Facebook Addiction

Hi friends, sorry for the long hiatus…was busy with this and that…there are many issues on my mind going on simultaneously at the moment but the uppermost is the nuisance of social networking sites such as ‘Facebook’- especially for the young minds, the teenagers and the adolescents. Why should every new piece of technology /software become a fashion, a fad and soon enough without knowing it, an addiction?

We have not yet got over the TV, mobile, Orkut addiction and here comes another one to keep people busy with nothing. It’s a good time pass for those with ample time on their hands and lonely souls to connect to the world. It could provide a good source of entertainment for home-bound couch potatoes. It could be put to good use by entrepreneurs and organisations wanting to reach out to a larger audience for their products and services. But for students who have to face the board examinations and for youngsters wanting to make a good career for themselves it’s a nuisance. Their focus should be on books, knowledge, studies, projects, research, sports, games, body building, and character building and such other issues. And certainly NOT on social networking and relationship- building. Such sites can only distract you from your main goal in life and make you a loser. Painful complaints are pouring in from parents about it. We find that they spend more time than needed on such sites and circulate each others’ information faster than air. Everyone knows everything as secrets get busted and people enjoy at the expense of others. It serves the purpose similar to a gossip magazine as each one achieves ‘celebrity status’ though the generated gossip. Attention seekers love it, introverts hate it, extroverts perhaps thrive on it! They never had so much attention before anytime anywhere.

Social scientists are stating the value of such sites that they believe that they are becoming a force to reckon with as opinions get generated as fast as you can think and people get influenced by them. It spreads awareness faster than any other medium and can become a virtual mass movement. The exposure of the recent scandals and their condemnation is one such example. That is the stated positive side of such sites that nothing can remain hidden from the public and the facts come get reported in real time. But what’s the use of all this for the struggling individual who is trying to search for himself and build an identity for himself in this vast complex world?

We all love technology but let’s never forget the fact that technology is always double edged– you can put it to good and proper use for your betterment or you can kill your- self with it.

That discretion lies with YOU and nobody can help you there in making the right choices.

Best of luck then!