....Mark Zuckerberg was in court last week to defend his social media empire

Over 20 years ago I watched a BBC Documentary about internet addiction in South Korea. ‘Social media’ was not yet the buzz word it has become today. The documentary juxtaposed two families. One in South Korea. Another in rural Nigeria. The South Korean family, a husband, his wife, their two children- a girl and a boy- lived on gadgets.

Each of them had a gadget for everything- music, work, school- it was gadgets all over the house. When in the house, each of them went to their room and whatever they wanted to communicate they did by a gadget. ‘’Mum I’m hungry’’ the kid would message the mother. Each grabbed the food from the family’s dining table and disappeared in their room to eat alone. In the car in the morning taking kids to school, the father would be busy driving, the wife sat next to him on her gadget doing something, kids in the backseat each on his/her gadget. They rarely communicated directly to each other. It was my first sneak preview into the life we live today.

The Nigerian family, on the other hand, lived a typical African rural life. I will be honest I can’t remember the number of children the couple had. But they were always together, talking endlessly, kids playing in the family’s modest, dusty compound surrounded by nature, chickens running around, parents busy doing their routine, intervening at some point a fight breaks out between siblings... In the evening, they sat outside under the moon and stars, shared meals, had a fireside chat and laughed a lot. It looked like a happy family by any measure, if you are not corrupted by modern living.

Then BBC changed things (I would have said it switched roles if they had taken the rural life to South Korea). But it only took the gadgets from the South Korean family to the Nigerian family. The South Koreans without their gadgets looked like it had descended into some sort of darkness. They didn’t know what to do with themselves and with each other. They had lost all social skills. They were quiet, and sometimes rude to each other. They were missing their gadgets.

On the other hand, the gadgets illuminated the Nigerian family at first. A new world was opened. The gadgets weren’t enough though, so they crammed together to watch the new world. Then they started fighting for the gadgets. There was no more peace and harmony. It reminded me of the Coca - cola bottle among the San people in the movie Gods Must Be Crazy by Jamie Uys.

So, has social media taken away family peace and harmony? Is it harming our children’s mental health? Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand last week in a Los Angeles federal court to defend his social media empire against allegations it was deliberately designed to be addictive to children and teens. From your personal experience, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the allegations levelled against Zuckerberg and his Meta Empire? The jury is out!

The author is a keen observer of global affairs.