The scripture says “you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free”.   Our freedom, whether a believer or not, is intrinsically linked to truth as a standard.  In the absence of truth as a force, relative truth as defined by individuals or homogeneous entities will fill the vacuum.  In this arrangement, balkanization easily sets in, followed by nationalistic tendencies of which if not checked can lead to increased demagoguery, dictatorship, sectorial persecution, and instability or anarchy.  The broad acceptance or success of relative truth or alternative truth is predicated on a delivery system that is covert, global, and at the same time easily localized. Social media fits the bill.

I do not believe that the tech industry deliberately set out with this outcome as their goal but they are now aware of the consequences and have decided to error on the side of profits.  Our children, the future generation, like drug addicts, have become habitual liars. One might reason that at ages below 6 children lie as a part of their development, that is true.  But lying to get access to technology or to service an addiction is in a different caliber.  At a tender age this digital generation has master the art of balancing addition to social media and obedience to their parents.  This predisposition to lie is undeterred because of the knowledge gap between the digital natives and their parents.  A survey by Advertising Standards Authority reported in The Guardian, show that 83% of 11 to 15 year olds falsified their age to register on a social media platform.  In another survey ran by Aviva reported in the Daily Mail, 600 out of 1000 parents said they would help their underage children lie in order to gain access to social media.   The rest of us are drawn into this lying scheme through our adoption of this new mode of communication.  Take for instance the prayer emoji.  How often do people respond with it and not pray?  Worse, did you know that the original meaning of this emoji was a high five and not prayer…go figure.  We have barely scratched the surface on this issue.  The foundation on which the entire social media industry sits on is based on a lie.  The definition of virtual according to Dictionary.com is “being such in power, force, or effect, though not actually or expressly such” a confusing phase but not really.  It means being there while not really there, basically a lie.  Virtualization is the technology that these platforms run on.  So the lie is embedded at the hardware level, the use of things that are perceived to be there but are not there.  May be this rings a bell, perceived happiness, perceived fame, perceived beauty, perceived greatness, perceived love, perceived wealth, perceived friends, perceived connections and like a mirage it looks like black gold from a distance then overwhelmed with reality, truth, it melts away into thin air. Such is our reality today……FAKE