I was one of the people that scoffed at the idea of tapping. I woke up one of those mornings and saw that almost everybody in my life was tapping furiously on their phone screens. At first, I thought it was one of those games that my mother had introduced to my siblings, but when I went to the market later that evening, I realized that people on the road were doing it too.
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I got back home to inquire about whatever it was and I was told that they were tapping. First, I heard it was a type of farming, where all you had to do was to tap on an icon or an image to acquire coins which could eventually be cashed out when the coin is launched. Then I heard that it was a tap to earn platform and that all you had to do was log into it daily to interact with the platform for rewards.
I have never been a preacher of quick money so I ignored it despite all of the links I was sent on Telegram by my friends and siblings.
This tapping went on for months.
I would see my younger brother furiously tapping on his phone screen and chide him to get up and get something useful done with his life but he wouldn't listen.
Months kept going by, I heard that some people were able to retrieve some money from the tapping because they were consistent, while others had their accounts banned just a few days or on the same day of the coin launch.
I thought that as the coin had been launched, that was the end of it but after some time, I began to receive those links again. Another coin had come out and the tapping intensity had increased.
My brother created accounts on his two phones and began to tap using both his hands and his legs. I could not believe my eyes. He wasn't even the only one, it was done all over the internet.
Everyone kept mocking me for not joining in the tapping business. I, in turn, kept saying that I was waiting patiently for them to launch the coin and get the millions they were hoping for.
On one of those days, my brother complained that he was being notified about similar accounts so he had to deactivate one of his tapping accounts.
That was not all, an acquaintance of mine who was one of the few people who saw some money from the first coin said he lost his accounts. How he was suddenly unable to access the accounts, he could not explain.
The most annoying incident was when a woman with a baby strapped to her back was tapping and crossing the road in my estate. She was so fixated on her phone that she didn't see an oncoming car. Thank God the driver saw her and honked loudly. Almost everybody on the street took their turns yelling at the woman that day, and she gave a response that struck me hard. Sadly, it was the truth.
She said; If I was working in one of those government organizations you people work with, would I be on the road tapping?
It made me realize how financially sick the country was. Everybody wanted money so badly that they would rather lose their lives trying than continue to live in penury.
I wanted badly to blame the woman as well. To tell her how irresponsible she was with the tiny life God blessed her with but now that I look at it, either way, she would still be irresponsible.
It was better that she was doing something worthwhile than to sit at home without even putting in the effort to cater for her child.
While I see this new occupation called tappingas a waste of time, I have come to terms with the fact that it gives some people hope that they will still come into some money to take care of themselves and their families because with the hard turn the country takes day by day, the citizens are fast losing hope; hope in themselves, and hope in the government.