Call a halt to Facebook

Today, many people of all categories are using Facebook (a social networking website), to stay in contact with their friends, their family members, or to establish new relationships. Since its foundation in 2004, its members have been increasing. More than 175 million people are holding membership in Facebook, about 5 million new users per week (Hempel, 2009). Although this network has become very popular nowadays, I think someone should avoid holding membership in it, for the following reasons: it makes people waste their time, it makes whosoever snoops around their privacy, and it fosters encounters of dangerous kinds, particularly for teenagers.

The proponents of Facebook argued that there is nothing wrong with it, since it is a way that allows people to connect to each other. However, Facebook is a potential danger for the productivity at the workplace. Undoubtedly, Facebook is a thief of time. For instance, there is a so-called “25 Things about Me” that people joining this network generally write. In addition to that, they may send videos, photos of some special occasion. Suddath (2009), estimated the number of individuals who sent those notes, at 5 million during this week. According to the author, if each person spends 10 minutes involving in those stuffs, overall 800,000 hours of work time productivity is lost. It is probably for this reason, some countries such as Syria and Iran blocked the access to this network.

Another issue about Facebook includes the privacy snooping. Some people tend to deliver unconsciously some sensible secrets about their life, when they become Facebook members. The fact is that people are likely to tell everything about themselves while they are online; they do not even figure out if they are betraying themselves by so doing. Most of the times, they put themselves in an uncomfortable position. For instance, Popkin ( 2009) made this important remark in “Random things about Facebook”: a certain employee who would receive an invitation from his boss to bind friendship on Facebook, is faced with the dilemma of accepting or rejecting the offer. If he accepts, he mortgages his chance of keeping the job, for his employer may eventually stumble upon something wrong about him. If he turns him down, he may be fired immediately for offending his or her employer.

Teenagers usually make encounters of dangerous kinds in cyberspace. If adults are prone to tell almost everything about themselves in Facebook, how much more likely will teenagers be to do it? They are so suspicious that some of them are concerned because many parents are also using Facebook. This is the declaration of a young student: “It is really weird that nonstudents and parents use Facebook”, said Emma Gaines (Davis, 2009). She continues by saying: “It makes me really uncomfortable that my older aunt has Facebook, because she says that she likes to check up on her teenage nieces and nephews and takes our pictures for her own use. That is creepy”. Peers easily influence young people. Today’s society is glutted with crimes, and young people commit most of them. Moreover, a large amount of adolescents begin dating early, becoming addicted to cocaine, holding illegal weapons, because of bad influence. The fact of the matter is that parents should be careful about their children’s frequentations. Unfortunately, a network such as Facebook is designed to make void their attempts to really control their offspring’s relationships.

To sum up, in spite of the claim that people make about the advantages of Facebook, it actually takes more from the society than it brings. Its drawback mainly targets work productivity, people’s privacy, and adolescents’ accord with their parents. So, all these reasons demonstrate how deleterious Facebook is for the moral standard of the society.

Davis, A. (2009, Jan. 3). Friended by mom and dad on Facebook Students worry about parental snooping, devise ways to protect privacy. ABC Nwes. Retrieved on February 19, 2009, from: http://abcnews.go.com/OnCampus/story?id=6555853&page

Hempel, J. (2009, Feb. 17). How Facebook is taking over our lives. Fortune, cnnmoney.com. Retrieved on February 17, 2009, from: http://tinyurl.com/ab5aua

Popkin, H. (2, Feb. 2009). 26 random things about Facebook. MSNBC.com. Retrieved on February 17, 2009, from: http://tinyurl.com/bwwrka

Saddath, C. (2009, Feb.5). 25 things I didn’t want to know about you. Time Magazine online. Retrieved on February 17, 2009, from: http://tinyurl.com/d3okh7