Nollywood actress Mary Njoku has voiced concern over the rising misuse of social media in Nigeria, lamenting that the pursuit of clout and virality is eroding empathy.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Njoku highlighted the contrast between how social platforms are used globally to drive justice and reform, and how they are often exploited locally for entertainment at the expense of humanity.
“What exactly are we turning into? Social media should be a powerful tool. Around the world, it has been used to rewrite narratives, to expose injustice, to amplify activism, to spark nation-building,” she wrote. “But here at home, the hunger for clout, for virality, for instant fame has started to cloud our humanity. It has drowned out empathy.”
The actress condemned the trend of turning tragedy into skits and suffering into viral content, describing it as disturbing and dehumanising.
“Sometimes I open my feed and all I see is noise. Pain broadcast like entertainment. Suffering is packaged as skits. I find myself logging off, choosing instead to face my real world. To solve real problems, with real people, in real time,” she explained.
Njoku further questioned the moral direction of society: “What are we becoming, if every tragedy must first become a trending video? What are we becoming, if every cry is just background noise for someone else’s content calendar?”
She urged Nigerians to reflect deeply before creating or sharing content online, adding: “We must pause. We must breathe. We must search inside for the human we are at risk of losing. Before you type, before you record, before you upload, STOP. Please STOP and ask yourself: Am I amplifying humanity, or am I stripping it away? We are still human in this country… aren’t we?”
Her post has since stirred debate on social media, with many echoing her call for more compassion and responsibility in digital spaces.
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