Ever noticed how much the Internet influences our choices and by extension our lives? I bet you have. But have you ever wondered why?

To me it’s like peer pressure. Think back to high-school; we all hate to admit it but deep down we know that we did a lot of things we did back then because our friends thought it was cool or the cool kids did it. They were able to influence us because aside our family, they were the closest persons to us. And that’s why the internet is able to influence us. Before you start raising your Eyebrows at me, wait let me explain.

Now a lot of our waking time is spent on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on) and these social networks have taken the place of our peers with the so called celebs (rolling my eyes) replacing the cool kids we always wanted to be like. And the fact that we never know the full story makes matters worse.

Take my friend Fade for example, she follows this cool I.G celeb Laide, who drives a really nice car, has a new hairstyle every fortnight, lives in a flashy Lekki apartment, and has the best clothes. Fade sees all these things and wants to be like Laide without knowing how Laide gets her money. See Laide has a top position in a multinational company, her salary is pretty good, her daddy is a wealthy business man and he owns the building she lives in so she lives rent free, daddy dearest also bought her her car as a birthday gift so Laide only spends her fat salary on food, fuel, clothes, and her hair. Fade decides she wants to be like Laide but she doesn’t have the means so she becomes a runs girl and soon enough, she’s living like Laide.

Evans sees Chuks as a big boy, he’s 23, has a lot of money to throw around, drives a flashy car and lives in a VGC mansion. Evans dreams of being like chuks without knowing the full story. Chuk’ father died and left a business empire for his only child, Chuks lives in the family house in VGC but being the only child, there’s not much family there, so anyone would think he bought or built the house with his own money, his cars were actually bought by his father, well except the more recent makes. But Evans doesn’t know this so he goes to meet baba and starts his yahoo plus business and well he’s pretty much living Chuks’ kind of life.

Most times the implications aren’t as serious as these, it could be a case of sharing nudes (yours or not) just to get attention because it worked for other people, or simply spending your whole salary on a designer outfit just so you can take Instaworthy pictures, plagiarizing other people’s works so you can be seen as intellectual on Facebook or so you can have your own blog and add blogger to your Social network profile (think of those news blogs who all post the same thing, word for word, error for error), Tweeting a load of bull that you don’t even believe in so you can become a twitter celeb forgetting that being a social network celeb has no effect on your bank account or how people see you in real life.

Unless the internet is influencing you to become a better you, or to become an online promoter –  which might I add affects your bank account, it shouldn’t influence you at all. You shouldn’t let people’s online lives deceive you. Who knows if that dress Yvonne is showcasing is really hers or if that lambo Femi is sitting on is just his neighbor’s car. If you don’t know the full story, don’t let it influence you.