Is there a problem with conspiracy theories?

What are conspiracy theories?
According to Collins Dictionary in simple terms, a conspiracy theory is a belief that a group of people are secretly trying to harm someone or achieve something. There were several studies carried on the cause of people believing in conspiracy theories;
-One of these studies carried out, found that people who feel psychologically and sociopolitically disempowered are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories.
-Another study found that people are more likely to believe in conspiracies when they are experiencing anxiety/fear.

As we well know, conspiracy theories are no longer new as there has been a rise with the help of internet. One popular one we can think of is the belief that the Covid-19 vaccine is not safe- Some say it would be used to reduce the population in Africa, Some have said people who take the vaccine would die after 2 years, some have said people who take the vaccine would have their DNA altered and magically produce a frog or toad as an offspring. Although, I don’t know how that scientifically makes any sense.

Another one is the belief that the president of The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a clone- It was spreading like wild fire on social media that the president had died and been replaced by a Sudanese lookalike called “Jubril.”

As funny as the above listed theories sound, I have heard worse. One major reason why we would be hearing a lot of these and more is due to the fact that the world can get very confusing, dangerous and unpredictable. So, many may feel the need to explain what is happening according to their own reasoning.
Although, some don’t really want to understand how the world works, they just have a need to belong or feel special (socially). I can confidently say there are a lot of this attention seekers in Africa.

There are several negative effects of believing things without gathering the facts on the subject.  It can present a potential danger to public health, it can make people engage in dangerous or violent behavior.
This present age of information has gradually become an age of disinformation- Thanks to the several instant messaging applications where people find it very easy to spread false information within flash seconds.
As we come across information from various sources in our day-to-day lives, it is important to be able to distinguish between false conspiracy theories and facts. It may be very tempting to ridicule conspiracy believers, but it is important to note that these sort of beliefs are quite common— in fact, you probably believe in some of them.