The Influence of Social Media on Birthday Celebration in a Nigerian Society

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate”- Oprah Winfrey

Birthdays are important days in the life of every individual. It marks the very glorious day a great man or otherwise is born. Some people derive joy in celebrating this memorable day with elaborate parties and funfair, while others may choose to celebrate with the less privilege or may totally not celebrate at all. In all, the love and affection from family and friends is the most fulfilling feeling and experience of the day.

In the past, Nigerian societies hardly celebrate birthdays; in fact it is in nonexistence. This is because there is no accurate and consistent mechanism (calendar and timepiece) in place to note the various point in time. However, memorable events such as market days, festivals, and the death of an icon or king among others were used to tell when an individual is born which is usually marred by inconsistency. Consequently, inconsistency in identifying the specific date of birth was a bane to celebrating such memorable day. Hence, records of birthdays are hardly kept or celebrated. However, due to colonization, Africa was introduced to calendar and timepiece; thus, subsequent births were recorded.

The diffusion of western culture into the Nigerian society as a result of colonization was accompanied by the introduction of calendar. With this new introduction, people began to note and give importance to their date of birth and that of family and loved ones. In fact, many individuals commit to heart their date of birth and those of their loved ones and parents endeavor to celebrate their kids in a memorable way. Therefore, marking this special day became part of the culture of the society; this is characterized by elaborate celebration, sharing of gifts, love and funfair. Friends, family and loved ones endeavor to make the day a very remarkable one for the celebrant, and they also ensure he or she basks in the euphoria of love and affection. Thus, surprise party may be organized for the celebrant and sometimes, the celebrant may organize such party. In addition, gifts are presented to the celebrant, photographs are taken. The cutting of cake by the celebrant together with his/her family and friends is an important feature of birthday celebration, especially when it involves kids. Prayers among other things are said to thank God for the gift of life and good health. But in all, the presence of family and friends is the most important element of the birthday celebration. These little but important gestures play a crucial role in strengthening friendship, family ties, and appreciation of the great value of life.

Modernization and advancement in technology brought about rapid change not only in the physical world, but also in the social world. This advancement in technology was accompanied by the advent of satellites, computers, smartphones and social media. This had implication for interaction and communication as family and friends do not need to come in contact to communicate, thus, bridging the communication gap. Hence, family and friends communicate mostly through phone calls and over the social media; love and gestures are rather shared on these platforms and over call conversations. This also influences people’s reaction to family and friends’ birthdays. Therefore, modern birthdays are characterized by the posting of pictures and wishes by either the celebrant or loved ones on Facebook, whatsapp, twitter, instagram just to mention a few. The implication of this is that many family and friends now hardly visit loved ones on their birthdays unless the celebrant has an elaborate birthday celebration plans in mind. Sadly and most times, celebrants do not get to see the sweet words, pictures and wishes posted on the social Media.

In addition, People unlike before hardly commit dates of birth of family and friends to heart. This is due to the fact that social media are programmed with notification when such occasion arises people get notified. Thus, this facilitates and reinforces the use of social media to send wishes to loved ones on their birthdays and rapidly reducing the coming together of family and friends to celebrate with the celebrant.

Also, it has become more of “showoff”, as people are quick to display nice pictures and sweet wishes, but in reality, most of these people do not really care about the celebrant. Therefore, the true value of love and affection of this special day is losing its place to the euphoria of attention seeking display of shallow love on these platforms. However social media provide an avenue for long distance family and friends to send show love and affection by sending messages and wishes via this platforms. Also, in our busy world, social media help in reminding us of these special days.

In conclusion, Social media has rapidly influenced our world and our social relation with other people. Its gripping influences on how we celebrate our family and friends on their birthdays cannot be overemphasized. Prior the colonization of Nigeria, celebration of a birthday is not in existence. However, the Colonization of the Nigeria society, the diffusion of western culture and the introduction of calendar gave birth to the celebration of birthdays. The presence of family and friends to make the day a special one is the essential element of birthdays. But in recent time, the advent of social Media has drastically reduced the relevance of the physical presence of loved ones to wishes and pictures over the social media. It is important everyone endeavors to try to reduce the negligence caused by social media on such special days. This can be done by striking a balance between when to use social media in celebrating our loved ones and when to be there with them on their special day. Therefore, apart from the wishes on social media, calls and our presence is important in making the birthday of our loved ones a memorable one.