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Lenox Lizwi Mhlanga on Saturday
YOU never imagined you would be cooped up in your home for days on end. It’s the ultimate nightmare for some especially the claustrophobic, but it’s a rare feat for most of us. But before we dwell on that, I am worried about how social media has been the playground of the good, the bad and the outright ugly.

The coronavirus outbreak has brought out the beast in us, to quote late Nigerian Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It’s not surprising though. Where there is fear, there is a ripe field for speculation, rumour and outright disinformation.

It also becomes the turf for subterfuge and all manner of snake oil salesmen drop from the woodwork. In short, and never mind the big words, social media has become the proverbial dog’s breakfast when it should be used for saving lives.

The Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations (ZIPR), whose council I am a past member, released a simple step-by-step verification process anyone can apply when confronted or forwarded stuff on social media one is not sure about. We all know that there is the novelty of being “first with the news”, when such information lands in your inbox.

ZIPR supports the #CoronaVirusFacts initiative to keep the public (that is you and me) informed with correct facts about the epidemic. It encourages responsible sharing of information on social media. They recommend the following netiquette on social media that you will find very helpful:

1. Share information about #Covid-19 from verified, reliable and trusted sources such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Ministry of Health and Child Care and other global organisations.

2. Think about the messages you receive. If in doubt about their authenticity, don’t forward them! First try and find out whether they are true or false. Check for facts before forwarding any message be it an image, video, audio or text.

3. Use social media platforms responsibly. Keep in touch and cheer up your loved ones and direct them to the correct information.

As an added warning, there is a statutory instrument that makes it an offence to spread false information on social media. Publication and communication of “fake news” about the #Covid-19 pandemic may attract a jail term of up to 20 years. It’s that serious!

In other words we should be thinking how best as individuals we can play our part in preventing this pandemic from wreaking havoc. It comes down to you and me. It may sound like overkill, but enough can’t be said about the value of life.

The basic messaging is clear and straightforward. STAY AT HOME! Also exercise basic hygiene by regularly washing your hands.

Lockdown has turned our world upside down. Life as we know it will never be the same again. This is something we have to accept and live with. In some countries where the pandemic has peaked, the decision has been taken to extend the lockdown to beyond 21 days.

But it is a necessary evil if one may call it that. I don’t want to be the one who says that Italy is paying dearly for ignoring the signs. The statistics tell it all and for us, we may thank the Almighty that we have been given the opportunity to do the right things.

We don’t have to wait until we start being statistics for this to sink in. We have the advantage of being forewarned, which means that we have to be forearmed.

It takes a community to preserve itself from any threat. Let us therefore, take the responsibility of ukukhuza abanye bethu abathi into leyi kayisoke ifike. Isifikile!

Now coming to the lockdown, social media and other online platforms have become outlets of the frustration associated with being confined indoors for inordinate periods of time. Some have gone “stir crazy” and couples are on the verge of killing each other, or the kids. However, humour has become a way of relieving the pressure so to speak.

Some have gone on to mining old skits by the likes of Parafini and Mukadota to tickle the funny bone. The more creative ones have been making their own videos doing all manner of things, from playing childhood games such as ‘‘scotch-scotch’’, driving bricks around the yard and tyre racing. And I am talking about grown-ups here.

Then there is the 8th Wonder of the World, seeing the husband in the kitchen and not on the couch. Wives everywhere have been sharing pictures of this incredulous aberration. If the men have burnt their houses down by now, blame it on the lack of soccer. Soccer was the ultimate panacea. Put your man on a couch in front of the goggle box to watch his favourite team, and you can do all the shopping you want!

Yet now all that is a thing of the past, except that the man is now of a voyage of discovery, seeing certain parts of the house for the first time. Such as the storeroom or the pantry, or the laundry even!

Psychiatrists and counsellors have a new lease online (because of the lockdown and social distancing of course) solving a new set of challenges in the home.

Like I said, social living as we know it has changed forever. The rule book is being re-written as we speak and perhaps, when and if we emerge from all this, roles will be reversed or obliterated to be replaced by the state. Who knows?

While you wrap your brain cells around that new reality, stay safe and stay at home.