Facebook, the social network which claims to keep friends together, is actually the epitome of a faux-friend. Sitting in class, one can see how Facebook has permeated through society by just looking at the computer screens filled not with notes but rather status updates and pictures of friends.
In fact, Facebook has become a serious addiction for students, one that impedes their productivity and consumes their social lives.
According to statistics from Facebook itself, 50 percent of Facebook’s 500 million users log onto Facebook any given day and people spendover 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
It is certainly no wonder why people who use Facebook are called “users,” a common way to refer to men and women who are addicted to drugs. Society is coming to a point where social networks are consuming our social lives.
When interacting with friends it is impossible to get things done. Before Facebook, people could lock themselves in their rooms and get to work.
With Facebook, not even a person’s room is safe. The ease with which one can log on and enter into a world of socializing has made it impossible for people to get through even the most basic tasks without checking up.
The problem has gotten so bad that some students give their password to a friend until a project or assignment is complete, so as to block their ability to log on.
In some cases, students waste so much time on Facebook that they lose valuable study hours.
Some less fortunate people spend more time on Facebook than actually socializing. Their social experience is not linked to their actual activities. Instead, it is linked to the virtual reality of other people’s activities.
There are only a few things that are more depressing than living out part of one’s social life in the most antisocial of settings — the virtual world.
Facebook must be stopped.
Facebook is not only detrimental to users’ work and social life, but Facebook can significantly hurt ones chances to get a job.
It is now a common practice for companies to search Facebook for future employees, and one compromising picture on Facebook, a picture an applicant may not even know existed, could be the difference between employment and unemployment.
Worse still, a person can have an unflattering picture taken, and not have any way of taking it down from the internet.
Though Facebook allows a person to untag herself from a photograph, it does not allow that photograph to be taken down altogether.
The result is that employers can access a person’s personal information through Facebook, even if the person is actively trying to conceal her private life.
Facebook’s openness also poses serious real threats to users.
Many people, unaware of the true dangers of the internet, post incredibly personal information on Facebook, thereby beaming it out to the public.
This gives chance for predators to learn where certain people live, and what spots people frequent, which is a major security concern.
Children, in particular, are vulnerable. Parents are often unaware of the activities of children online. Since Facebook reaches so many people, it is a particularly dangerous place for private information to be released.
Facebook is also an avenue for cyberbullying. Young students who are teased at school may be forced to further torment online. Without Facebook, the ability for children and teens to insult one another go away as well.
It simply does not make sense for a person to have a Facebook account. The troubles Facebook causes range from the trivial to the fatal.
In order to protect society from itself and the dangers of Facebook, the website must be shut down. It not only lowers productivity, but also can actually puta person in danger.
