Facebook: Friend or Foe?

Whether you like it or not, Facebook has taken over the Internet, people's social lives, and has even breached the walls of the business and educational community.

With over 132 million users, Facebook has become the most widely used online social networking site in the world. It is also a highly controversial topic, due to its popularity these days. While many would argue that it is invasive upon family life, disrupts office work, and can be highly addictive, others say that it's a wonderful tool to staying in touch with quicker communication than anything

else.

The greatest concern that Facebook critics have is the time consumption involved in using the web site. Though it may be a fast communication tool, it ends up taking up several hours of

many people's days. "After 5 hours, you sit there thinking, what did I do?" Perhaps slightly exaggerated and not true of everyone, Facebook user Ben N.'s comment has a good point nonetheless. The hardest part may be that, according to Emily Y., another Facebook user, "People just don't know when to stop!" However, not everyone is in the same situation; Pam S, a teacher as well as a Facebook user, sets herself time constraints so that she doesn't get carried away. She will not stay on for more than one hour at a time before leaving the computer and doing something else. Sounds like a good idea, right? But not everybody finds controlling their time that easy, thus the huge problem with Facebook. "It's just addictive" admits Kwang Woon S., who is on Facebook more than he should be.

What does the average user actually do on Facebook though? That's a tough question when you get right down to it. A great feature of Facebook is the ability to "...share pictures and info wherever you are," as David C., long-time Facebook user, put it. The main problem though is that many people just end up doing essentially nothing. With the average teenage user, most simply communicate with friends from their school and community with whom they already can talk with and socialize with in real life, face to face. Thus it "takes away personal aspects of real life friendships", Weston Martin was quoted as saying. There lies the second major problem with Facebook. Not only is it a time waster, but it makes people's social lives less personal.

What then shall we say about Facebook? It helps you connect with friends, but it's addictive; "It's just plain fun", says Pam S., but it "prevents quality time with friends and family," counters Joy L., another heavy user. Whatever you may think of Facebook, no matter if you life it or not, it's here to stay. What we can do is to try and set some restrictions upon ourselves, using this opportunity as a way to work on some self-restraint. When used as it was intended, Facebook is truly great, but when it takes over our lives, its a curse.