Does Facebook Do More Harm Than Good?

Desiree Wheeler
Eng 111-26
Argumentative Essay
April 4, 2013

Argumentative Essay - “Does Facebook do more harm than good?”

Many people use Facebook in their everyday lives. Facebook has great benefits such as: making new friends, meeting old friends, and staying in touch with family members who live far away. Recently, Facebook has been a successful tool in starting small businesses and advertising. Facebook is especially popular for its birthday reminders and games. When Facebook was first created it was only for college students but as it grew so did its target crowd. Now, most people ranging from ages 10-65 have a Facebook Account. For example, every waking day I use Facebook. I am able to talk to my aunts who live in Panama City, Florida and Washington D.C.. I am also able to stay in touch with my father, step mother, and watch the growth of my two little sisters who all live in Mesa, Arizona. Without Facebook communication would not be as easy or fast. I also have friends and family members who are starting businesses and they are able to advertise their products and also get ‘likes’ from people who support them. Likes on Facebook work as approval of what is being said and/or advertised and they play a big part in business pages. Also, I believe the only reason many of my friends and family remembered my birthday this year was because of Facebook’s famous birthday reminders. Facebook is also a great place to see how high school friends are doing and catch up on how they’ve grown (or how they haven’t grown). On one hand, I am a witness that Facebook has fulfilled its promises of what awesome things it had to offer and more. On the other hand, I have witnessed the bad and sometimes disturbing things that take place on and through Facebook. Facebook users joined the popular group with a high of joining something fresh and new. MySpace, another social network, had become boring and monotonous and MySpace users had a thirst for something different. Facebook definitely brought different and they brought it with a bang. In the beginning things were moving smoothly with Facebook but as the years passed by we watched as things slowly went downhill. The cute nudge of “What’s on your mind?” drew us to tell what we thought that day or what we were doing. Now, users have the option of “checking in” where Facebook uses the GPS tracking device on a users’ phone to post where they currently are. A user can also tag who they are with in posts as well as post pictures of themselves. These features have resulted in the kidnapping, rape, molestation, and defiling of many young women and some young teen boys. Stalkers and pedophiles are able to track and prey on anyone they choose at the click of a button. Facebook did not intentionally give their users those options to draw these sorts of people but the bottom line is, it draws them. Furthermore, Facebook exposes adolescents to things they should not be exposed to at their age. Facebook, to a certain extent, has very little control over what people post. I have personally seen pages that are specifically for porn. Anyone can see the pictures and videos they post, even if they haven’t added that page or chosen to follow that page. Facebook has a new feature where if one or more of your friends like something, it will show up in your newsfeed. Therefore, once a parent allows their child or young teen to get a Facebook they are risking them seeing these things along with all of the other vulgar things that are posted. Lastly, Facebook is the root of many people’s issue with procrastination. Even though everyone has the option to ignore Facebook and handle their responsibilities in a timely manner, Facebook does not make that easy. With the option to place a Facebook widget on your phone to always keep up with what’s going on, users are pushed to update their statuses and tell their friends what they are up to. Facebook also has a clever way of sliding competition into everything. “Tell Sarah you passed her!” pops up on the screen after a user passes level 299 on their favorite game. Sarah sees she has a notification as she checks the time at work and shortly is playing level 299 to see if she can pass her friend. It may sound ridiculous but it is true and it happens. As a constant user I can say that I have fallen victim to this. Procrastination is chosen but it doesn’t help when the temptation is fanning its’ tasty aroma in your direction. In conclusion, Facebook has brought its users many great opportunities of communication and even success. It was created to improve areas of our lives we were lacking without it like communicating with family members who we normally couldn’t reach. It also brought old High School and childhood friends together but if we place the good and the bad on a scale the bad would be on the floor. Families talk and communicate more on Facebook than they do, face to face in their own homes. Facebook has ripped the line between what’s private and what is made public. Rather it is addressed or not, this very fact has caused great damage in romantic relationships, families, and jobs. All in all, Facebook has honestly done more harm than good.