Dangers of Facebook

When Facebook is used by educated, responsible and aware people, it can be a marvellous tool, to help family, friends, peers and colleagues keep up to date with each other, however; when used by the opposite of those people, it can be highly dangerous. Facebook leads to unsociability, and it is leading to the deterioration of our communication skills. Another of the downsides of Facebook is, that it is extremely dangerous, due to the large number of paedophiles, predators and people posting inappropriate pictures and posts.

One of the many downsides to Facebook is the fact that people become distracted by it, and this can lead to people also becoming more and more unsociable. Allan Hall, a journalist from the Daily Mail, explores through his article ‘Facebook makes you feel miserable and jealous’ the negative impact Facebook can have on individuals within our society. Hall implies that social networking is causing us to want to be more like our friends and the people we might ‘follow’ on these social networking sites, with a survey conducted by researchers from both Berlin’s Humboldt University and Darmstadts’s Technical University finding that people generally feel jealous and disappointed when they find themselves looking at friends who have shared new events in their life, such as ‘buying a new car.’ While these feelings can feel quite small in the scheme of things, this desire to be the same as everyone else, to be considered cool and accepted by our peers can have a dramatic effect on the mental states’ of some, as these factors have the potential to lead to self esteem issues. Beyond Blue, Australia’s leading anti-depression service, believes that self esteem issues are one of the largest contributing factors to depression, a serious mental illness which displays the influence social media outlets such as Facebook can create, through the development of our desire to fit in with those around us. The unsociable effects Facebook has on society is just one of the reasons it is more harmful than favourable.

Many people, especially Facebook users, don’t realise the negative impact Facebook is having on our communication skills. Face to face communication skills are being squashed out by social networks, calling friends on the phone is barely even used now, Facebook and Twitter have taken over that as well as face to face communication. This is happening because of the social awkwardness and even social anxiety in some cases. More than half of teens at this current time, use social Medias rather than face to face communication because provides a quicker and easier way to talk to friends. Using Facebook or other social media sites is also decreasing people’s abilities to read facial clues for the real meaning of the speaker. Current research is showing that the use of these social media sites are actually lessening of the attention that people pay during face to face conversations, which basically means that by the time people have had Facebook for a small amount of time, their speaking and listening skills with hit rock bottom. The negative impact Facebook is having on many of its users, is not just impacting the writing skills of the enjoyers of Facebook but also the attitudes and lack of people skills they are having.

Facebook is just one of the many social media sites that can become a feeding ground for the worst the internet has to offer, if it is misused and mistrusted. Paedophiles and predators can have a greater impact on their victims via social media, as they are able to expand the range of children and young adults that they wish to target, and all hidden behind a false identity that reveals nothing about who they really are. This misuse of social media can be mistaken by youth for someone who they may be friends with, and the results from this ignorance can be horrific. Not only are Facebook users subjected to predators such as these, they can be subjected to inappropriate photographs and videos every day with terrible results. Given each individual Facebook page gives the user the right to express their opinion online, these thoughts can be damaging to others as they can cause great psychological harm to individuals, either as a result of bullying, or being subjected to vulgar images that could mentally scar uneducated youth. Facebook is just one way that predators are able to hurt, or possibly worse, unprotected or unexpected users.

Facebook used in the correct way and by the right people, can be a highly valuable tool but some people are unaware of the dangers that arise from Facebook. The unsociability of Facebook, the deterioration of our language and the many dangers that come with using Facebook are just some of the negative effects Facebook incorporate.