1. My topic involves the benefits of online social networking. For some time now, the vast majority of arguments portrayed in the media are the negative aspects of facebook and other sites. The opposition suggests several arguments such as the youth will get addicted, too much private information is available, and users will forget how to interact in person. Although these are sound arguments, there are much more benefits than detriments. This issue is very relevant to contemporary society considering the countless hours most of us spend on facebook and other social networking sites. Facebook is in fact revolutionizing how people communicate with others.
Although facebook has a negative connotation by most people, it has in fact facilitated group collaboration, promoting free speech, and reuniting with relatives.
From personal experience, the vast majority of participants in a group project for a class end up creating a facebook group to easily share ideas. Using facebook, one could post links to online articles that contain content that is extremely beneficial for the project. A member of the group can also post other messages to his or her colleagues such as when they should meet next. Even scientists have expressed that facebook is a convenient tool in sharing ideas and discoveries.
Facebook is actually a privilege in the United States. A great deal of other countries have outlawed the use of facebook and other online social networking sites. It is banned in Pakistan and Syria and was only recently allowed in China. We post statuses about what we are doing or our beliefs everyday. This is the perfect expression of our first amendment right of free speech. Unfortunately, some other countries are not so lucky.
Facebook is also a great way to keep in touch with distant relatives. For instance, if someone in Florida wants to keep in contact with a cousin in California, they can do so easily with facebook. Rather than spend a large sum of money on many long distance phone calls or letters, one can just send a facebook message daily for free. Sending a message through facebook also reaches the recipient in California much more quickly. There was also a recent story discussing how a daughter found her biological parents through facebook after being separated from them for twenty years.
Some of the arguments against facebook are that youth will get addicted, too much private information is easily accessible, and people will forget how to interact in person. If someone’s child gets addicted to facebook, the parent is to blame for not intervening when the addiction is in its early stages. There are many privacy settings on facebook that allow a user to block all photos from others who are not friends and they can choose to put their phone number, address, or e-mail address on their profile or not. Finally, it is a facebook user’s responsibility to interact with others in the real world outside of facebook. If people choose not too it is their issue. Even so, facebook can facilitate keeping in touch with people someone has already meant in the real world.
I hope to research several statistics on the facebook bans, such as what countries it is banned in. I also would like to see if there are any studies that correlate to the belief that facebook causes users to become antisocial or how many people have used facebook for a group project in school at least once.
There is an interesting article in the British Medical Journal that discusses the use of facebook in the scientific community titled “Facebook for Scientists?” (1). Another study showed the importance of facebook to teens and how it is allowing them to “grapple with social norms [and] explore interests.” (2) David Kirkpatrick’s book, The Facebook effect : the inside story of the company that is connecting the world, the author discusses how the networking website has become instrumental in political protests among other things. (3)
Initially, I thought this topic would not have enough literature to research for. However, after hitting just the tip of the iceberg, I have found that many scholars have been writing and discussing the uses of facebook and what it means for our society. I am definitely looking forward to exploring more of the topic.
3. Kirkpatrick, David. The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Print.
Hey Austin,
ReplyDeleteI know I posted a comment, but I must not have hit "publish."
I think you have properly focused your topic and have done the preliminary research that will allow you to make informed claims.
You may want to begin with "counterarguments" to your own argument. As an academic at UF, my experience is that facebook is a positive force that allows all of things you are talking about. It will be good to show that people do, indeed, perceive a problem, before you begin explaining how it has fostered social interaction among scientists and students alike.