We hear it said all the time: Facebook is a waste of time. Such criticisms, however, almost never evaluate what actually happens on Facebook. Consider the following results from a study of college-age young adults:
This study should make it
clear that Facebook is a useful tool that can be used effectively for positive
purposes. The main reasons that Facebook is used according to the study above
is to communicate with friends, in fact close to 85% of these college students
used it for such. Only 25% responded that they used Facebook for entertainment,
the category where procrastination and other time-wasting activities lie (Calvert, Pempek, and Yevdokiya).
This suggests that the most common use of Facebook is communicating with
friends, certainly a worthy endeavor, and Facebook is thus a useful way to
accomplish this.
Of course, if this all was an inefficient
use of time, we would expect students to use Facebook less when they are
busier, and hence have a greater desire to be efficient. Instead, that same
study shows that, in fact, “Facebook use was
integrated into students' daily lives, regardless of how busy they were” (Calvert, Pempek, and Yevdokiya).
This suggests that Facebook is indeed a priority for many students, and thus
that Facebook as a mode of communication is preferred for many students.
Of course, all forms of social media can be effective means of communication. From employers wanting to learn about employees, to bloggers broadcasting
themselves to the world, to celebrities “tweeting” their personal brands, ever-increasing
amounts of people are turning to convenient social media sites to give and
receive information between interested parties. In fact, such sites are
becoming a necessity for any college-age young adults trying to keep in touch
with the world around them. In our modern fast-paced world, it’s no wonder we
need new ways to keep in touch. For this reason, social media provides a much-needed flow of information for college students that it would be self-defeating to ignore.
Works Cited:
Calvert, Sandra L., Tiffany A. Pempek, and Yevdokiya A Yermolayeva.
“College Students’ Social
Networking Experiences on Facebook.” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
30.3 (2009): 227-238. Web.
30.3 (2009): 227-238. Web.
I would argue that the vast majority of what goes on on Facebook is pretty darn unimportant. Sure people connect with their friends, but is that actually that important? How did people stay connected before social media? They didn't! And that was OK. People move on, and enter new social circles. If their relationship was that important, it will survive through other mediums of communication. Facebook has simply erased the natural tendency to cut relationships that are no longer relevant to our lives. I don't really want to hear about the relationships status of that guy I didn't really know in high school. The other big beef I have with Facebook is that it's addicting! I'm addicted! I finding myself compulsively checking it to see if I got another prized notification. For me personally, Facebook does have SOME value as a way to keep in touch with friends and family, but only just enough to keep myself from deleting my account, otherwise I consider it to be an addicting and mind-numbing waste of time. That it CAN be used for positive purposes I have no doubt, that it IS used mostly for positive purposes, I am doubtful.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I understand your negative feelings towards Facebook, and indeed somewhat agree that Facebook can be a waste of time. However, I would argue that keeping in touch with old friends and so on is a completely advantageous situation. Who has ever been disadvantaged because they stayed in contact with that old friend, thin as that contact may be? Overall, it can be enormously helpful to be able to keep contacts who might have relevant expertise or other help in some area. Thus, it is an effective tool, and Facebook addiction seems to be a conquerable issue.
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