Demographic Dividends Through Communication
Ramatu Ada Ochekliye presented this paper at the 7th Nigerian Annual Population Lecture Series that happened in Abuja in 2019. The theme of the series was ‘Nigeria’s Population Issues: Harnessing 21st Century Innovations to Achieve Demographic Dividends’. *** In 1758 when Carl Linnaeus introduced the term, Homo sapiens, and the rest of the world accepted it as the only human species still in existence, the ‘most advanced of the lot’, the ‘wise man’, he probably didn’t know that a new species of humans were on their way to becoming the extant species. Granted, it took a couple of centuries before this new species came into existence. And unlike the Homo sapiens that were erect, with a skull rounded at the back of their head to denote a reduction in neck muscles and straight fingers, this new species was slightly bent over, with elongated necks and crooked fingers. These new species are…you. Today, it is very common place to see most people bent over their mobile devices, scouring the internet for the latest news, juiciest stories, salacious gossip or just to share their day with their significant other, their family, friends, acquaintances or people they want to – and I hope you pardon me for doing this – shoot their shot with. All of this is made possible by the internet, and its loudest child, social media. Social media is the most commonly used mode of communication in the world’s fourth industrial revolution today. It is a sure-fire way to reach millions – and dare I say, billions – of people at the very same time. It is also very intimate, allowing you to be ensconced in a different world with just one person. I have a theory for why social media is such a powerful, albeit addictive tool, for communication. But to really explain it, we have to go all the way back to the first industrial revolution. It was a time when mechanization had just begun to gain grounds in agriculture, extraction, and transportation. Granted, a lot of these weren’t happening in Africa or even Nigeria; in fact, we were on our way to decades of colonization. But there is a link that brings us to the Nigeria that we have today. So back to my story. The first industrial revolution saw an acceleration in human and economic exchanges. However, there was a gap that was still missing; communication. People could only communicate with each other either by being in the same space as each other, writing letters, or sending out emissaries (what we would call town criers). The second revolution brought on bigger gains in industrialization across many parts of Europe, helping them solidify the gains they made prior to colonizing many countries, and setting them as world powers. During this period which ran between the late 1800s and early 1990s, the telegraph and the telephone were invented, making long distance communication a bit easier. And the era of the newspaper was born. Communication with individuals and groups of people never seemed easier. You could walk to any phone booth and call anyone or just pick up a newspaper to find out what was happening. But as good as this was, it still presented basic communication with many constraints. Then the third revolution brought on the rise of electronics with transistors and microprocessors, telecommunication and the invention of computers and maybe, birthed the digital revolution that began in the middle of the 20th century. Radios, television…big opportunities to reach millions of people at the same time. Think NTA Network news where we all watched the most recent happenings in the country at 9pm daily, or the Presidential broadcast on Radio Nigeria on Workers and Independence Days yearly. But interpersonal communication still posed a problem. It had similar constraints like the first industrial revolution and if you didn’t have call units or a phone at home, you couldn’t make calls to people. Thankfully, there was another option that continued to remain relevant through all these; the letter. We still wrote to friends and families and – even pen pals that were total strangers – with our ‘golden pens from our golden baskets of love’ and responded with a ‘doxology’. And finally, we came to the fourth industrial revolution and the internet was invented. This was a major game changer for everything, but especially for how communication began to happen. Everything was faster, easier, relatively cheaper, more private yet, more able to reach even more people at the very same time. The birth of chat sites – think Yahoo messenger – revolutionized the entire way people interacted. Now, you could talk to different people from different parts of the world at the click of a keyboard. And as cyber cafés began to take over every street, access to people became even easier. Then the mobile phone was created, and all that information and interaction was brought to the tips of our fingers. So, my theory about human’s addiction to social media is not necessarily about the platforms but a salient need to communicate with people, to see and be seen, and to feel a connection to life that transcends ours. What then is the correlation between Nigeria, the industrial revolutions and social media today? Well, for starters…Nigeria really didn’t take off with the revolutions because one, Nigeria didn’t even exist as a nation during the first revolution; two, it was a collection of colonies in the second revolution; three, it gained independence as the third revolution began to give way to the fourth; and four, Nigeria is trying to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of technological advancements. What is clear however is that Nigeria picked the aspects of communication that came with each revolution and adopted it quickly. Our town criers gave way to traditional media which is gradually giving way to new media and with an estimated 15 – 20 million active users of the internet in the country, communication using social media
The Curse of Social Media
I pick up my phone, look for the best light source, tilt for the best angle, present the left side of my face, pucker my lips (or smile or laugh), choose a filter and bam! Picture taken! When I want a full length picture, I hand over my phone to someone and repeat the procedure. I always present my left side because it is my most flattering side. My smile seems fuller, my eyes brighter and the ‘love handles’ on my waist doesn’t look so pronounced. I take as many pictures as possible and then choose the best from the rack. Every picture that shows me in an unflattering light doesn’t see the light of any prying eyes. It is CTRL X on them ugly pictures! Having done that, I go through filter after filter to make my face smoother, clearer, and fresher and my clothes and environment more ‘tush’. When all that is done, INSTAGRAM baby! 50 likes! 100 likes! 1000 likes! And if I am Kim Kardashian, likes in the millions! Yeah…I wasn’t just talking about me. When you go on any of the social media platforms, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr or whatever suits your style, you see pictures of people that seem a bit…unreal. Everyone is more beautiful, richer, sexier and much more likeable. Everyone seems to be having fun and celebrating life and doing things that you seem to be left out of. Everyone seems to have a very happy life! But is this usually the case? In most cases, no. Social media has given us an opportunity to lieto the world. I know many people who are extremely differentfrom what they put up on social media. There are people who post snaps showing they live in opulent houses while living poor. Women with smaller waists on Snapchat or Instagram seem thicker in reality. Remember when 50 Cents was with that bed of money but filing for bankruptcy? Wizkid spoke of a house he supposedly ‘bought’ when in real sense, the owner was waiting to embarrass the heck out of him fornot paying rent. And supposedly happy relationships on the gram are anything but. Take the case of Toke Makinwa and Tiwa Savage for example. I cannot count all the #CoupleGoals posts people put up after seeing well edited photos of their supposedly happy marriages. The wedding pictures were heavenly and the gowns were out of this world! It wasn’t until their marriages publicly came crashing down that people saw how unhappy they really were. I met an actor cum TV and red carpet host recently. This actor had a very healthy social media presence. He was always on fleek in all his pictures and one would have thought he was swimming in money. He was at our school to talk on his career as a learning platform for aspiring actors. One of the first things he said was, ‘Forget what you see on the gram. Most of what I wear is brought to me by my producers and after the show, I return them. I go home in the clothes I went to the office with.’ I was shocked. Here was an ‘accomplished’ actor telling us that most of what we saw on his Instagram was just for show. Another actor, this time my favorite Nigerian male actor, spoke of moments of poverty when he was smiling for the gram, when he was posting happy pictures and when he was motivating others to reach for the stars. I can go on and on with the celebrities but they are not the only guilty ones. I know ladies who cannot take a picture without caking their face first. Theycannot go out without their face beat on fleek and dressed to the nines. These ladies spend almost all their money on clothes, makeup, accessories and what not. They hardly ever repeat a dress or shoe. Every day, they take pictures to show off what they have. How would the world know they just bought a new dress if they don’t quickly upload photos online? This is not just a thing for girls. Guys are guilty too. You look at snaps of Tyson Beckford, Trey Songz, Ebuka Uchendu, Nobel Igwe and you just know that men also want to show off. These men are fashionable and trendy so they show off their appeal in well taken shots. Some other men who may not be conventionally sexy or ‘cute’ show off their wealth. Men like Floyd Mayweather, Young Thug, Birdman and Davido are about showing off that paper. Again, how would people know they are millionaires if they don’t show the things their money can buy for them? And another category is the men who show off their penis prints. You all know how many women swooned when The Game showed off what he was packing on Instagram or when Serge Ibaka mistakenly posted a picture emphasizing his size. You hardly ever see anyone deliberately putting up a bad picture of themselves. Everyone always wants to look good. And even though I am anti-body shaming, I will never take a picture of my love handles and put online. Hell no! I ain’t sorry! Khloe Kardashian photoshops her bad knee, some dark skinned girls use lighter filters, some ‘white’ girls use the tan filter, people without cars never post pictures where they are trekking or in public transport and stuff like that. The effect then is that when many people go on Instagram or Facebook or any social media site that is especially designed for pictures and videos, they think that their lives isn’t as good as it should be. They look at the plush houses, luxury cars, designer clothes, expensive jewelry and accessories, state-of-the-art gadgets, perfectly done make up, trips to exotic locales and mouth-watering food and they can’t help but think that their life is sadly lacking in many things. If you are one of such, remember that away from the well
