Conclusion
Before starting this experiment last week I didn’t think much would change if I used Facebook every day or not but after really studying the effects of Facebook for the last week in more detail I have noticed several factors of why Facebook is possibly a necessity for modern living but also a curse in another sense.
Reactivation
Benefits
I reactivated my Facebook account and within 2 minutes I received a greeting from my family..they were definitely glad I was back on Facebook, their preferred way to communicate with me and to see what I am doing.
The odd thing is that I have spoke to the majority of my family this week on the phone (which I probably enjoyed more) and that didn’t happen as often before the experiment..
Gaming
I think the only beneficial feature of Facebook I missed was the gaming and even that isn’t all that, I can use my Xbox360 or smart phone for gaming anyway…
Did I miss using Facebook?
No, not at all…standing back form the social media platform for a week I realize the majority of it is quite boring and now I have had a week away from it I would gladly give up Facebook altogether (although my family back in my home town may make this slightly difficult). I feel as though Facebook is simply a gossip, bragging & voyeuristic program that has little benefit to the self other than an ego trip and another way to be in touch.
I believe a reason people don’t want to give up Facebook is because they are a fearful of missing out on something that a lot of others in the world are using. The other reason why people may feel that Facebook is necessary for their life is everyone wants their views or message heard (and by god, can this be annoying sometimes) and to feel respected. Everyone wants to feel they have a strong purpose in society or at least among their friends…Once you use it to communicate with your friends it becomes difficult to imagine your life without it…imagine life without a telephone, it is the same simple principle.
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Keeping communication
The reason I reactivated my Facebook is simple…for my family. It makes my female relations happy to be able to see what I am doing with my life no matter where I am in the world and if I don’t have Facebook I guess it makes them feel they are not connected to me as closely..so this is the reason I may keep it but I won’t be using it as much as I used to.
Setting up Facebook properly
I realize i got distracted by Facebook mainly because of notifications and when you are trying to focus on other things that isn’t good. The news feed that contained my friends views..pages I follow..and such like do not add much value to my life either, I would rather speak to my friends and family in person than see a one sentence notification to “like” and show my social approval.
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Time management
Being aware of how you spend your time on social media, I believe, can be hard to keep track of and you can easily spend wasted time on Facebook when it could be spent doing things that are more beneficial to you.
Life isn’t all about spreading what you do to the world or simply being fed what others are doing or saying either,it should be an enjoyable and fulfilling experience without having to think about what everyone else is saying, thinking or doing…I will be discussing ways you can manage your time better on social media and improve your productivity during the week.
Staying in touch..properly
A notification on my Facebook wall updating all who know me what I am thinking or doing when all is said and done is not a great way to communicate with close ones really is it? Not only this but storing your photos on a platform such as Facebook makes them available to the world whether you decide to change your settings to private or not
Danger of Facebook Page
if you have a Facebook page to advertise your business it can be quite dangerous( especially as a designer) as it is quite easy to download and store pictures that don’t belong to you ( similar to Instagram rules as Alex Rabbets MD of MigSolv Data Centre Specialist discusses here ) so think very carefully if you want to create a Facebook page or not, particularly in the creative fields…
What happened to the telephone
Whether we are concerned what social media is doing to us as a society we can’t disregard that technology does advance.
200 years ago we would have communicated via the written hand and it would have taken weeks to arrive to. 100 years later and the telephone advanced communication and now the invention and mass use of the internet has sped up communication between communities yet again.
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Has Facebook benefited society?
Facebook has given rise to quickly create mass riots in Egypt, Lybia & such like to stop dictatorship governments which seemed like a fantastic thing at first. Liberating people that felt totally out of control of their lives but now they are in a similair difficult position only they are struggling to gain some structure, ruling power & laws and it isn’t just middle eastern and north African Countries…not so long ago mass riots also took place in South London due to people’s terrible use of Facebook destroying lively hoods of hard working people.
Seeing things you don’t want to
Some people “like” pictures that are truly disturbing such as people being hung in the street, other violent crime & no matter whether you want to or not if your friend has engaged with it you are likely to see it in your own news feed.
The danger of Facebook is that EVERYONE regardless of background or intentions can get their message heard & not everyone has a compassionate, loving nature & more, there seems to be a lot of anger, revenge & hatred in people right now which is terrifying to think any one of those people with such pains can connect to those with the same views & increase the effect of their view of the world, spreading their feelings to a large portion of the world’s population. A very dangerous prospect…
Final Thought
I believe Facebook (& all social media) is changing communities, connecting like minds together ( positive with positive & negative with negative) & making everything, good and bad in the world more transparent, not having to rely on Mainstream media ( which is a good thing, journalists have had too much power in manipulating viewpoints).
Whether Facebook is going to be beneficial for society or the demise of law & order is yet to be seen, only time will tell..