Social media and technology has made networking easy, possible and remotely. People are able to work and collaborate at the touch of buttons. Groups meet, discuss and implement resolutions. It’s all in the spirit of progress and unity.

Within the groupings or contacts, there are those who feel ‘chosen’ to enlighten others unsolicited. They feel obliged to share material on religious, social, political and current affairs. They flood spaces with preaching, verses and devotional material. They feel entitled to share everything they read elsewhere, be it from local or international news outlets, some dating back to the 1940s. They spend days and time digging news and information to post on various groups, becoming the mouthpieces of institutions and orgnisations across the country by re-publishing press releases and press conference.

There are those who ensure to tag one item to all groups they belong to and if you happen to belong to several WhatsApp groups with them, be assured to get one item multiplied by the number of groups shared.

Look, sharing information is vital, especially if it has to with utility interruptions, looming strikes, demonstrating, health alerts and any other vital day to day information. One cannot just flood information or assume that what they are interested in interests others too. It doesn’t help to act like information champions and impose beliefs or interests on others. Courtesy demands one to respect others’ boundaries than to simply post and re-post. This is a lack of etiquette.

I have a problem with the self-made preachers on these WhatsApp groups, philosophers, historians, news breakers and the copy and pasting. It defeats the purpose of these groupings and causes others to exit because of the privacy invasions.

Like I said, information is vital, but people should choose what to share. Some of it is irrelevant and time wasting. We must always remember the individuality of members and their affiliations before simply misusing the buttons to annoy others. Other people choose specific groups for particular postings. This means that they belong to more sociable groups that tolerate almost any silly thing as opposed to other groups with agenda that must be respected.

The silence from group members about certain postings does not mean approval. People may be complaining behind the scenes and will not voice out their annoyance out of respect. They continue to bombard members with videos and long texts without the discernment to stop, even without the standing ovation. They believe there are appreciated and indispensable.

For those in groups, exercise caution and boundaries during your interactions. Learn to gauge and decipher what information is relevant for which group. Don’t assume everyone wants devotions, sports, comedy, recipes or news. We need these groups, but don’t take people for granted. They are not platforms to advance personal agendas.

The post To those ‘information champions’ on social groups first appeared on The Nation Online.

The post To those ‘information champions’ on social groups appeared first on The Nation Online.