The most popular social networking website with more than 8 million and growing active users, Facebook now shares a vital part in our lives. While Scrolling down for news feed, searching for our missing high school and university friends, liking, sharing pictures, following our idols, icons and favorite celebrities, commenting on life happening status or even checking out the latest stock of popular brands, Facebook has become an addiction to people around the world.
Recently, on 11th anniversary of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg greeted his 8 million active users in a unique way. He quoted;
“Today is a day to celebrate friends. It’s also Face book’s birthday but today isn’t about celebrating us. It’s about friendship.”
Truly, in Harvard’s dormitory rooms, friendship was main idea which inspired these 5 young students to generate a social media website.
Now, at this point, it is hard to consider how people were living 11 years back when Facebook didn’t exist.
The impact of Facebook on our lives is both positive and negative. Since there is much already discussed about advantages of Facebook, here are 10 significant impacts that influenced our lives in a different way:-
1. A Sneak peak: Exposure of life activities has become wide. Facebook has become a personal diary for people. Surely this is definitely not-so-personal.
2. Source of Rumor Confirmation: It has become a consistent source of information and news. To verify any rumor whirling around whether it is nationwide, global or personal, people rush to check it from Facebook.
3. Showing Unreal Reality: It has become a device for showing off how exciting and adventurous your life is which is actually not happening in reality.
4. Connecting People: It is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family who live far away or who have busy schedules to hang out with each other.
5. Synthesize Relationships: People are using Facebook as a vent to take out their most bothered feelings. Obviously, these thoughts are not supposed to be said in front of others in person. Overstatement of feelings can cause obsession, resulting in conflicts, complexes, ruined relationships or even break-ups.
6. Personality Exposure: With clicks on likes, comments and shares people reveal their personalities to everyone. It can get worse if someone tries to manipulate people according to their own motives.
7. Psychological Imbalances: A new kind of disorder is reported as a result of spending too much time on Facebook. Psychiatrist define it as Facebook Addiction Disorder i.e. FAD. Symptoms include behaving like a paranoid, exaggerated timeline posts, confusing distinction between real life and Facebook and depression attacks during down period.
8. Lack of Productivity: Prolonged usage of Facebook tends to have lesser amount of productive time within a day. It can lead to distraction from achieving life goals, loss of focus and too much wastage of time.
9. Stalking is Acceptable: Privacy of people has no respect and stalking has just become a friendly activity on Facebook.
10. Easy access of life long history for Criminals: Some seriously offensive criminal activities are gaining easy access on Facebook. They are finding their targets as every timeline is a life history of a person.
