“I’ll just Facebook stalk him.” This proves to be uncommon a statement as it seems. Instead of introducing themselves, the majority of teenagers conduct research on their peers through Facebook, fully aware that the victims of their creepiness will never know. While most people my age would die without it, I would enjoy the obliteration of the “social network”. If Facebook was washed away by a tsunami of face to face verbal communication, I believe a lot of the internet’s negativity would be taken with it.
One of the admitted downsides of Facebook are its ability to make time disappear. I have heard countless tales of homework being started on the computer and “ALLA KAZAM” it’s four hours later and no progress has been made. The benefit of increased productivity from the destruction of Facebook is two-fold. First, without the “great distracter” more work gets done and at a higher quality. Second, students might get to bed a little earlier so the complaining contest about who feels the most tired at the lunch table will take a back seat to gossip, sports or even homework.
Facebook has been responsible for things worse than just lost time. Cyber bullying is somewhat of a serious problem at my school. In the fifteen years previous to 2009 not a single person has requested a transfer out of Prospect High School. In the last two years three students have asked to be transferred because of online bullying. Another of Facebook’s seemingly magical powers is the capacity to make kids think that they can say whatever they want online no matter how hurtful or cruel. Phrases that teens wouldn’t even dare to utter face to face appear to be commonplace on Facebook. For some kids Facebook provides an opportunity to be shameless bullies.
As I mentioned earlier, Facebook stalking is prevalent in high school and even college communities. Every one of Facebook’s hundreds of millions of members posts information that probably shouldn’t be shared with the whole world. Facebook is one massive privacy threat. However if social network is dissolved who will the girl from my science class share her homecoming pictures with? How about she prints them out and shows them to her ten or eleven closest friends, not the other 287 that are on Facebook right now. She will have to forget about the eighteen exclamation points she put at the end of “awesome” or the smiley face she puts after every comment, and actually talk to her friends. Her strong fingers will be replaced by her vocal cords and in the same way she strengthened her typing, her oral communication will improve. Face to face communication requires so much more brain activity than Facebook chats. Nonverbal communications and the world surrounding the conversation, make face to face chats so much more exciting.
My position on Facebook would lead many to a somewhat reasonable conclusion; that I have virtually no social life. However, my Friday nights are not spent watching YouTube videos and playing Call of Duty. I have phenomenal friends that I talk to. I have nothing against Facebook users, nearly all of my friends are, but I think the world would be a better place without it.