Facebook: Social Network or Potential Disaster
Mark McNamara
Issue date: 5/23/07 Section: Forum
Text messages, online instant messages, e-mail and, the most notorious, Facebook, were all created to facilitate better communication. Truthfully, these technological tools are ruining the public communication skills of young people, especially in America.
Facebook, an online social directory, was created for college students to serve as a way of staying in touch with friends not seen since kindergarten, middle school or high school. However, it has become an outlet for students to avoid personal contact and communicate with people they have never met. It is also used as an outlet for education administrators and companies to investigate wrongdoings and personal views of students and future job applicants. For these reasons, Facebook should be limited to college alumni.
Facebook is a booming network. It was created in February 2004 and had 1 million registered members by December of that year. Now available to anyone with a valid e-mail address, it has 19 million registered members worldwide, and is the sixth-most visited website in the United States according to the Facebook Wikipedia.com website.
High school and college students should not be contributing to these statistics. Students reveal personal information, photographs, thoughts and upcoming plans to people they have never met. It is a market for sexual predators, stalkers and identity thieves.
Students do have options to restrict access to specific groups of people and can choose what their profiles display, but these controls are not as safe as completely avoiding the website and actually speaking with friends by phone or in person.
Facebook also causes procrastination. TechCrunch, a weblog that reviews new Internet products and companies, found that 85 percent of students at colleges supporting Facebook in September 2005 had Facebook profiles. About 60 percent of those students logged in daily, and 93 percent logged in once a month. The numbers have most likely increased since. Rather than studying and devoting time to academics, students spend hours reading profiles, viewing pictures and posting messages on Facebook.
With Facebook available to anyone with a valid e-mail address, Facebook has become a tool for education administrators to investigate underage drinking by students or participation in any illegal activity, including student handbook violations.
Companies use Facebook to do background checks of job applicants. The photographs, group memberships and message posts can influence a company's decision to decline an applicant.
Facebook has enhanced interaction for millions of young people, but its widespread use and disclosure of so much personal information makes it a dangerous tool for students. Registered members of Facebook should have proof of possession of an undergraduate degree or proof they are not enrolled in an academic institution.
Facebook should no longer be a communication outlet for high school and college students. After all, students can still text message, instant message, and e-mail friends-or actually talk.
Facebook, an online social directory, was created for college students to serve as a way of staying in touch with friends not seen since kindergarten, middle school or high school. However, it has become an outlet for students to avoid personal contact and communicate with people they have never met. It is also used as an outlet for education administrators and companies to investigate wrongdoings and personal views of students and future job applicants. For these reasons, Facebook should be limited to college alumni.
Facebook is a booming network. It was created in February 2004 and had 1 million registered members by December of that year. Now available to anyone with a valid e-mail address, it has 19 million registered members worldwide, and is the sixth-most visited website in the United States according to the Facebook Wikipedia.com website.
High school and college students should not be contributing to these statistics. Students reveal personal information, photographs, thoughts and upcoming plans to people they have never met. It is a market for sexual predators, stalkers and identity thieves.
Students do have options to restrict access to specific groups of people and can choose what their profiles display, but these controls are not as safe as completely avoiding the website and actually speaking with friends by phone or in person.
Facebook also causes procrastination. TechCrunch, a weblog that reviews new Internet products and companies, found that 85 percent of students at colleges supporting Facebook in September 2005 had Facebook profiles. About 60 percent of those students logged in daily, and 93 percent logged in once a month. The numbers have most likely increased since. Rather than studying and devoting time to academics, students spend hours reading profiles, viewing pictures and posting messages on Facebook.
With Facebook available to anyone with a valid e-mail address, Facebook has become a tool for education administrators to investigate underage drinking by students or participation in any illegal activity, including student handbook violations.
Companies use Facebook to do background checks of job applicants. The photographs, group memberships and message posts can influence a company's decision to decline an applicant.
Facebook has enhanced interaction for millions of young people, but its widespread use and disclosure of so much personal information makes it a dangerous tool for students. Registered members of Facebook should have proof of possession of an undergraduate degree or proof they are not enrolled in an academic institution.
Facebook should no longer be a communication outlet for high school and college students. After all, students can still text message, instant message, and e-mail friends-or actually talk.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Kevin
posted 10/10/07 @ 3:44 PM CST
There always better sites coming out like corner-space.com
Post a Comment