Fighting 2,000 pound bombs with an Instagram post feels pointless. Yet, without social media so many of us would have remained in the dark to genocide and other global problems far from our shores. Social media, whether we want to admit it or not, has considerably democratised the news compared to traditional outlets, allowing room for some of the most marginalised voices to be heard. Unless of course your account has been shadow banned or blocked.
It has become an integral part of our lives and dare I say somewhat of an extension of our personalities. With it, some may argue, for the first time ever, we can carefully craft our personalities virtually with our interests, political meme sharing alongside a healthy portion of food posts in the most unblemished way as the edit and delete buttons lie just a fingertip away. With virtual egos somewhat tied to algorithms, it is also not surprising to see some accuse others of being clout chasers or question their authenticity as they jump on every trend to retain relevancy or to be performative social media activists. Especially when their behaviour offline doesn’t match their virtual reality.