Facebook is the newest and most effective drug on the market. Not only has it managed to draw nearly a billion users into its doors but its locked them up and rolled them away.
Social networking is nothing short of an unhealthy addiction. What smoking was for many centuries prior and the position such substances as marijuana, cocaine, crack, and methamphetamine occupied last century, Facebook holds now. While overall positive, technology has a much darker side to it that many fail to realize. Facebook is the embodiment of those vices. Not only is it an effective way to lure the ignorant masses but it gradually draws the user closer resulting in a loss of time, health, and communication abilities.
Never before has it been easier for the police to gain tabs on people. In times past, they actually had to search in phone books and consult with neighbors to find out where someone lived, their daily schedule, activities, interests, etc. Now, they have access to all of that information and more on Facebook. No matter how many times people are warned, they still post highly personal information on Facebook. I'm not saying everyone falls victim but enough do this to make it a serious problem.
Also, Facebook eliminates the individual and embraces the larger community. It's a perfect model of socialism. The majority of the world's conservatives today argue that the education system is letting kids down and has become extremely degraded. They're partially right. What happened to focusing on the individual's work? Group projects are pushed for more and more vocally. Why has analyzing of the student's particular strengths and weaknesses vanished? Some standardized surveys that no one will reply to seem to be the solution-everyone is merely another statistic. What happened to teachers actively leading the classroom and encouraging even requiring participation? Now it's simply a bunch of slapped together lectures that rehash a textbook in an overly simplified way. Facebook applies those same ideas from education and applies them to a more general world situation. You literally can't log in without being swamped about information from all of your contacts. Who cares where Martha is going out to eat dinner, when Tommy returns from his bike ride, or why Thomas decided to take his wife out to eat?! This is all extremely superfluous information that the site endeavors to stuff up the user's face. And yet people embrace it. And they therefore become specks of dust among a pile of information few people care about. You may think you're sending information to just one person but hundreds of others are able to view it. You're merely another number, another statistic, another page among more than 800 million. What's a needle in a haystack?
Another major problem Facebook causes is loss of socializing ability. This isn't particularly serious just yet but stick around for a few years and you will see the problem escalate. There are already some people who simply can't live without sending a new message. I don't wish too be redundant here but seriously stop notifying us of every little action you're performing!!! Grrr!! No one honestly needs to know when you're using the toilet. These people are literally addicted to their electronic devices. They gradually lose contact with reality. The virtual world becomes reality to this group. I'm glad counselors and faculty in school are raising awareness about this issue. This is a serious problem that has come to characterize our present generation and the fire needs to be extinguished before it haunts today's youth for the rest of their lives.
I honestly did not anticipate this response being so lengthy, however, I wanted nothing short of a thorough response for something that is plaguing the adolescents and young adults of the Western world especially. There are certain necessities in life without which we cannot live without. Facebook is not one of them.
