360 Degrees: Facebook Use

Facebook has become a primary tool used to communicate and keep up with friends in this day and age. It is a widely used method to manage your social life.  However, Facebook also has the damaging sideaffects of poor grades in students, addicts, and has even ironically done something that directly contradicts its purpose- pull people apart. 

From the positive spectrum, Facebook has done it all.  It is used by over 200 million people all around the world.  To all these people, Facebook is a convinient way to talk to their friends, family, and collegues.  Facebook has even helped in dethroning a vicious dictator in north Africa.  Aside from the bright side, Facebook has a dark side that many people ignore.

Facebook's addicting side has served as an inconvinient distractor for many students, at least in America.  A quick second away, Facebook is always available to provide relief to overwhelmed students.  Surrounded by friends and games, kids have a hard time concentrating on what is really important, and are lured into the Facebook trap.

Facebook can be a drug to those who abuse its purpose.  Some stay up late at night updating statuses, following friends, or uploading pics of themselves in their favorite footsie pajamas.  But is that what Facebook was made for?  How much is too much?  These are lines that each individual needs to draw for themselves, not just with Facebook, but with other unimportant things like Twitter, MySpace, etc.

Facebook, ironically, defeats its own purpose because it does something nobody would have expected- pull people apart.  Why go over to your friends house to talk about how cute Christopher Jenkins looked in class today if you can instant message her on Facebook?  This effect is one of many postmodern ideas today.

These negative effects of Facebook can all be intertwined.  Once an individual gets on Facebook, to connect with friends, he/she becomes attached to the website- eventually addicted.  Then, that individual is ironically pulled away from what they were originally looking for.