Using social media to 'pop style'

So, in many parts of the world, last Sunday was another Mother's Day. Or, for the merchants of the land, another 'spend some money on your mother day'. And nuff tings really did sell off!

Yeah, the day is supposed to be largely about an annual celebration of our reverence for motherhood, our adoration of maternal bonds, and our respect for the influence of mothers in society.

For most persons, this past Sunday was a special day set aside for them to honour the mothers in their lives, whether biological mothers, spiritual mothers, adoptive mothers, surrogate mothers, step mothers, babymothers, God mothers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law, etc.

How about you? Did any of that, too? Yes, I'm sure much of such took place. It was also another highly anticipated boon day for all kinds of business, commercial and entertainment interests. Like I said, market slap weh and nuff tings sell off.

The day provided another annual windfall for advertisers especially, as a string of stirring Mother's Day-themed advertisements started hitting the airwaves and screens for the period leading up to the day, urging everybody who has a mother or knows a mother, to buy something, anything or everything for their mother or some other mother. Everything from sweaters and scarves, high-end cars and jewellery and tickets to banquets dinners and concerts were being offered. And on the day itself, plenty event venue proprietors, musicians, disc jockeys, caterers and entertainers got to eat a food. Mainstream media and the various social media platforms especially, were also inundated with a plethora of tributes. And that is the part that I find increasingly intriguing - the social media tributes, and the Facebook ones particularly.

GRANDSTANDING AND PARADING

Hear mi nuh peeps, as many aspiring authors waxed lyrical with sweet songs and poignant poems of inspiration and heart-rending messages to their dear angelic mothers, I realise again that much of social media is not so much about any earnest communication, but more about grandstanding and parading for attention.

Yeah, I'm sounding cynical. But how else do you explain a person posting a public message on Facebook to a mother with whom she's 'keeping malice' and has not shared a word with from last year? Or, how else do you explain someone penning a touching 'mama' missive that starts out with 'dear mother' and ends with 'I love you', and then posting said message on social media knowing full well that their poor mother is not on any social media and will not see the message?

POSTING PRAYERS

I have the same problem with the people who love to post dem prayers. I still can't get the logic behind someone posting a prayer - a deep personal request to God, on Facebook. Why not just kneel down in your privacy and talk to the Almighty? Why bawl out on social media? Well, one person who I challenged on that insists that God checks social media constantly. I can't argue with that. But what about those mothers? People even sending message online to their mothers who are long deceased. Will they get the message through cyber-virtual osmosis? If you ask me, those people really have no intention of communication with any mother. They're just into using the day as another opportunity for popping style on their couple thousand 'friends' or 'followers'.

Of course, lest we forget, there are also a few people around for whom the experience of motherhood has been generally far from positive. In fact, for some folks, the subject of motherhood is a troubling and traumatic idea. Those people may very well just find the whole day of happy noise either cloying or triggering. But that's heavier bickle for a bigger box. What you think?

box-mi-back@hotmail.com