Understanding the Two Worlds of Social Media and Internet

By J.N. Mkhwanazi

If our mission is not to correct, then what is our mission? This is the key question that drives this handbook. It contains some basic guidelines and crucial information aimed at mobilising the hearts and minds of adults and children alike, in the quest to amplify the social voices in the call to promote a sensible, responsible and progressive use of social media. Unfortunately, it is the very same digital space used by scholars, friends, families and job seekers for progressive purposes that is also being exploited by cold-hearted online predators, agents of human trafficking, and peddlers of fake and malicious news. There has been a relentless increase in the number of reported disappearances and subsequent killing of people after having befriended and interacted with strangers on social media platforms. The high prevalence cases of underage users, cyberbullying and social media addiction warrants an urgent social conversation to set up a preventative or precautionary safety net, by educating society of the ever lurking dangers posed by the ‘dark’ side of the world of social media and the internet.

This handbook defines and discusses the following:

Social media addiction, how to spot a social media addict and how to deal with it

Underage users and the monitoring without infringing the right to privacy

Technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Curbing fake news, misinformation, forged and “doctored’ digital materials

Social media ‘group’ page management

Cyberbullying, how to spot a cyberbullied person and how to deal with it

Human trafficking, xenophobic, homophobic and other hateful content

The do’s and don’ts

Moral and legal obligations

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.N. Mkhwanazi
• Release date: Feb 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9780463244227

Book preview

Understanding the two worlds of social media and internet

A guide to sensible, responsible and

progressive social media and internet surfing

J.N. Mkhwanazi

Copyright © 2020 J.N. Mkhwanazi

Published by J.N. Mkhwanazi Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by J.N. Mkhwanazi using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Edited by Trevor French for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

J.N. Mkhwanazi

[e-mail]

Genre – Educational and General

Table of Contents

Forward

About the Author

Preface

Introduction

1. Defining social media

2. Social media and Internet addiction

3. Cyberbullying

4. Human/Child Trafficking

5. Catfishing and online dating

6. Financial scammers

7. Fake news and xenophobic, homophobic, racist and hateful sentiments

8. Underage users and self-harm

9. Social media ‘group’ page management

10. Monitoring and control of social media and Internet use

11. The do’s and don’ts

12. Moral and legal obligations

13. Restoring values versus embracing social media and the Internet

Examples of irresponsible and insensible social media use and the power of social media

Glossary

Sources

Foreword

The technological advancement, access to crucial information and instant human interconnection through social media networking platforms with the world around us, which we enjoy in the comfort of our homes, learning institutions, workplace and other public spaces cannot come at the expense of our right to privacy, dignity and life, Whatever different platforms of social media we have and use, we have a responsibility to educate the society of the adverse impact of hateful and xenophobic contents, and peddling of misinformation, the danger of underage users, cyberbullying, the existence of human trafficking agents and the ever present financial scammers on social media, and this book will open your eyes on prejudices you know or may not even be aware of, it also will lay bare on things we take for granted in the social media world.

- Miss Charity Noluthando Simelane

an entrepreneur, business skill trainer, a life coach and a director of Hlomisani Development Consultancy Pty Ltd.

About the Author

Joseph Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi is the author of the book titled A Rose on the Rock, and is a decorated graduate from Regenesis Business School, University of Johannesburg and Lyceum College. As a family man, he has demonstrated his passion and love for his people by initiating and funding various educational projects in poor communities, helped in establishing a number of multi-purpose community centres across his home town and the surrounding areas, He has initiated and funded a number of poverty alleviation projects, such as school-holiday feeding schemes for poor and vulnerable children, initiated skills development projects, and as an entrepreneur is described by many of his business associates and acquaintances as a forward-thinking businessperson.

He has given hope to many in his community by creating business and job opportunities. He is a subscribing member of the Green Peace Organization and has devoted his time to advocate against climate change.

Yet Nhlanhla still regards himself as just an ordinary person who lives amongst his people and in this booklet he seeks to join many social voices in discussing the positive impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and decoding the complex challenges faced by the 21st century generation which are the attributes of the technological advancement, both in developing countries and the so-called first world countries, particularly on the subject of artificial intelligence, deep learning, and social values versus social media and the Internet. Here, in his own words, he asks, "If correcting the wrongs is not our mission then what is our mission?" In this booklet he advocates for sensible, responsible and progressive social media and Internet use in the developing world, and sets out to do so through education of the heart and mind.

Preface

In the beginning, social media and the Internet were introduced by technology companies and endorsed by governments as the drivers of the fourth industrial revolution and as the new technological tools which shall deliver democracy, strengthen freedom of speech and expression, promote the right to access information to improve the quality of education, achieve boundary-less social interaction and business trading, and most importantly they were said to be a new and better way of making the life of the ordinary people in the twenty-first century and beyond much easier. Hence, the world has seen and heard of the most inspiring, encouraging and successful stories of social media and the Internet told by renowned entrepreneurs, marketers, professors, scholars, researchers and general social media and Internet users telling remarkable tales of business and career opportunities made possible by social