Essay
Facebook was created about seven years ago by Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard student. The aim of Mark and his friends was to keep all university students connected. Since it was appeared the whole world started to support it. Facebook now has approximately two hundred members around the globe. Every week about five million new members join it, which makes Facebook the fastest growing social networking site ever (Study Mode). For today Facebook is one of the popular social networking sites for communication and plays a significant part in lives of our society. It alleviates people’s lives since lots of actions may be done easier and faster. Use of it helps us not to waste the time and energy since it eases difficult assignments and works that sometime wasted a huge amount of time (Cyberethics.info). Facebook was invented for connecting people and for exchanging values, opinions, ideas, but, notwithstanding, there are positive and negative sides of Facebook for our society.
Facebook is positive for our society
Facebook provides various opportunities like sending messages, expressing and exchanging the opinions, getting information on variety of themes, counselling on various subjects, laboring, learning something new, etc. Firstly, members of Facebook may send messages that are speedier than the services of post office, thus people do not need to waste their time for waiting for a response. Second benefit is that Facebook might be the significant instrument in labor and education. Today in the century of globalization the number of various multinational enterprises and institutions is increasing, and many of these organizations have the subsidiaries abroad. Some companies may carry out their business correspondences with partners using Facebook in order to not waste time, cash and for the easement of all participants. Learners, particularly those who study other languages, can communicate with different nations in order to gain not only linguistic experience but the cultural as well. Third benefit of Facebook is that people may think more before answering and, so, form the accurate and clear feedbacks. Forth benefit is that we can stay related with our natives and friends wherever we are. If you study in another country, go abroad for a relaxation or work in a foreign subsidiary of an organization, you may use Facebook to feel yourself close to your loved ones. Also Facebook is the best place for modest and non-confident members to express themselves. It is known that non-confident people who have fear to talk in public can become sociable and outgoing in Facebook. Facebook is the platform which helps people to forget about feeling of loneliness or insulation. Thus, it encourages shy people to overcome challenges, and to feel in safety interacting with other members of Facebook (Washingtonpost.com).
Facebook is negative for our society
First drawback is that feelings can’t be shown by chatting online in Facebook. At times ‘emoticon’ can’t explain the real emotion of a person who sends it. Second drawback is that there are participants who like to conceal their real identity, and thus the cases like dishonest and fraudulence may frequently happen. As in each format of communication, people should establish the limits when they share their personal data with the members of communication, especially if they have no idea about the person with whom they share this data. During the last couple years the use of Facebook increased, so the number of spam or other threating messages became a huge concern for about half of all Facebook members. Another drawback is that many participants, particularly children and adolescents, use Facebook all day long for chatting with friends, and they seldom talk with each other that makes their communication abilities suffer. And last but not least, members of Facebook, especially young generation, are often bullied online by their ‘friends’. Such bullying may occur when ‘friends’ post negative and mean comments or messages that might hurt a person. At the worst it may cause a suicide as in the case of Ashley Riggitano who leapt off the bridge into the River after bullying on Facebook (Clark).
Facebook administration does not support bullying; and when they become aware of it they try to remove the account of anyone who bullies another. There are some standards breaking which Facebook community can remove the account:
- Accounts that shame people,
- Pictures that degrade people,
- Photos or videos of physical bullying posted to shame the victim,
- Sharing personal data to harass people
- Targeting other members of Facebook with unwanted friend requests or messages.
If a person faces bullying, s/he can report it using the links which appear near the content itself, normally on a drop down arrow which gives you menu option to report the image, post or comment. (Bullying)
In my opinion, even though using Facebook has some negative sides, it is positive for us if we use it rationally for our benefit. It decreases distances between people and allows us to talk, enjoy and express with our friends, natives, etc. We can take pleasure from the benefits like inexpensive chatting and keep close contact with loved ones, no matter wherever we are. Further, different people from different countries feel the connection with the world when they use Facebook. In multicultural communication members talk about their cultures, getting information, and so they absorb some elements of these cultures. And this is the way towards the globalized world in which each human perceives other humans’ opinions despite the differences in their cultures. Facebook is one of the important tools for developing the globalized world.
Works Cited
Bullying. ‘What to do if you're being bullied on a social network’. N.p., Web. 2013.
<http://www.bullying.co.uk/cyberbullying/what-to-do-if-you-re-being-bullied-on-a- social-network>
Clark, S. ‘Ashley Riggitano: Facebook Bullying Fueled Depression & Suicide’. N.p., 2013.
Web. 8 Feb. 2013. < http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/02/08/ashley-riggitano-facebook- bullying-depression-suicide-note/>
Cyberethics.info,. 'Benefits Of Internet Use'. N.p., 2011. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.cyberethics.info/cyethics1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=186&Itemid=83&lang=en>
National.deseretnews.com,. 'Face Time Vs. Screen Time: The Technological Impact On
Communication | Deseret News National'. N.p., 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.<http://national.deseretnews.com/article/2235/face-time-vs-screen-time-the-technological-impact-on-communication.html>
Study Mode. 'Facebook Positives and Negatives'. N.p., 2010. Web. 24 Oct. 2010.
<http://www.studymode.com/essays/Facebook-Positives-And-Negatives- 63900367.html>
Washingtonpost.com. 'Can Facebook Help Overcome Shyness?'. N.p., 2011.Web. 12 Feb.
2011.< http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/12/AR2011021203069.html>
