ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF FACEBOOK
Nowadays, we are living
in a technologically civilized world and we are surrounded by a vast number of
popular websites; the most popular of all and the most regularly used is
Facebook.
Facebook
is a social network that was launched in 2004 from Harvard’s dormitory rooms by
Mark Zuckerberg. In the beginning it could only be used by university students
but after establishing itself everyone in the world was allowed to join in.
Through this short essay I would like to point
out the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook, focusing mainly on the
disadvantages and how it has changed our everyday lives and our perception
regarding things and time.
One
of its advantages is that Facebook is relatively easy to use. You can search
and add people that you know, and if they accept your request, you are then
able to view their profile. You are not able to view random people’s profiles
and this is one of the pros of Facebook, namely it gives you more privacy
compared to other social networks (e.g. My Space, Twitter), where people who do
not know you can view your profile. Compared to these social networks Facebook
values privacy more and this is one of the main reasons it became so popular.
Besides
privacy, Facebook has other features that are also very easy to use like
uploading photos and videos on your profile or also on your friends’ profiles.
Another way to let your friends know
that something regarding them has been uploaded is by ‘tagging’ them so
that they can view the information through a notification, and be updated on
their friends lives.
Other
features include joining a group of people who have a common interest like
music or sports. You can also create groups that can only be seen by a certain
number of people that you choose; for example, many create closed college
groups where people who attend the same college or course are linked to each
other only through this group or you may also create a closed group where you
and your friends exchange photos that can only be viewed by members of that
group, and this is another pro regarding the privacy area.
From
all the positive features mentioned above, the one I enjoy the most is the
tagging of photos. It is the fastest and quickest way to let your friends and
family know what you have been up to, especially when on holiday. Every photo
can be uploaded with a different status and you can tag different people every
time. This is a great way to keep in touch with friends and this may be the reason
why it is so popular among university students that study far away from each
other.
Although
I have previously stressed the point that Facebook is more private than other
social networks, this does not mean that your privacy is safe and sound. Indeed
it does not stop friends from posting photos of you that you do not want to be
on the internet, and once they have been uploaded there is no turning back;
those pieces of information are now in the system and can be viewed by anyone
who has good computer skills. Facebook is a source to get insight into
someone’s private life before you personally meet them; it is good way to make
a background check. This is another negative feature of the site. Lately
employers have been using Facebook to check on their applicants private lives
through their profiles and this is when the tagging of photos may become a
problem since some depend so much on what they see that you may not get
employed due to a few drunken photos on your Facebook profile. There have also
been rumours that the police is using this social network to tackle antisocial behaviour,
such as underage drinking, drugs, driving under the influence and so on.
Recent
studies have shown that Facebook – and other social networks as well – is one
of the main reasons divorces have increased in the last decade, although we do
not know whether Facebook is causing divorce or divorce is causing the use of
Facebook, what we know for sure is that there is a correlation between the two.
There are connections between social networking and marital problems and since
Facebook is the easiest social network to use among the others, it is in first
place. While in the past it would have taken months to develop an affair, with
Facebook cheating is just a profile picture and a click away. When you have
doubts about you partner being faithful, the first thing to do nowadays is to
check Facebooks’ private messages.
Another
negative aspect of social networks concerns children’s behaviour towards these
new pieces of technology and how much they can learn, or mislearn from them.
You are not allowed to join Facebook if you are a minor, but still Facebook is
packed with underaged people and it is easy to join, you just change your year
of birth and you are in. I personally joined Facebook when I was 17 and my
brother joined when he was 12. Although there are special codes parents can use
to block some sites from their children, they never think that Facebook is one
of them because it is seen as harmless. However, through Facebook you can gain
access to all kind of information and it is not possible to restrict just
certain parts of the site; it’s all or nothing.
There are many pros and cons to Facebook but I
personally think that it does more harm than good. We are all obsessed by our
phones and all the apps that go along with them; our lives are conditioned by
these little black mirrors. The first thing we do in the morning is not
breakfast anymore but it is checking our Facebook profile and the ones of our
friends. We have reached a point in technological history where there is no
going back but only pushing forward.
All
in all Facebook has more than 55 milion members and I am sure the number will
only keep growing especially due to the new generations and their new ideas to
improve the site. This technology becomes more advanced and widely used by the
minute and throughout the world.
Adriana Tersigni
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