Facebook: A boon or a bane?
FACEBOOK, an eighthundred-million user social networking site, is so popular that our life today revolves around it. With the social networking, contacting our friends and family is just a click away. It keeps you up to date on the happenings of all of your close friends.
Social networking sites like FB are really dominating our world. Students, teachers, employees, adults and even children alike have one or two Facebook accounts that leads to addiction.
If you ask anyone the reason why they love ‘Facebook”, you will find out that it is meant for social networking and connecting with friends and families. It serves as their journal or diary that through fb they can easily express their feelings through it. By one click away, everybody can just post a message such as “Happy Birthday”, “Congratulations”, “Happy Anniversary” and others. Facebook craze is spreading so fast globally.
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) can be able to talk or contact their families by online chat or conversation. Parents who are away from their children can just check them easily. Personal conversations by everyone can easily be done through it.
It is true that we are given the freedom of expressions. But we still need to be careful with what we put on the websites. Complete access and personal information are easy made with internet and there are no way of knowing who gets to see that information. That in any ways they may intend to use it.
What is harmful on Facebook does not end there. With the craze spreading so fast, even schools are at risk. Facebook is the reason why cyber bullying in schools has become so widespread that it can be considered as a fad. Not to mention major conflicts that are based from the posts within the said social networking site. Not only these things put health at risk but also affects psychological and psycho-social health that is why depression in teens are not even new these days. Also, it affects teen’s self-esteem and self-value.
It is best to keep our opinions to ourselves first. Let us not comment immediately on the things that are posted on social media accounts. After all, we do not want to be bashed by people who once they read our comments.
It is hard to imagine a world without social networking. Our lives today are centered on posting our friends wall, following our favorite celebrities on twitter etc. This does not mean that we should not post in our facebook accounts. But as responsible citizens, we should learn to express our feelings on someone personally. Simple greetings to love ones saying or meeting a person just to tell our feelings like “I Love You”, “Happy Father’s Day” and “Happy Mother’s Day” to a person makes it meaningful than posting it in a fb to be read by everybody.
Social networking sites are good unless you have good intentions. It is a big help in communication. We should know and have restrictions in using these ones. Not everything is beneficial. Some of these are distractions, because of Cyber bullying, ruined relationships, and insecurities.
We need to be careful with what we put on the web, keep our private lives private. Technology is invented with benefits for humanity. What makes these harmful is how we choose to deal with these, what we choose to do with it and how to use it.