My life was ruined by social media

I became addicted to my smartphone and its social media applications, and since I had constant access, I quickly gained many followers; guys especially, probably because my timeline was filled with alluring pictures.At that moment, life felt complete. There was no more going to the cyber cafe to check emails, Facebook or Twitter. Having well over 8,000 followers, more than half of them guys, I felt my feminine power was at its peak - or so I thought.One particular guy caught my attention though, till this day, I don’t know what made him stand out. But we got chatty, he sent me direct messages and I replied instantly, he was quiet a gentleman, and I can’t remember him ever asking for a nude picture unlike the rest of them, so this made me comfortable around him.His name was Phillip; he said he was a doctor. I didn’t have any cause to doubt it; he had extensive knowledge and even gave me some medical advice from time to time. We eventually moved from twitter to BBM, we chatted all the time and I ended up giving him my number. That would come to be the biggest mistake I ever made.He called every day, some days more than once, and sometimes at night I would find myself having phone sex with him. His voice was soothing, he made me do things I never thought I’d do. I realised later I had done some very sick and twisted things just to please him.I would take nude pictures and videos of myself and send them to him. All this while we had not met - not face to face at least. Eventually I began pestering to meet him in person. At this point I had lost my mind, I assumed I was in love with him, and when my boyfriend at the time broke up with me, I really welcomed it, for it meant mental freedom.He agreed saying he would take time off from work to spend a weekend with me. I was excited. He told me to book a reservation at a hotel, stating he would pay back as soon as he arrived. I didn’t think twice, because I was convinced that this would show how much I trusted him.He was smart, cunning, and I was stupid. Oh how stupid I was! The funny thing was I had sent him tons of pictures, and all I had was just one picture of him, and whenever I asked he would claim he wanted to be sure I loved him for him, and not for his looks. And I would try to convince him of my undying love, and would try to appease him with more nude pictures of my body.The next morning he called, speaking with a tone of violence, “You prostitute, you expect me to meet you? I have been sharing your pictures, videos and conversations with friends. The whole world knows how cheap you are.” I don’t think I will ever recover from this.As told to Ivan Ngoboka