Facebook and social networking has had a negative impact on my life. With that being said I would like to highlight all of the benefits before I delve into what I think is wrong.
Social networking is a very good thing in theory and for the most part in practice. The invention of the cellphone has made it possible to be in constant contact with others and has also made life much safer. I remember being able to take the train by myself to school everyday in 7th grade only because I had a cellphone and therefore my parents didn't really have to worry about where I was. Social networking on the internet is even better in some ways. Now even if you're in a different country you're able to communicate with your friends and family very efficiently and cheaply.
However, I feel like social networking has made an negative impact on people who are the closest to me. Sometimes I will just talk to people on Facebook when they are merely a few houses from me. Some of these conversations amount to "We should hang out soon!" I feel like Facebook makes socializing with large numbers of people I know too easy and therefore meaningless. I already have those superficial conversations with many of my acquaintances as I pass them by around campus, I don't need to nor do I want to attend to those people on the internet. The last I checked I had 800 friends on Facebook. All of these people were only added if I had one good conversation with them (My personal qualification for "friendship"). But its not like I talk to all of these people on Facebook or even in real life on any sort of a regular basis. I just give them a means to stalk my life and easily contact me. I enjoy being in the real life presence of my friends. And I believe that a lot of kids are beginning to realize that and have started to reduce their use of Facebook, although usage it is still very high. I believe it will be a while before people become completely aware that they have begun to live a much more digitalized life. People do appreciate and see value in human interaction and so I do not think that there is worry about a completely digitalized interaction like in the movie “Wall-E”
There is nothing wrong with the use of social networks to meet new people in real life. I have recently begun to warm up to the idea of online dating. In the end they do in fact introduce you to a real life person and you will have an interaction. This interaction is really important and may or may nor develop into a relationship. I believe that this is a positive and forward moving step. The meeting of people on the internet forums and things of that nature are not good or not really that bad. I think it would be bad if emotions are invested into that relationship, but if there are not then there is nothing wrong with that. There needs to be a progress in the friendship into a real life relationship in the end for me to understand and approve fully of a online social interaction. That means that Facebook chatting with my friends from real life is not good. Because I have gone onto a negative path of human interaction.
I admit as a kid I was on social networks all of the time and therefore my tiredness and subsequent deletion of it comes mostly from that. Had I not deleted my Facebook a couple weeks ago I would be on Facebook right now as I was writing this blog entry.
It wasn't the superficial relationships that annoyed me because that is always avoidable. I gave up the far more important ability to stay in tune with my social surroundings and my far distance friends for more serious reasons. It was the idea that there was a database with all of my personal information and thoughts available on the internet. I do not know what that information could be used for and it is very possible that my information could be easily farmed. Someday in the future if I were to run for any sort of a public office there is a possibility that my opponents could “farm” for information about me and find some of the stupid stuff I wrote when I was 13. Another thing that disturbed me into deleting Facebook is that there shouldn't be a public business (when Facebook goes public next year) around my personal business. I do not think that this is a very safe idea. Companies not centered around people’s personal information already have a difficult time observing the rights of their users and so I have high doubts that a company that is based on personal information will not infringe on those rights sooner or later. However, I am not a fool and you can bet that I will be buying stocks and owning a share of the business that has to do with your personal business if you still have a Facebook account.
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