Before you send the next BC

BC is one menace every Blackberry user like me detest, yet some users cant just have enough of it. Maybe I should start by making everyone understand what a BC is. Well, it’s short for Broad Cast and it is an unrestricted message/information sent in bulk to more than one of your contacts per time. Originally, it used to be in form of bulk e-mails and sent on unique days (01/01/01, 02/02/02, …, 12/12/12), special celebrations (New Month, New Week, New Year, Christmas, Easter, etc) and important occasions (Graduation, Weddings, Birthdays), but these days, it has become rampant and unpredictable that we get it every other day for every other reason. BCs occur on mobile (as bulk SMS), Whatsapp, and most annoyingly on BBm.

I’m sure the original intent of BCs was to share important and valid information with your contacts (e.g. your forthcoming wedding ceremony, birthday party, etc), but as we all know, things are abused in this part of the world. People now send BCs for the wrongest reasons at the oddest of times. It has gotten so bad that people now forward BCs directly without stopping to think thoroughly on the content of the message. As I write this piece, one just came in claiming “There has been an accident by a bus going from Sapele to Warri, having all passengers dead, please broadcast till it gets to their family members”. I don’t mean to be rude and callous, but for all I care, it aint my business. While I sympathize with the family of the deceased, surely they wont hear the bad news from me. The transport company is in charge of notifying next of kins…that’s why every traveler registers at bus-parks before take-off, that much, I know. Different BCs everyday, “I am Jesus…, send it to 12 people and watch what happens in 12 minutes…”, “…Adenuga’s Mum is celebrating 80years, send to 25 contacts and get 1000 recharge card free…”, “A telecommunication company is celebrating 10years of impact in Nigeria, send to 20 contacts and get 750naira recharge card…”, etc.

Before you start pointing accusing fingers, do you know our Network Providers also send us BCs? Which makes me wonder if it was stated in their terms and conditions of service (You can refer to my Note on Terms and Conditions Apply for reference). These days, it has become so rampant that I feel like smashing my phones anytime the BCs come in, and I wonder if they send same to the likes of the Otedolas, Dangotes, Momodus, etc on promos and what have you.

Sincerely, I find it hard differentiating amongst a learned individual, a learner, an illiterate and a stark illiterate. Someone said our problem in this part of the world is that we don’t think. I definitely agree with such claim. Please, please and please before you send the next BC, THINK…for heaven’s sake, just give it a thought…perhaps for two minutes, the effect the BC you are about sending will have. If it is a joke you are sending, have you considered the mood of the recipient? For heaven’s sake, not everyone enjoys a joke especially at odd times.

Well, if you care to know, I delete BCs as soon as they come in, I don’t even read them. Be it on mobile, Whatsapp, BBm, or whatever platform, I just delete them without giving it a thought. Imagine a graduate, someone who passed through the 4walls of a University sending BCs about Whatsapp or BBm shutting down because they have reached a limit and then the solution to that problem is that you must send a BC to all your contacts. How can you see such and fall for it by sending it to all your contacts? Are you a LEARNER? Was it in the terms and conditions that we must help them send BCs? Who told you they don’t have a monitor that observes both active and dormant accounts? Please wake up and stop disgracing your generation. Prove to the world that you are a learned person.

Think! Think!! Think!!! Don’t just interrupt people’s daily lives by sending them irrelevant messages. If you have an announcement, contact the radio house or TV station closest to you, call a Press conference and make your announcement. If there has been an accident, dial 911 or call the nearest hospital. If there is a robbery going on, call the nearest Police Station…that is how to be of help and not spreading bad news…especially one that you have not confirmed?

The energy and time you expend sending BCs can be channeled into imparting lives positively with words of grace. Use the resources at your disposal for more productive things than being a nuisance. Imagine someone you haven’t heard from for over a month and the next beep you get is a BC! Not even a good morning, good afternoon or good day as the case may be.

I can bet it with you, someone, somewhere is composing another BC and I can imagine the wry smile on his/her face when he/she begins to trend. Wake up today, distinguish yourself, don’t be a learner, don’t be an illiterate, say no to unreasonable BCs.

Before you send the next BC, please think about the content, or just be like me and desist from sending such. Friends, the message is simple and straight-forward, we shouldn’t be found doing some things as learned individuals. Say no to BCs today!