pictures, some ladies
are going to break up with their boyfriends
whose relationship in “real life” is way better
and more healthy than yours. I have seen enough memes that advises
people in relationship not to use Instagram
couple pictures to judge how happy those
“models” are compared to your relationship,
which is true. Another bummer is what
happens when you break things up with him. You start to delete the 1001 pictures you’ve
spent over 3 years posting, it won’t be a fun
exercise I can assure you. For example, look at the bag issue, it was a
simple case of I finally got the bags that I have
been waiting for, which is harmless. It turned
harmful when a nosy follower sent to Hermes
to confirm then it turned yam pepper scatter
scatter (big trouble for those who don’t get that) where we needed to be informed about
how-out-of-our-mind wealthy the bag owner is. Won’t it have been a lot more peaceful if the
image of the bag was sent to friends that they
had spoken about the bag before? Be happy in
your own state, happiness comes from within
not from material possession. You can buy up
all of Adeola Odeku and Banana Island and still be sad. Again, I’m not justifying the bullies or the
attackers, I’m just saying people are sad and
would love to drag other people into their
degenerate pit with them. Don’t make yourself
the target by posting these things you feel
necessary for everyone to see. For the attackers, its not right to put people
down just because you don’t agree or admire
their status. There is a little thing called ignoring
and moving on, and that hasn’t killed anyone,
just move right along. For the celebrities clapping back at haters, I
personally think it’s the wrong thing to do. For
one, you’re in the public eye, I also understand
the point where you feel like you’re also human
which I certainly agree with but you’re the one
who is the celebrity not the negative commenter. He/She is just another person
who no one knows, probably trying to get
cheap points by been mentioned in blog who
pick up the insult. One of the celebrities I admire in Nigeria is Don
Jazzy, dude knows how to diffuse those
things that most times it becomes a joke and
people laugh and move on. Although, he also had that thing with Olamide
at the Headies, but that’s in the past now. Don
Jazzy is still liked and respected despite later
revelation showed that he was also not a clean
person during the break-up of Mo’hits. The
way celebs diffuse these hater comments goes a long way into solidifying your brand, it
also makes you more of a better person. Your brand is your essence, its what people
admire about you. For example, banks such as
GTBank, Diamond Bank and Zenith Bank have
this awesome brand that people just wanna be
associated with them. If you don’t have a
GTBank account, I’m sure you know like 2 people you know that have it. There are banks
that are richer than GTBank but GTB has the
brand that everyone loves. Same goes for Celebs as well, people like you
because of who you’re asides from your
music or your art, how you rub them off is
essential. Some celebs are so warm when you
meet them in person, you are wowed by their
humility and how unhabited they’re. For instance, Banky W, Olamide, D’banj, Chidinma
and so on are really cool. You’re in the public eye, I post a picture of a
Camaro today on my personal account,
friends will show love and appreciation, haters
will say na drugs/419/armed robbery I dey do,
and that’s for me as normal person. For a celebrity, you’ll have to amplify that by
another 500-1000% and that’s because you’re
in the public eye, your moves are scrutinised.
Once you’ve become popular, your private
almost disappears, you’ve sacrificed your
privacy for fame. You have to learn to deal with this, replying your fans with the harshest
comment from the pit of your disgust just
exposes the kind of person you really are,
bitter and irascible. Anyway, those are my 2 cents on this social
media show off, if its precious to you, keep it
on the down-low, enjoy it in your own privacy,
if you have the overbearing need to show the
world, be prepared for vile Nigerian tongues,
either ways, deal with it. Thanks Have a wonderful week ahead
