Good Essay On Reflecting On Facebook

Although I don't think that Facebook is all bad, I do think it's more of a negative impact on my life than a positive one. I like how Facebook makes keeping in touch with people easier, but Facebook can also be overwhelming. Thanks to Facebook I know more about my friends, but the information I learn isn't always that valuable. For example, I love how with Facebook I can keep in touch with my friend from elementary school that moved to Utah 15 years ago. We were pen pals for years after she moved and then lost touch in high school, and, a few years ago, we reconnected on Facebook. However, most of our “interaction” is hitting “like” on a picture of a sandwich that the other ate or something equally as mundane. When were pen pals, we used to write short stories for each other, and we used to ask each other lots of questions about school and our new friends. With Facebook, keeping in touch feels more passive and empty since most of what gets posted on Facebook is articles from Buzzfeed or Instagram pictures of the sunset.
Facebook also forces me to deal with privacy issues that are unique to the website. As the author of the article When Social Sharing Goes Wrong mentioned, I have people from different parts of my life added on Facebook. I always have to go through a mental checklist before posting anything political or personal to make sure that I'm not going to offend a former boss that I use for job references or worry a family member with an inside joke. I have different privacy groups set up for different groups of Facebook friends, but I still only post things I'd be fine with everyone seeing. I also have it set up so that people can't post pictures to my wall until I approve them. Even though my life is pretty tame, I like to be able to see what gets posted to my wall before my aunt does.
It can be difficult to deal with the amount of information on Facebook. When I first started college, I used to check Facebook a lot to see how my friends from high school were enjoying their time in college. I was constantly bombarded with status updates about making awesome new friends and pictures of all sorts of awesome social events. I started to worry that I picked the wrong school and that everyone else was having more fun than me. Eventually, I realized that people tend to post the highlights of their life on Facebook and leave out the mundane, day-to-day activities. Once I started to understand that, I found Facebook to be less overwhelming and depressing.