Facebook - Social networks

[Dr.Jack]

Ahoy me mateys!

Before reading on please be sure to read the rules of debating and also understand how NOT to debate.

So, this debate regards social networks, Facebook especially since it is the most popular one. The 21th century is a technological one, and with the many advances humanity had during its 10 first years, socials networks were created. There is no doubt that they have huge affect all over the world - there are over 500 million users in Facebook!! The question is, are social networks good, or bad?

Several things to think about are:
Friendships - Facebook can help us keep it touch with friends and make new friendships. However, facebook encourages talking to people through a computer rather than telephone/meeting. Is it possible it is actually harming friendships?

Privacy - Facebook gives us the wonderful ability to share with our friends... Everything. Photos, videos, thoughts, links, etc. But, this can be dangerous. A stranger can easily access our profile and gather a lot of information on us + (ab)use photos we upload. And even if we set our privacy settings properly (not many of us do), still if someone sends a friend request many times we approve (+1 to num of friends, don't want to be rude, and if it's a she, and she has nice pictures... )

Time - Facebook makes us waste tons of time. Seriously, I can log in for hours. Some might say being on Facebook is better than playing video games/watching TV etc. because you interact. But is it so? Is it really good for you to spend hours looking at photos and sending chat messages?

So, debate a way. Please relate to the topics above, or, and even better, think about new issues regarding Facebook/Social networks!!

 

[Bloodcount]

Hm, there are a lot of good sides to this- For facebook esp, you can keep your friends updated with everything in a heartbeat. If you are going somewhere and there is a change of the time for example, instead calling each one of them, you can just write it as your status.

You can store pictures, comment, remember good times and laugh over the misfortunes in the past.

Facebook has a chat option, which although is pretty weak, is still suitable for a small and un serious chat.

There are a lot of aplications where you can take quizzes, play games or just stalk people.

But is this what we really want ? Anyone who is active in facebook has spent hours in it. True, like I stated above, there are a lot of good things, but facebook is the ultimate real life killer. Why ? A lot of people would rather spend their time in facebook than go out. OK, alright, some of you guys will say that there is "interaction". Riiight, if interaction was on the level, then business meetings would be made over skype/msn/facebook and people won't see eachother face to face. Truth is that most of the emotion and value is lost when you are not telling it, when you are not telling in face to face. It is just how people are made.

So, in my oppinion even though Facebook has a lot of upsides, the downside, may it be just one is big enough to make up for all the plus sides. I really encourage checking your profile once a day, and not a coupple of times per hour.

Facebook is the best example for a negative benifit.

 

[Nigerianrulz]

facebook to me is just like msn but with extended features

i go on fb to check the photos or stuff that people say after we go out, most of my friends on fb dont just sit there the whole day waiting for some status update or someone posting something, sure there is a few but then again when you have free time why not? if your those person who sits at fb instead of going out then theres something wrong, it will just be the equalivalent to sitting at home playing games instead of going out.

on a side note who plays cityville on fb here

 

[thewrongvine]

I don't think facebook is bad or good at all, it's just there, and is fine the way it is. People can use it or not.
I mean, in my opinion, it's kinda redudant and useless, but we still use it, like a lot of pointless things we have.

The friendship part is good, it lets you connect. Privacy issues are obviously bad, but I wouldn't hold it against Facebook as a fair argument, since there are a lot of privacy issues everywhere, so it's not exclusive to Facebook. But the time part is bad for people I think, ones that are addicted. People on Facebook can get annoying though.

Overall, I'll lean towards the good side slightly for social networks if forced between good/bad, but I'm not really for or against it.

 

[Danny Cross]

I believe most social networks are easier than e-mailing people everything you wanna say, especially if you do not live near each other. Plus I've noticed most people now have smart phones and check it quite a few times a day.
Most people I know find it easier to look at photos and other things people upload on facebook then on an e-mail because its all right there.

So I'm extremely for them cause I use them to keep in touch with my friends and family quite a bit.

 

[DM Cross]

Let's face facts; At some point or another, most if not all of our human interaction is going to wind up in only a few places. Bars, clubs, parties, school, work and the computer. Technology just makes things TOO easy for us, including keeping in touch.

Take me for instance. I used to hang out with a number of friends on a weekly bases. I would see the same 6-12 people at least 3 times a week in a regular get-together, hang out, etc. etc. Nowadays, I barely see anyone outside of my former work place and my fiancee, Danny Cross...

But does that mean I'm "out of touch" with any of these people? Heavens no! Yesterday, I had a 20 minute conversation with a former co-worker about my soon-to-be military career and troubles dealing with our former employer. Despite the fact that I haven't seen this woman for many months, I know what she's been up to on an almost daily basis, how her son is doing and that her husband is very busy with work. She knows most, if not all of what transpires throughout my day because I tend to put quite a bit of it on my Facebook. She knows I just got laid off, that I'm joining the Air Force and that I just got my ship date for BMT. But we never talk on the phone nor have we seen each other face to face.

My own brother and I rarely see each other but we keep up with one another. He knows that I'm laid off but about my ship date and we talked for a good 2 hours earlier this morning over games and anime and all sorts of other things via AIM.

My former co-worker lives almost an hour away and my brother lives 30 minutes away. Yet, I can contact them as readily as if they lived next door or we still worked together in the same building. Through technology.

People are holding meetings across the entire country without leaving their own home offices via websites designed to bring these people together. Why take the plane trip when it's as simple as logging onto a website?

Technology is changing the way we communicate and the very definition of what a "relationship" is. People have entire relationships through Facebook these days [strange as that may seem] without ever meeting their other partner. We're finding "soulmates" and the like through dating sites.

Eventually, I wouldn't be surprised if our children or grandchildren or great grandchildren didn't even have to bother going to school. They'll get lessons from their laptops, chat with their friends during the breaks and email homework. Some colleges more or less already do this.

Sure, as humans we'll always crave the real thing and like I said, we'll still have bars, clubs, parties, etc. etc. But I wouldn't be surprised to see human interaction take a turn downhill, being replaced by technological means to communicate.

Facebook is only the begin.

 

[Samael88]

I for one have found facebook to be a blast.
It helps me keep in touch with my old classmates and friends that I rarely see.
I can access my browser-based games from one place.
It makes it much easier to find parties.

I hate to have long conversations on the chat though since it is in such a small window.

It is also a bad thing because it makes it to easy to meet new people, it is a much richer experience to actually go out and meet people than meeting them online.

Eventually, I wouldn't be surprised if our children or grandchildren or great grandchildren didn't even have to bother going to school. They'll get lessons from their laptops, chat with their friends during the breaks and email homework. Some colleges more or less already do this.

I have read some courses this way and I have two things to say about it.
It is a really convenient way to get educated even though it can't compare to the experiences gained through actually going to a school and sitting in a classroom.
The second thing is that it takes really much discipline to handle advanced classes this way, I managed to pass Math B but when I went over to Math C I failed so bad that I might as well never have read the course to begin with^^

To conclude my post: I am pro online interaction, not romantic relationships though, it can however never compare to IRL interaction.

on a side note who plays cityville on fb here

I do

 

[DM Cross]

You're forgetting that people grow up knowing another way. In the future, if schools become online only, kids grow up with it.

It's possible that kids who are shown to have a hard time with online courses [as some do now] that those kids will receive extra tutoring by people willing to go to the child's home or take them into their own for face-to-face teaching, but I get the feeling eventually it will go downhill.

Think of it; Less schools will lower costs, free up some room in towns and cities for possibly more housing but potentially put a lot of teachers out of work...

Pros and cons.

 

[Bloodcount]

theoretically speaking, if there are no schools, won't people be anti-social ? School forces you to interact with tons of people and if a child is brought up with being antisocial than it might be crippled for life since it won't see a problem in that.

 

[Slapshot136]

theoretically speaking, if there are no schools, won't people be anti-social ? School forces you to interact with tons of people and if a child is brought up with being antisocial than it might be crippled for life since it won't see a problem in that.

this would also apply to home-schooled kids, but they normally go out and do other stuff (sports/etc.) or play around with the neighborhood kids and socialize just fine

more on-topic: I don't really use FB much unless someone messages me on it (in which case it gets sent to my e-mail) or I need to contact someone, as far as privacy goes - if you don't want it spreading, keep it off the internet - simple as that

also, I wish there was an option to give apps "dummy" information, i.e. don't let them view your contacts, but still be able to use it - this makes me avoid 99% of the apps on FB, but I don't really mind