~Facebook~ Informatory Negative Aspects

Would you believe me if I told you that there were currently 60 million people using Facebook around the world?  Well I lied, because the number of Facebook users to date is 132 million.  Are you one of these 132 million people that spend an average of 20 minutes on Facebook each day (and is steadily rising)?

Well if you are one of these people, then there are some negative aspects of Facebook that I should warn you of.  The first aspect is one that affects people from all walks of life (students, office workers, teachers, parents, etc.) Facebook can be a waste of time.  Instead of working on homework or studying, students waste their time on Facebook.  As quoted by In-Ae Lee "It wastes study time".  Office workers can be distracted from their work by spending valuable work time on Facebook, preventing vital work from being done.  Teachers are prevented from grading papers, making lessons plans, etc. because they are using that time to check their Facebook, which hinders the children's learning experience.  Instead of focusing on spending time with their kids, parents can often be found on Facebook. Facebook "Prevents quality time with friends and family," said Joy Lee.

Facebook can also be negative in the fact that there are predators who use it to stalk people. These predators can look at pictures, videos and conversations freely if proper precautions are not taken.  Facebook "Gives out too much personal information," said Deirdre Van Sloten, that can be obtained by stalkers and can be used to annoy you by sending e-mails and messages to you.  This personal information can also be used by thieves to commit identity theft against you if not monitored correctly.

There are some positive aspects to Facebook as well.  Facebook is a way that teachers can easily inform students of assignments.  It is also a useful tool for communicating with people that you don't come in contact with on a day to day basis, such as: long distance family members, friends, and business relations.  In addition to these aspects, Facebook also acts as a blog that people can vent their ideas and thoughts on.  People can then respond to your writing and write what they think about your ideas and writing.

Facebook is here to stay. No one is going to be shutting it down soon and preventing people from accessing it. Taking this into account, we can conclude that these negative aspects will not be permanently prevented. However, they can be brought to a controllable level. If we control the amount of time we spend on Facebook, it won't become addicting. If we monitor what personal information we release, we won't be scammed. If we control who can see our pages, then we won't be stalked. These are the steps that we need to take in order to make Facebook a healthy part of our life.