Facebook a force for good or bad
Social media is a great tool to connect and remain connected with your friends and love ones. It is also a great source of current events. Social media, specifically Facebook or FB, has become part of our daily lives. We use it to keep tabs on what our friends and relatives are up to. We post events, thoughts and photos to share with our network. One fascinating benefit of using Facebook is being able to find and reach out to long lost classmates, colleagues and childhood friends. Friends that would be impossible to find if not for Facebook. We check our Facebook account before we go to bed. For some of us, the first thing we pick-up after we wake-up is our smartphone to check the latest updates on FB. We have a nice dinner with friends and half the people around the table are hunched over swiping their FB account.
Like any other tool, FB can be good and bad for us. Bad, if used more than it should be. Too much use of FB can stifle social skills. When I was younger, my brothers and I used to run out of the house to get together with other kids in the neighborhood. This helped develop a few things; our social skills and ability to read body language, our communication skills, our body through physical activities with other kids. Today, the digital world has lessened the need for kids to physically interact with one another. I have encountered people in their 20's that are socially awkward. They do not know how to carry themselves or interact with others.
Kids have less physical activities than before. Instead of being out of the house playing physical sports, they are stuck in front of iPads or big screen TV's playing video games. The only muscle they develop are their fingers.
FB is also used as a sounding board for negative people that live to rant and complain. It is also used to make some people's lives look more glamourous and exciting than it is. A huge percentage of photos are selfies. Some users are even obsessed over how many likes their selfies draw.
Facebook is neither good or bad. It's simply a medium for expression and sharing. Like any tool, it is how we use it that makes it either good or bad.
You want to share a memorable moment? Go ahead and share the moment with your friends and love ones. I do this all the time. Just be conscious if your use of FB has become an addiction or obsession.
How can you tell if you are addicted? If Facebook is the first thing you regularly check when you wake up in the morning then there is a problem. If you get upset when your selfie does not get huge ‘likes’ then definitely something is wrong. If you constantly rant on Facebook about everything that irks you then you might need to abstain from logging in for a while.
Facebook is very useful if used properly. Use it properly.
