How social networks motivate young people to migrate

We are witnessing a socio-digital transformation of migration. Digital technologies are influencing the migration practices of many young people in Africa. “Dialogue Migration ” went to meet Sally Bilaly SOW, expert and consultant in Civic Tech to understand the impact of digital technologies in the migration phenomenon.

A false good life sold on social media networks

Sally Bilaly SOW takes stock of the global trend of exposing oneself on social media networks: “People are looking for many more likes, many more comments,” he says.

The expert further says that most people, once in Europe, make their fellow citizens believe that they are having a very good life and that everything is fine. He also points out that through a wide observation, he notes that this is only part of the iceberg that we are sold on social networks: “When you talk to some young people who show off on social networks and who are in the West, they tell you clearly how they lead their lives in often difficult and complicated conditions that sometimes should not push other young people to seek exile.”

The blogger, a member of the Guinean bloggers’ association (Ablogui), asks all those who are influenced by social networks to ask themselves good questions. Do these images reflect the person posting them? Is going on TikTok, scrolling down on what friends are posting a proof they are having a good life?

To this tendency, this activist advises a pedagogical approach to deploy so that people really understand that the images they are seeing are not always the true reality. The images sometimes hide “a bitter life, sometimes miserable, that no one wishes for their neighbor,” he says.

The El Dorado exists everywhere

“The El Dorado exists everywhere. What is needed is to strengthen information campaigns around migration, explaining the legal procedures for obtaining a visa. Currently, no image posted on social media should fully influence a young person’s decision to take the route of irregular migration,” recalls Sally Bilaly SOW.

According to this web activist, the lack of information on how to get visas often confuses young people who are not aware that they may have the type of profiles that is of interest to “other countries, in Africa or even in their respective countries.”

Inform and raise awareness

Sally Bilaly recommends strengthening awareness: “We must raise awareness among young people and parents, there is this interdependence between decision and social pressure that pushes people to migrate irregularly. Telling people to stay is not telling them that they are unlucky, staying does not mean that we are lazy but that we try in our own way despite the existence of several platforms that make us dangle jobs and hiring opportunities to serve as labor in this or that other country. »

For effective digital awareness campaigns,  the blogger prefers to highlight: “people who have succeeded at home so that they can pass the  message to Internet users are often fooled by the images of those who are abroad. According to this Civic Tech expert, this must involve the development of a digital approach to popularizing texts of laws on the migration which, “would be fundamental, while explaining to young people to distance themselves from the realities of social media.”

When social media amplifies migration

“People were migrating even before the arrival of social media. However, the migration goes much more in a higher speed through social media as they amplify temptations,” says the Civic Tech expert and consultant.

Abdoulaye BARRY is the concrete manifestation of the influence of social media networks on young people when it comes to migration:  “Personally, I am often tempted to move to the West when I see the posts of colleagues who live there. When I see a friend posting an image of himself with nice shoes, nice cars, I am often motivated to hit the road. »

This reasoning of this young Guinean shows that social media networks are real factors that often lead young people to emigration, hence the recommendation of Sally Bilaly SOW to work on didactic and pedagogical tools to deconstruct the clichés around migration. In a sample of 10 young people interviewed in Guinea by Dialogue Migration, 7 are influenced by social networks to travel to western countries.