SOCIAL MEDIA & SOME ASPECTS OF NIGERIAN/IGBO CULTURE - by Ikenna Ugwu

Has Social Media Damaged Naija/Igbo Culture of Dignifying Announcement of Death?

In recent times, our community has witnessed unfair number of young deaths. So sad and the need for health campaigns is a subject for another day. In minutes, the news of these deaths are on the social media without respect to the dead and the family who may not have been formally informed.

I grew up in Igboland where the announcement of death is done by the elders to the berieved, in such a manner to avert shocks that may lead to heart attacks and subsequent deaths. It is also a sign of respect to the dead.
This culture which I think must be the same across Nigeria, is under attack by social media enthusiasts. Nobody cares anymore if the person’s wife and family in Nigeria have been formally informed. I will not be surprised if people get to hear about the death of their immediate family members from Facebook.

In 2016, when my revered father-in-law died, I got a message of condolence almost immediately from someone who hardly says hello. 

Thanks to poor internet in my location at the time, I did not see the message until I was informed. While it was done with good intention, it was culturally inappropriate.

Mine here is a poser? How do we manage a sensitive issue as death announcement in the age of social media from a Nigerian cultural perspectives?
By: IKENNA UGWU 

(COPIED FROM A WHATSAPP GROUP)