The Disadvantages of Facebook

            Social networks have many advantages including meeting new people and finding old friends. However, is this new and upcoming social network, Facebook, too friendly and too addicting? Are these technologically advanced forms of communicating slowly hurting society's social skills?

           The obvious disadvantage of Facebook is the availability of your personal profile on the Internet for many people to see.  For example, in Sarah Schweitzer’s article “Universities Ponder Facebook Etiquette”, a student explains how word of what was on her Facebook profile reached her Grandmother who did not appreciate the content very much.  Of course, you have complete control over what the content of your profile is. 

           However, many people do not think about the type of information they make available and many times people will put too much information, leaving them quite vulnerable.  In addition, to the control that you have over your content, the website is completely restricted to college students, which adds much needed security so that not every “Joe Somebody” can have access to everyone’s information.

           The more important disadvantage of Facebook is the effect it has on the people that use it, especially the frequent users.  In “The Death of Interaction”, Conor Boyland, a sophomore at UC Santa Barbara, explains both the best feature and the biggest drawback of Facebook; “online directories like Facebook make it possible to find out quite a lot about a person without ever speaking to them”.  This feature that Facebook provides lets people avoid the essential part of getting to know someone, talking to them.  Because of this, and that fact that almost all users spend way too much time on the Facebook or just the computer in general, is why Facebook greatly affecting the frequent users social skills. 

          Social skills are very important in the world we live in.  Being able to hold conversations and relate to other people helps people not only in their business lives but also in their daily lives.  With the creation of, first, instant messenger and now Facebook, the young generation is beginning to become more dependent on these technologically based ways of communicating.  

         Yes, Facebook makes it easier to meet people, which as everyone knows, is the most difficult part of starting a relationship, but these people using Facebook are becoming addicted and dependent upon this social network.  These addicts are using Facebook as another excuse, upon the many, as a reason why they are constantly hunched over their computers.  If these people continue to constantly use these social networks as their primary means of communicating, their social skills will slowly diminish and their daily lives will be drastically altered.