Effects of Facebook
I’ll “Facebook” You Later: The Effects of Facebook in Young People’s Lives
Cynthia Vasquez
Northwood University
Abstract
In the past ten years, the breakthroughs of the Internet have lead to the creation of online social networks. Founded in 2004, Facebook has become the most popular social network in the past few years. It has created a new way for people to communicate and socialize. Either by “posting” on their friends’ “walls” or by videoconferencing, users can leave them a message. However, the nonstop use of Facebook is becoming a discussed issue among our society. Youth are using Facebook to procrastinate on their daily tasks. Checking their Facebook profile is now part of their daily lives. This issue may cause them to get distracted constantly, consume golden time, lose privacy, change their daily habits, and, sometimes, even damage their computer’s operating system. This paper discusses the positive and the negative effects that the excessive use of Facebook may cause to our young generation.
Keywords: social network, Facebook, negative effects, young people, logged in
I’ll “Facebook” You Later: The Effects of Facebook in Young People’s Lives During 2008, I remember talking to my friend Patricia and she told me: “Hey Cynthia, nobody is using MySpace now. They’re all moving to Facebook; it’s kind of the same thing, but I’m just letting you know that you need to get on the trend.” Trusting her, I visited the Facebook website and created my own profile. My first “post” was a picture of my dad and me at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey. But Facebook’s interface seemed to be very boring and I never logged in again. The following year, unexpectedly, Facebook’s popularity increased. Facebook had arrived, and this time to stay. The new social network seemed to be more organized and easier to use than MySpace. The idea of becoming a fan of
Cynthia Vasquez
Northwood University
Abstract
In the past ten years, the breakthroughs of the Internet have lead to the creation of online social networks. Founded in 2004, Facebook has become the most popular social network in the past few years. It has created a new way for people to communicate and socialize. Either by “posting” on their friends’ “walls” or by videoconferencing, users can leave them a message. However, the nonstop use of Facebook is becoming a discussed issue among our society. Youth are using Facebook to procrastinate on their daily tasks. Checking their Facebook profile is now part of their daily lives. This issue may cause them to get distracted constantly, consume golden time, lose privacy, change their daily habits, and, sometimes, even damage their computer’s operating system. This paper discusses the positive and the negative effects that the excessive use of Facebook may cause to our young generation.
Keywords: social network, Facebook, negative effects, young people, logged in
I’ll “Facebook” You Later: The Effects of Facebook in Young People’s Lives During 2008, I remember talking to my friend Patricia and she told me: “Hey Cynthia, nobody is using MySpace now. They’re all moving to Facebook; it’s kind of the same thing, but I’m just letting you know that you need to get on the trend.” Trusting her, I visited the Facebook website and created my own profile. My first “post” was a picture of my dad and me at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey. But Facebook’s interface seemed to be very boring and I never logged in again. The following year, unexpectedly, Facebook’s popularity increased. Facebook had arrived, and this time to stay. The new social network seemed to be more organized and easier to use than MySpace. The idea of becoming a fan of
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