The world of social media has done a lot to destroy a virtue we hold dear in this country of ours. Am talking about respect. Yes, RESPECT. And I'm not talking about the type that our corrupt politicians are demanding from us, wanting to clamp down our social media rights so as to cover up their atrocities! That their bill will not work; we must continue to exercise our rights to call them out when they mess u -- they always do.

You know, it's so easy these days to accept a Facebook friend request of a kid, or someone who's about a decade younger than you are, just because you know them from church or home or school, etc. As for watsapp, forget it! As long as they have your number in their phones they can send you crazy, unsolicited chats straightaway.

Yeah, it's cool to connect with old friends and family - even kid friends - and all that, but my pain is the lack of respect these days. A "youngling" many years younger than myself can wake up any morning from the wrong side of his/her bed and send me a message that reads, "hello dear good mawning..." What stupidity is that?!?!?

To make matters worse, the kid decides to even say, "good mawning (or afternoon) dearie..." Gosh!!! Sometimes I wish I was in close proximity with his/her face so I could give it a very hot, dirty slap. What nonsense is that? They no more call you 'sir' or 'ma' or 'uncle' or 'aunt', just because they can hide behind big-screen phones they probably DID NOT buy with their money.

I don't mind if you don't call me 'sir', but please DO NOT call me 'DEAR' or, worse still, 'DEARIE', if you know you are not qualified by AGE and cordial-enough real-life RELATIONSHIP. Please note that anytime an unqualified person addresses me with such names, I feel like giving them a hot knock on their forehead.

If by chance I get married to a quite younger person, don't worry. She'd then be qualified by close-enough and cordial real-life relationship. But if she's around my age, fine; she doesn't need any qualification.

Simply put, if face to face in real life you cannot call me the aforementioned names, please do NOT do it on social media.

Call me old fashioned, I don't care. Just know that you cannot, as a kid, or subordinate, or far younger person, send me stupid Watsapp or Facebook messages that go, "wadup bro, xup, 9t sweetie..." and many other stupidities people write these days. Each time I get such messages, the bile in me churns heavily; I feel angry. Who is your chewing gum and sweetie, old me?

I have many older and more accomplished friends in life, but even on social media I dare not address them with such disrespectful and misplaced names. I just CANNOT do it because my parents taught me RESPECT.

RESPECT: I respect my superiors at church, work, and school (even when they are younger); I respect my seniors; I respect my parents (in fact, I fear them); I respect everyone that has to be respected, both in words and deeds. And so should you!

I put up this post somewhere last year and decided to put it up here as is. Do you have any experience with chats that annoy you? Share them.

#SocialMediaMenace