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Chasing Likes, Losing Values: How Social Media Validation Is Pushing Some Young People into Crime

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Posted by admin on 2026-06-30 09:34:38 |

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Chasing Likes, Losing Values: How Social Media Validation Is Pushing Some Young People into Crime

Chasing Likes, Losing Values: How Social Media Validation Is Pushing Some Young People into Crime

By Kelvin Amegbor

 

“The desire for likes and social media attention is causing many young people to lose their moral compass and unknowingly engage in criminal behavior.”

In today’s digital age, social media has grown into something far more powerful than a simple communication tool, evolving instead into a sprawling marketplace of attention where likes, shares, comments, and followers now function as a form of social currency that young people trade in daily. The number of followers one accumulates is increasingly treated as a measure of success, influence, and even personal worth, as though a person’s value could be tallied in a notifications panel. While social media has undoubtedly opened genuine opportunities for learning, entrepreneurship, networking, and self-expression, it has also quietly introduced a dangerous culture of validation-seeking that is reshaping the values and behavior of an entire generation, often without them even noticing the shift taking place within themselves.

The pursuit of online fame has become so intense, so all-consuming, that some individuals are now willing to sacrifice their morals, their dignity, and even their freedom in exchange for a fleeting moment of attention, and disturbingly, many do not realize that what they are doing constitutes criminal behavior until the consequences arrive in the form of handcuffs, court dates, or ruined reputations.

The Comparison Trap

The pressure begins, almost imperceptibly, with comparison. A young person scrolling through their feed is constantly bombarded with images of luxury vehicles, expensive vacations, designer clothing, lavish parties, and lifestyles that appear effortlessly successful, while influencers and celebrities present carefully curated, heavily edited versions of reality that create the illusion that wealth and recognition arrive overnight rather than through years of struggle. Unfortunately, many young people, especially those still forming their sense of identity, fail to distinguish between genuine achievement and online performance, mistaking a highlight reel for an honest account of someone’s life.

As this comparison deepens, some begin to feel a gnawing sense of inadequacy, longing for the same lifestyle, the same recognition, and the same admiration they see flashing across their screens every day. Rather than investing the years it actually takes to build something real through education, skills development, entrepreneurship, or legitimate employment, some instead search for shortcuts, hoping to manufacture the appearance of success long before they have earned the substance of it.

When Fraud Becomes Content

Ghana has witnessed numerous, often troubling, examples of this phenomenon playing out in real time. The rise of internet fraud, commonly referred to as “sakawa,” illustrates vividly how the hunger for quick wealth and social recognition can pull young people into criminal activity, and while financial gain remains the underlying motivation, social media has amplified the problem considerably by providing a stage on which fraudulent proceeds can be displayed, celebrated, and even glamorized for an audience of admirers.

Expensive cars are showcased in glossy TikTok videos, stacks of cash are flaunted on Instagram stories, and designer clothing, luxury apartments, and extravagant lifestyles are paraded for public consumption, each post attracting thousands of views and likes that collectively create the impression that such lifestyles are not only admirable but worth emulating at almost any cost. The trouble is that social media tends to celebrate the outcome while conveniently ignoring the source, allowing many young people to fixate on the rewards while overlooking the risks and consequences that inevitably follow, so that what begins as an innocent craving for online admiration can gradually evolve into deep involvement in fraud, cybercrime, identity theft, money laundering, and a host of other criminal activities.

Beyond Financial Crime

The issue, however, extends well beyond financial crime alone. Social media challenges and content creation trends have increasingly encouraged risky, and at times outright illegal, behavior among young people eager to stand out in an oversaturated digital landscape. Across Ghana, there have been numerous instances of individuals filming themselves performing dangerous stunts on busy roads, trespassing on private property, engaging in public disorder, or recording confrontational encounters with strangers, all in pursuit of the viral content that might finally earn them the recognition they crave.

In some cases, young people have unknowingly violated privacy laws simply by sharing videos of others without their consent, while still others have posted defamatory content, spread false information, or taken part in cyberbullying campaigns without ever pausing to consider, let alone understand, the legal implications of their actions.

The emergence of online betting culture presents yet another layer of concern, one that has grown alongside the rise of social media itself. Platforms are now saturated with stories of individuals claiming to have won large sums of money through sports betting and gambling, and these success stories, whether true or fabricated, often attract vulnerable youth who are desperately seeking quick financial rewards. Some go on to borrow money under false pretenses, engage in scams, or resort to outright theft simply to finance their gambling habits, trapped in a cycle that began with little more than a tempting screenshot of someone else’s supposed winnings.

When Algorithms Reward the Wrong Things

Perhaps one of the most worrying trends of all is the gradual normalization of unethical behavior, a shift driven largely by the fact that social media algorithms are designed to reward engagement rather than morality. Content that is shocking, controversial, or outrageous frequently receives far greater visibility than content that quietly promotes integrity, discipline, and hard work, sending young people the unmistakable message that being seen matters more than being good.

Consequently, many young people may begin to believe, whether consciously or not, that unethical behavior becomes acceptable so long as it generates enough attention, and as this belief takes hold, the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly blurred, with social approval measured in likes rather than in values.

The consequences of this shift extend well beyond the individual who chases the spotlight. Families suffer reputational damage that can follow them for years, educational institutions struggle when their students become entangled in misconduct, employers face growing difficulty recruiting trustworthy personnel, and society as a whole bears the cost through rising crime rates, weakened social trust, and a creeping sense of insecurity that touches everyone, not just those directly involved.

A Problem That Demands a Collective Response

This is a challenge that cannot be solved through law enforcement alone, no matter how vigilant the authorities become; it requires a sustained, collective effort involving parents, educators, religious leaders, policymakers, and the social media companies themselves, each playing a distinct but interconnected role.

Parents, first and foremost, must become more genuinely involved in the digital lives of their children, recognizing that monitoring online activity should not be dismissed as an invasion of privacy but embraced instead as a form of responsible guidance, and conversations about ethics, digital citizenship, and responsible social media use ought to become a regular, unremarkable part of family life rather than an awkward, occasional lecture.

Schools and universities, meanwhile, should introduce digital literacy and cyber ethics education as core components of their curricula, helping students understand early on that actions committed online can carry very real legal and professional consequences that follow them well into adulthood. Religious institutions and community leaders also have a critical role to play in reinforcing timeless values such as honesty, integrity, accountability, and respect for others, principles that remain just as relevant in the digital age as they have ever been, regardless of how rapidly technology continues to advance.

Government agencies and law enforcement institutions, for their part, must continue mounting public education campaigns on cybercrime, online fraud, misinformation, and digital responsibility, since many young people genuinely do not understand the legal boundaries governing their online behavior until it is too late. At the same time, social media platforms themselves must take far greater responsibility for the content they choose to promote, and the algorithms that disproportionately reward harmful, deceptive, or criminally inspired content deserve continuous scrutiny and reform.

Redefining Success

Ultimately, the solution lies in something deeper than policy or regulation: it lies in redefining what success actually means to young people growing up immersed in a culture of constant visibility. They must be encouraged, repeatedly and meaningfully, to value character over popularity, substance over appearance, and genuine achievement over fleeting attention, because while likes and followers may offer a brief jolt of satisfaction, it is integrity, competence, and hard work that build something lasting.

The future of Ghana depends, in no small way, on the values its youth choose to carry forward. If social media is allowed to become a tool that nurtures creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and positive influence, it has the potential to be an extraordinarily powerful force for national development; but if it continues to be used primarily as a stage for validation-seeking at any cost, more and more young people may find themselves crossing ethical and legal boundaries they never intended, and in some cases never even saw coming, until it was already too late to turn back.

The pursuit of likes should never come at the expense of values. In a world increasingly obsessed with visibility, the true measure of success remains not how many people are watching, but whether one is doing the right thing when nobody is watching at all.

The writer is a Public Safety Professional and Team Lead at StratSecure Consulting Ltd, a Ghana-based risk advisory firm providing security risk assessments, governance advisory, crisis management planning, training, and operational support to public institutions, private companies, NGOs, and critical infrastructure operators.

Tel: 0244215504 / Info@stratsecurecl.com

 

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