The Facebook World and its Perils - Thesis Proposal Example

Inserts His/her Inserts Inserts Grade (31, 07, The Facebook World and it Perils Introduction Rapid advancement in technology has changed many things in the world. Customs and traditions have lost their values and the internet has become the world of the people. Who believed that people would spend hours documenting their thoughts and uploading pictures so that the whole can see and comment? But it happened and the name is Facebook. Long gone are the days when people used to sit with their parents and family members, and met friends (in person) now you can update a status or message friends through inbox. This is a clear indication of the change in life styles and thought processes. But it is vital that all of us ask this from ourselves. Is this all really for the ‘good’? Should we keep allowing eradication of family and moral values in the name of technology? It is time we start considering the real issues that we face from technology. In this paper we will discuss Facebook and why how much popular it is among the young generation of today. We will also discuss the problems social networking in general and Facebook in particular is causing to the society. Facebook is posing great danger to human society and is destroying the youth by engaging them in futile activities and hindering intellectual development of younger generation. The popularity of Facebook The internet age has provided the world with newer activities. It has contributed to a change in daily life. People prefer to use internet technology to communicate with each other instead of meeting people in person. Now the generation that has been born in the age of technology generally prefers to communicate through internet. This generation is also technology oriented therefore they want to make their lives easier. Companies have made use of this technology to cater to this market. Many online games and social networking sites have come up in order to provide entertainment to the people that are technology oriented. In this wave of internet activities many social networking sites have also come up and the most famous social networking site of today is Facebook. The social networking site has 700 million users worldwide (Paul para 1). This number shows how popular the networking site is throughout the world. It has attracted people through its unique feature. People can upload and share pictures, and the status sharing feature is particularly famous among the young people. It has actually given the young generation everything they wanted. They can talk to their friends share pictures and upload videos. It has actually catered to the demands of the younger generation and this is the main reason of its popularity. Facebook has also taken the internet world by storm because it has provided a platform to people for raising their voices. They can interact with their friends in a unique way. Also the user friendliness of Facebook attracts users from all over the worldwide. It provides newsfeeds and that keeps the users interested and connected with friends. It has actually made people attracted towards it as there are so many things one can do on the website. These are the reasons of the popularity of Facebook. Dangers of Facebook Till now we have discussed how Facebook has become popular by giving new activities and attracting users through its unique features. In this section we will discuss the perils that Facebook poses to the society. The younger generation is attracted towards it but not many people understand the dangers this social networking site can cause to the younger generation and the society. Promotion of Futile Activities Human society has always created activities that provide leisure and decrease their stress level. But developed societies always had constructive time pass activities. In ancient Greek civilization contemplation was considered the highest form of leisure (Human Kinetics 19). The aim was to stimulate thinking and promote intellectual ideas even with the free time they had. Games were played that made people physically fit. All the activities had an aim or a purpose and that aim or purpose was constructive! Facebook has taken away everything that is of real value to the society. Intellectual activities are nowhere to find and the younger generation are spending their time thinking of coming up with interesting statuses that get maximum number of ‘likes’. This has what our society has come to that we are trying to please ourselves by getting a nod from the society. How will intellectuals born in such a society where people spend all their time (free and other time) on such a useless activity like Facebook. A society is known by the quality of its younger generation and it is shameful that our youth are wasting their time on Facebook. It is not harmful to enjoy instead it is necessary. In this fast moving world there is a great level of stress on everyone so it is important to relax. But there are many healthy ways of relaxation like reading books, doing painting, enjoying poems, playing sports and even watching films is a good option to relax. But popping up online and messaging friends can never help the society or even an individual. The worst thing about Facebook is that it is addictive. If you post a video or a picture then people will comment on it and you are expected to reply and this will continue. This creates addiction automatically and it is widely depicted by the millions using the social networking site. This addiction is the problem and it is one of the most serious dangers of Facebook. It is spreading a mad fever of futile social consciousness. Intellectual activities are being replaced by things like Facebook and it is of no good to the society. Decline in Productivity Facebook is actually decreasing the productivity of the users and this is happening all over the world. People are always curious to see who has commented on their profile or status, and this curiosity breaks their attention from real work as well. Notifications are also received on the mail so there is not hiding from Facebook. The fact that users have become dependent on the site clearly shows why their productivity is decreasing. This is actually seen in students especially because they are mostly the users of Facebook. Young people are today compromising their studies just because of Facebook and this is really sad. Internet is important for students and there is no denying that but excessive use of social networking sites and addiction to Facebook decreases their productivity. They are not able to concentrate on their studies. Facebook is actually a distraction for students and this is a dangerous situation for the society. Ohio State University study has actually shown that students who use Facebook tend to get lower grades than people who do not use Facebook (Gaudin para 1). Students spend less time studying because of Facebook and this shows the negative effects of the networking site. Facebook is actually destroying the youth and poses great dangers for the society. Facebook also lowers the productivity of employees in the work place (Gaudin para 1). Employees who have Facebook accounts tend to use them in the workplace as well and in this way it lowers their productivity. The time they should be spending working is taken by Facebook. Companies are actually looking forward to ban Facebook in offices as it kills productivity. The situation is getting worse as more and more people are getting addicted to the site. The site is actually coming up with newer features to attract users and lure them to stay online for more hours. Facebook is actually a corporation and they don’t care about the society. They are only interested in earning revenues through advertisements. Facebook charges different companies who want to place their ads on its website. This is why they keep coming up with new features so as to attract more users. This fact is important because it signals that this trend will continue and Facebook will keep on attracting users in order to increase its profits and this shows how bleak the future is in this regard. Immoral Activities through Facebook Facebook has also provided people with means to do immoral activities in the virtual world where identity is hidden. Females are stalked on Facebook and immoral comments are made on profiles. It has actually provided a platform for people to do whatever they want without any threat of consequences. The bad part of it is that not only criminals but normal people are also indulging in such activities. Users know that they cannot be caught therefore they use the site to do whatever they want. They can make a fake profile and can pose whoever they want. They can either target people from the opposite sex or can make racist comments. No one is stopping them and this is a danger. Facebook is promoting such immoral activities through its website and the younger generation is finding new ways to do immoral things without any threat of consequences. Different religions are also made fun of on Facebook because anyone can make a page about anyone or anything. This is promoting religious tensions between different religious groups. Recently Muslims all over the world protested about a controversial page (Smith para 3). Events like these can create peace problems for the whole world. Muslim terrorist can get agitated and can attack by making such incidents reason. No religion should be disrespected but Facebook offers platform for such immoral activities. Facebook has brought a generation that is unaware of any limits or boundary. Negative effects on Health Facebook also affects the health of the children. Children who use Facebook regularly can have brain problems according to some neuroscientists (Derbyshire para 3). Children who use Facebook also experience problems in communicating with people in real life. This shows how Facebook can affect the immature brains of children. They might not be able to understand that a virtual world is not real and therefore may not be able to perform well in the real world. Facebook is actually creating a divide between the real and the virtual world, and children might not be able to understand this. Conclusion Facebook is dangerous for the society simply because it is making users addictive. It has provided people with futile activities that offer no good for the society or to the people. The intellectual faculties are not allowed to develop in a person, and instead he or she uses Facebook that actually does more harm than good. The site is known to reduce productivity of employees in the organizations. Students who use Facebook are also performing poorly in studies. The site is also promoting immoral activities and it can cause severe ethnic and religious issues. It can also cause brain damage to the children so all in all the site is a disaster for the society. Works Cited Page Derbyshire, David. “Social websites harm childrens brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist.” Daily Mail Online (2009): 1. Web. 31 Jul. 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html Gaudin, Sharon. “Study: Facebook use cuts productivity at work.” Computer World (2009):1. Web. 31 Jul. 2010. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135795/Study_Facebook_use_cuts_productivity_at_work Gaudin, Sharon. “Study: Study: Facebook users get lower grades in college.” Computer World (2009): 1. Web. 31 Jul. 2010. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9131507/Study_Facebook_users_get_lower_grades_in_college Human Kinetics Organization. Introduction to recreation and leisure. New York: Human Kinetics, 2005. Print Paul, Ian. “U.S. Facebook Popularity Wanes as International Growth Booms.” PC World (2011): 1. Web. 31 Jul. 2010. http://www.pcworld.com/article/230173/us_facebook_popularity_wanes_as_international_growth_booms.html Smith, Stevie. “Muslims react angrily to Draw Muhammad page on Facebook.” The Tech Herald (2010): 1. Web. 31 Jul. 2010. http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201020/5629/Muslims-react-angrily-to-Draw-Muhammad-page-on-Facebook Read More