By OBAKENG MAJE
North West police spokesperson, Brig Sabata Mokgwabone urged community members to refrain from circulating a disturbing video where an unknown man was seen beheading a naked woman, while other two bodies were seen exposed in a shallow grave.
Mokgwabone said the gruesome video surfaced almost a month ago.
“A few days ago, this old video was re-circulated with text suggesting that the atrocity occurred in Vryburg in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District. We would like to indicate that no such incident was reported in Vryburg or in the province.
“So, members of the community are once more urged to use social media responsibly and to refrain from sharing unverified information as that creates unnecessary fear amongst our communities,” he said.
According to www.effectiviology.com website, most people use social media in one form or another. The website said, while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, and while social media can sometimes be beneficial, it’s important to be aware that social media is associated with a number of issues and potential dangers, including stress, anxiety, loneliness, and depression.
“Understanding the dangers of social media is important, both so you can deal with them yourself, and so you can help others deal with them. The use of social media is associated with various issues, when it comes to people’s emotional wellbeing, mental and physical health, and many other areas of life.
“Specifically, research shows that the use of social media is associated with anxiety, stress, emotional exhaustion, depression, loneliness, envy, low self-esteem, low-quality sleep and health problems.”
It says the addiction to social media, which can be referred to as social media addiction, or as addiction to a specific platform (for example, Facebook addiction), interferes with important obligations, such as schoolwork, which can lead to issues such as worse grades.
“General issues, such as exposure to misinformation, violation of one’s privacy, and political polarization. Issues that play a role in specific situations, such as cyberbullying and stalking.
“These issues have been found, to varying degrees, in users of various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and Snapchat. Some of these issues aren’t limited to social media, but are rather associated with internet use in general.”
The website further said: “However, many of these issues are associated most strongly with social media and with behaviours that are almost entirely exclusive to social media. An example of this is the negative impact of taking a ‘selfie’, which has been shown to increase people’s social sensitivity and reduce their self-esteem.
“Finally, note that some of the research listed here only shows that these issues are associated with social media, and does not conclusively prove that they are caused by it, since the causal relationship is more difficult to establish.”
The Guardian 