The fatal lure of Facebook

We’ve all done it. Three essays, a translation and a presentation due in for tomorrow… And Facebook is calling. You can’t ignore it. You convince yourself that you’ll just take a brief look, but around two hours later, it becomes apparent that a ‘brief look’ really isn’t on the cards. And that deadline has sprung forward a few hours.

So where did this obsession come from? A few years ago, back when being social actually involved physical human interaction, we didn’t have this problem. Now, a quick walk around the computer section of the library will reveal that at least half of the people logged on are on some sort of social networking site. Some of my friends actually deleted their Facebook accounts when exam period approached last year, to remove the temptation, which was quite shocking. The fact that they felt the need to delete the site because the temptation to check in is greater than the need to revise is worrying, and begs the question of whether social networking sites are really worth the troubles they cause. Being able to keep in touch with people who may have otherwise faded from your life is great, but at the same time, how many of these people will you actually talk to? Chances are the people you chat to on Facebook are the same people whose numbers are sitting in your phone, waiting to be called- or better yet, the people who you will actually see face to face at some point.

Social networking sites are becoming a new kind of addiction, with people updating their friends, family and ‘random people they met once on a night out three years ago, and haven’t spoken to since’ on where they are and what they’re doing at all times. Does anybody really need to know when you decide to go the toilet? I certainly don’t, but it doesn’t stop me checking my Facebook at least once an hour.

This ‘addiction’ is such an issue in the United States that certain psychologists have suggested that it is a kind of medical condition, dubbed ‘Facebook addiction disorder’. The introduction of smartphones certainly doesn’t seem to be helping matters. On Thursday 12 January, the British psychological society published an article which claimed that the combination of smartphones and social networking sites is not only time consuming, but stress inducing. The article stated “smart phones are stressful because people get caught up in compulsively checking for new messages, alerts and updates”.

And it’s not only university life that is affected by social networking sites. The Chicago Tribune recently reported that people have actually been fired by employers who have seen their Facebook or Twitter accounts, and not liked what they saw. One woman, who called her boss a “scumbag” on Facebook, was fired- her appeal is being looked at now in American Courts. It’s important for people who post online to remember that they are online, and that information is potentially in the public domain, waiting for someone who shouldn’t to read it.

So what’s the solution? Boycotting social networking sites probably isn’t the best action to take- they can be extremely useful for things like event planning and catching up with peoples holiday pictures. The problem here is not the sites themselves, but people’s attitudes to them. Yes, they have their uses, but they aren’t an alternative for physical human interaction, and this is what needs to be remembered.

So go forth and network in cyber space, but don’t forget; everything in moderation.