Facebook Is a Hidden Riddle - Essay Example

It also helps freshmen to adapt faster to their new stage in life, as explained in “Facebook and first-year college students”. In spite of the criticisms against social websites, these sites help many people such as students in dealing with stressful situations and life challenges through constant communication between peers who pass advisory information. In Konnikova’s article, she talks about how everyone who joins Facebook sought not to be sad or depressed, but becomes inflected after a while.

She quotes, “the more people used Facebook in the time between the two texts, the less happy they felt—and the more their overall satisfaction declined from the beginning of the study until its end. The data, he argues, shows that Facebook was making them unhappy.”(Ethan Kross). I do not agree with her, the problem is that it becomes an obsession or an addiction to check Facebook more and more to see what people have written on their walls and keep track on a crush or a loved one. I do not believe this form of unhappiness can be attributed to the social media website but from the individual self who gets too close to a website that has no feelings or affection.

In the article about college students, Facebook helps first year college students overcome the major change in their lives. “An estimated 17 million Americans attend college each year, of whom, approximately 3.5 million are first-year students” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). It also helps them to overcome challenges and depression when facing the changes and moving away from home. This is mainly achieved through reading memorable messages, or seeing a picture that will keep them going forward and help them in focusing in their educational goals.

Personally, I can relate to this point in that social media helped me to get in touch with peers and professors. Furthermore, it also helped me to overcome challenges. For instance, talking to a dear friend studying abroad and reading messages from old conversations really cheered me up. “Despite the opportunities and potential for personal growth, the transition to college also poses challenges” (Dyson & Renk, 2006; Zaleski, Levey-Thors, & Schiaffino, 1998), “especially during the initial adjustment to college and separation from home. This transition can be difficult for some students, making them more vulnerable to stress (Montgomery & Cote, 2005)”. This quote indicates that Facebook and other social media websites could be of assistance when individuals are adjusting and trying to adapt to a strange environment. For instance, college life could be very stressful where the social media could assist the newcomers in acquiring information from those used to the college lifestyle. This would reduce the newcomer’s vulnerability to stress and improve their adaptability since college students face challenges that are beyond normal academic pressures.

According to another study in Maria Konnikova’s article, Facebook makes someone sad or depressed because if a person becomes a passive reader and does not interact with the post, he becomes sad. In order to be happy, a person must at least read 50 junk posts to find one that is of any interest, “when participants simply consumed a lot of content passively, Facebook had the opposite effect, lowering their feelings of connection and increasing their sense of loneliness.”(Carnegie Mellon, 2010) and that is why it makes one unhappy. From a personal perspective, I disagree with this study in that the website itself was not designed to cause depressions in people but to help in making life and adaptability easier. This is because the website has more advantages to the users than the disadvantages provided by the opponents especially through the easier passage of important information.

Facebook has many advantages and disadvantages although this is based on how one gets the best out of it. On many points, I have to differ with Konnikova’s article because I believe that some researches were conducted in naturally depressive environments thus affecting their accuracy. I correspond with the article about Facebook helping college students because it talks about us, students. In addition, it really shows how Facebook helps us in many ways and not only through communicating with peers and professors. It also shows how Facebook can be helpful to students who are struggling with settling into their new lives away from home and especially those who are starting a new chapter in their lives.