The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling! PART II

I've given much thought if I should write this and I've decided 'what the hell'. The storm has passed and the worse is now behind us. Pablo left the city with zero casualties and everyone is in jubilee. Social media postings of warnings, prayers, and concerns of people mostly in panic mode have turned into thank yous and personal attacks to the skeptical few as they silently sneer "I told you so".

I do not deny nor disapproved of the power of the social media during times of calamities, on the contrary I acknowledge how influential Facebook,  and Twitter can be to the people reading them. So much so that a single post can either help a situation or cause unnecessary panic. We have seen this phenomenon before with the TV/Radio media. But now, with the internet and its reach, that phenomenon is amplified to a greater and faster extent.

With what happened to the city less than a year ago after Sendong almost leaving it in ruins, news of a much stronger typhoon immediately turned everyone's panic button on. And who can really blame them? No one wants to go through that pain and tragedy again. So with the intention of being a good public servant, people started to post storm warnings almost every hour. Pictures of Pablo showing how it covered the entire island started to flood (pun intended) everyone's page and hashtags such as #Bopha, #Pablo, and #PrayCDO among a few began to trend0.

I get it, believe me I do. These people were just trying to do what they can to get the word out and warn the others of the coming disaster. But as what Uncle Ben said - "With great power, comes great responsibilities" - and with the power of the social media at your hands, your 'warnings' and 'concerns' especially if shared a hundred times can cause mass hysteria which in this case led to a supermarket out-of-stock and a house full of canned goods, candles and flashlights enough to start a small sari-sari store.

I'm glad that the city won this fight over nature with zero casualties thanks to the combined efforts of the local government and the people as well as those who have flooded my wall with warnings (every freaking minute of every freaking hour.) It's always better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, but then again the next time you see a single warning already posted in Facebook then most probably everyone of your friends have already seen it too. Re-posting it and sharing it a hundred times will not make you a better public servant nor will it make you famous, it's just plain annoying. But if you really can't help yourself, then just send it through a private message to those people you actually care about (or to those who at least give a damn).


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