Facebook: Friend or Foe?
During the past several years, FaceBook has grown increasingly popular. It started out as a small networking site for Harvard University students in 2004. From there, FaceBook grew to include college students everywhere, then high school students, and eventually it spread to all age groups.
I found an excellent article about the effects that FaceBook has on communication. You can find this article by clicking the following link: http://social-networking- tagging.suite101.com/article.cfm/ facebook_good_or_bad_for_communication. The article is called FaceBook: Good or Bad for Communication. It focuses on looking at the positive and negative effects that FaceBook is having on this generations communication skills.
Let’s break it down: Positive Effects vs. Negative Effects
Positive Effects
There are many obvious positive effects that FaceBook has on our lives. It enables us to keep in touch with those that are separated by far distances. We can view their pictures, read their statuses, and communicate by writing on their walls or sending private messages to them. A great example of a positive effect that the article gave is that FaceBook makes it easy for people in the armed forces to stay in touch with loved ones. Another positive effect is that FaceBook makes it possible for people with dysfunctional syndromes to communicate with people when they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. People who have extreme social anxiety and other social disorders can communicate with others easily through the use of the computer and FaceBook.
Negative Effects
At first glance, one wouldn’t think that a website designed specifically for social communication purposes could have negative effects on communication skills. However, according to the article there are possibly more negative effects then there are positive as far as social skills and communication is concerned. Social networking sites make social interacting too easy; “it is so convenient that people lack the drive to actually interact face to face”. This poses a big problem with the Millennials because we are beginning to lack necessary social skills that the generations before us have. These face to face communication skills include being able to decipher body language and the meaning of tone in someone’s voice. Besides the social skills aspect, FaceBook can also cause the actual quality of social interaction to decline. This is because when the volume of people is high and there is no face to face communication, there is likely to be more gossip.
(picture from Google Images)
My Opinion
I feel as though the article showed valid negative and positive effects of FaceBook. Personally, I enjoy FaceBook and think that the creation of such a widespread networking site is genius. It allows me to easily socialize with my friends that are far away (including some in Ireland). I’m constantly updated on how my brother, sister in law, and baby nephew are doing in Texas, which I love. However, I do think it has a lot of negative effects on people; especially in my generation, the Millennials. I have honestly spent about five or six hours total working to complete two blogs. The sad thing is, half of this time was spent wasted on FaceBook. I think that I and the majority of my peers would do better in school and on homework if there were no such thing as FaceBook. Furthermore, there are negative social effects, like the gossiping that the article mentioned. Also, relationships are commonly negatively affected. I have a perfect example from my own experience. This summer I was dating the most amazing guy I have ever met, and I broke it off with him because of pictures that I saw on his FaceBook. Who knows, maybe if there were no FaceBook we would be getting married someday down the line (hey, a girl can dream right?). In conclusion, I believe that FaceBook has its pros and cons, but like anything in life it can be great when used in moderation.
