By
Obododimma Oha
It is all about choice. What we publish in the social media is not just anything we like and not as the spirit moves us. We need to consider so many things before doing it: the nature of the audience, the nature of the issue, the laws surrounding the issue and its publication, ethical needs, etc. That means that thinking is first of all required.
That thinking means that one has weighed so many things. If one still goes ahead to publish, it means that one has accepted responsibility and can stand by the publication at anytime.
Facebook publication is an exposure, not just a simple exposure, but an exposure to the whole world. Its opposite is censorship, which may be group censorship or self censorship. Censorship is all about regulation of what to say openly and what to keep back.
When we correct ourselves, we are preventing a publication of what we do not want. That is a censorship and it involves judgement. Social media publication is based on judgement, that we want the world to know.
Every person should know what to say and what not to say, what to expose and what to hold back; call that communication competence. It is not everything and anything that flashes across the mind that we can or should talk about.
It appears that, with social media, one has nothing to hide again! Things that were hidden are brought out.
Is one saying that it is better to deny us our freedom? No. We are simply being reminded that when there is freedom, there is need for caution. It is not everything you are not allowed to say at the village meeting that you can now tell the whole world through Facebook update. It is not every talk that that ritual invites. It is not every drunkard that owns an android phone that can tell the meaning of the gathering.
Okay, Facebook asks: " What is on your mind?" Does that question imply that you MUST tell that thing on your mind? Only people who don't think would tell whatever comes to their minds.
Facebook's question could be seen as containing a warning already: that your telling of that thing on your mind is your choice. A gun is not held to your head, corked and ready to deal with you if you fail to cooperate. It's all your choice.
There are certain things that one must be extra careful with, if it becomes necessary to write about them on Facebook: one's employment, one's private life, etc. They demand silences to some extent. It is not if you make love to your wife, your come to Facebook and announce it. It is not if your head of department is mean, you run to Facebook and announce it! These days, certain things that you say about yourself on Facebook may make criminals begin to follow you up and down. Be Facebook-wise.
The main issue is that to publish something on an internet-based medium like Facebook is a serious decision and should not be seen as a casual thing. Whether the update is a photograph, drawing, or written text, it is a serious exposure.
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