The Facebook - Essay Example

The article describes Facebook as being addictive as it allows one to capture one’s memories and stay connected across the globe. Yet, the invasion of privacy owing to sudden policy changes associated with Facebook as well as the loss of human interaction makes it a less desirable mode of interaction. The nonverbal cues used in face-to-face communication cannot be used when communicating using Facebook.  At the very least, this platform turns actual friends into virtual ones and does somewhat the opposite of what it is supposed to do. In short, although Facebook is a less desirable mode of communication for the above reasons, quitting it is not that easy because of its addictive nature.

This article primarily discusses how Facebook has become addictive despite its various flaws most noticeably those pertaining to privacy and loss of valuable human interaction. This idea, however, has not been explicitly stated and unfolds until one finishes reading the argument. Although the thesis has been implicitly stated in the argument, it is easily understood and apparent through the language used by the author. This article is mainly targeted at the youth, primarily 15-30-year-olds who either use Facebook regularly or disprove its use. The author tries to engage this audience by using analogies that relate Facebook to a country and its users as nationals, he aptly describes the thesis through the phrase “you’ll never make it past the border” (Petri) which means Facebook is addictive.

Furthermore, the use of statistics is also prevalent although to a lesser extent. More statistics could have been used such as an appropriate number of people who quit Facebook per year or the number of users who intend to quit Facebook but do not. These could have strengthened the author’s argument greatly. Furthermore, the sources of the statistics used in this article have not been disclosed which questions the authenticity of these statistics. On the brighter side, however, examples and analogies were primarily used to convey the argument which did prove effective.

While the use of analogies has proved to convey a convincing argument, several assumptions that have been made by the author are too simplistic and have been generalized. For instance, the author assumes that we spend ‘all’ our time on Facebook which disregards many users who do not use Facebook at all or who use it sparingly. This has somewhat weakened the argument since only one type of user has been considered which is ‘heavy users’ of Facebook. Describing light users of Facebook could have proved to be an effective counterargument that could add substance and believability to the author’s core argument. Nevertheless, the author has used several counterarguments such as keeping one’s memory alive through pictures and being truly borderless in nature.

Greater depth could be added to the argument by incorporating missing information. For instance, the value of Facebook compared to other social networking mediums such as Twitter has not been considered. The author has not gone beyond limited examples to demonstrate ‘why’ Facebook is a nation one can never leave. Furthermore, the thesis does not seem to be clearly conveyed through the argument. Therefore, what appears, in the end, is a piece of writing that lacks clarity- one keeps wondering what exactly the author is trying to convey.

Finally, the author has developed ethos by suggesting that the use of Facebook is reducing human interaction and weakening human values. The author uses a mixture of tolerant and bitter tones throughout the argument. By using words such as ‘Facebook ‘hisses’ or ‘Internet-equipped dogs’ (Petri) a bitter tone is implied. However, by acknowledging that one cannot quit Facebook he is being tolerant is recognizing both sides of the situation.