We Should Decrease the Use of Facebook - Assignment Example

We should decrease the using of Facebook? “Facebook was founded in 2004 by former-Harvard Mark Zuckerberg” (Marshable). The growth of Facebook is phenomenal in recent times, especially in between 2009 and 2010. Its revenue nearly tripled during this time period. As per one of the recent statistics released by the company, the number of registered users of Facebook has already crossed the one billion mark. One of the major characteristics of Facebook is that majority of its users are teenagers and youths. It should be noted that most of the people in this community are normally working professionals or students. As in the case of drug and alcohol addiction, Facebook usage seems to be creating a kind of addiction among the teenagers. Teenagers are wasting lot of times while chatting with their friends in Facebook. Such wastage of time is affecting their studies and profession. Moreover, prolonged use of Facebook with the help of computers or smartphones may create health problems among teenage community. Therefore, people, especially the teenagers should decrease the using of Facebook. On the other hand, many people believe that the interactions of the teenagers on social networks like Facebook should be encouraged as much as possible. In their opinion, such interactions help teenagers to get exposure to the diverse external world. In a heavily globalized world, communication or interactions across cultures is necessary for the teenagers to get proper ideas about what is going on across the world. Advocates of Facebook use argue that since many of the companies are currently operating cross culturally, interactions with people of other cultures may definitely help the teenagers in their future endeavours. In short, there are plenty of arguments in favour and against the use of Facebook by teenage community. This paper argues against the extensive use of Facebook by teenage community citing reasons with the help of examples. The major duty of teenagers or children during their student life is to study well and prepare a platform for getting a good profession later in their lives. While spending too much time on Facebook, they may forget about this objective and perform poorly in their academic examinations. It should be noted that a strong educational base is necessary for the youths to excel in current heavily competitive employment market. The ability to interact properly on social networks may enhance the communication skills of the students. However, communication skills alone may not help them much in attaining their future career goals. Kretkowski (2007) mentioned the major strength as the major threat while using social networks by teenagers. In his opinion, the barriers maintained in normal face to face interactions are practically impossible in communication through social networks and hence excessive blabbing and unwanted gossip may occur (Kretkowski 2007). Spreading of gossiping through facebook is a common habit seen among teenagers. It should be noted that such activities may end up in suicide also. Imagine a teenager spreads morphed sexually vulgar pictures of his friend or enemy through Facebook. It is not necessary that the victim may have enough mental power and courage to overcome such ferocious attacks by his/her Facebook friends or enemies. There is nothing to surprise if such victims try to finish their lives or perform poorly in their examinations. They cannot concentrate much on their studies because of the thoughts about the bitter experiences they suffered from Facebook. While spending lengthy hours in front of Facebook, teenagers forget about their routine jobs like playing, exercising etc. As a result of that obesity related health problems may arise among them. In short, Facebook has the potential to distract the attention of the students from their studies. Moreover, it can cause severe mental trauma as well as physical health problems among students or teenage communities. Hunt (2009) argued that “people are on social networks to connect and build relationships. Relationships and connections over time lead to trust, which is the key to form social capital”(p.2). It is a fact that interactions among social networks may definitely increase the social capital. It should be noted that religious fundamentalism and cultural conflicts are growing day by day in this world. Social networks like Facebook do not have a religion or culture. It encourages people from all religions or cultures to interact each other. Such cross cultural interactions would definitely increase religious harmony and reduce the conflicts among cultures. At the same time, Hough (2010) mentioned an example in which “anonymous users bombard victims with offensive messages abuse with the help of stories of soldiers who died in Afghanistan through Facebook which resulted in some teenagers committing suicide” (Hough, 2010). In other words, information passing through Facebook can be misused or misdirected by antisocial elements. Teenagers do not have the maturity to segregate between the good and evil. They will trust whatever information presented in front of them by their friends on Facebook. Such blind trust upon information passing through Facebook may finally Privacy and security issues are the third major problem associated with Facebook usages. There is no guarantee that the information passed through Facebook remains private or secure. Teenagers have the habit of revealing secrets and personal data through Facebook. Such information may often end up in the hands of antisocial elements and they can misuse it. Kelleher (2009) has pointed out that “hackers are attracted to social networking sites because they see the potential to commit fraud and launch spam and malware attacks” (Kelleher, 2009). It should not be forgotten that third party application providers are the suppliers of majority of the application in Facebook. These third party application providers are developing and providing these applications not to help the Facebook users but to make profits out of it. Teenagers may not recognize the traps while using such third party applications. To conclude, increased Facebook usages should be avoided by the teenage community since such usages may cause immense harm to their studies, career, physical and mental development. Students and teenagers do not have the necessary maturity to overcome the psychological trauma caused by the spreading of rumours and gossips through Facebook. Moreover, they do not have the ability to use Facebook like social networks judiciously. Facebook has the ability to inject an addiction among teenagers just like alcohol and drug addiction. In short, Facebook usages should be limited as much as possible by the teenage community. Works Cited Hough, Andrew. Facebook Vows New Security Measures To Combat Alarming Trolling Abuse Trend. 2010.The Telegraph.co.uk. 11 Aug 2010. Print Hunt, Tara. “The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business”.2009. Publisher: Crown Business (April 21, 2009). Print Kelleher, David. “5 Problems with Social Networking in the Workplace”, 2009. Web. 28 January 2013. Kretkowski, Paul. D. Social Network Security Hazards,2007 Web. 28 January 2013 Marshable. “Facebook – The Complete Biography”. 2010. Web. 28 January 2013. Read More