According to “Are We Addicted to Facebook? It’s Complicated.”,
Wortham says that although people in our digital world have grown closer owing to Facebook,
it also has drawbacks since we have become more and more addicted to it. Looking
forward to “Like”, updating photos of posh lifestyle and checking notifications
every minute seem to be necessary tasks in our daily life. These activities
turn into compulsions which are derived from our anxiety and one suggested way
out to cope with this problem is to restore balance of usage by taking time
away from it and spending more time with friends and family.
Many activities involved in
Facebook are a reflection of my life in the past. I used to spend all day
surfing on Facebook, waiting for “Like”, checking in and keeping myself updated
on what’s going on. Even though I knew that it wasted my time, I couldn’t stand
living without it. The first thing that I always did after waking up is
checking notifications and if I found none of the notification, I sometimes
felt disappointed, especially when I’d just updated my new status the previous
night. I think that most of my Thai friends are likely to be like me. Some of
them asked me to press “Like” and “Share” their photos. From my viewpoint, these
obsessive actions come from the need of social acceptance and they also cause somebody
pressure. Before taking an IELTS exam, I tried so hard to spend less time on it
but, unfortunately, I couldn’t. Finally, I decided to stop using it and deactivated
it for one month in order to focus on practicing for the IELTS. At first, it
was very difficult but then I felt better after realising that I could save my precious
time to do other beneficial activities.
Furthermore, due to
communicating via Facebook, talking to others in person seems to be not
necessary anymore. Consequently, the possibility of losing touch with friends
and family is gradually growing. For instance, even if I had fallen out with my
sister and we were sitting in the same area, I would chat with her through Line
or WhatsApp instead of speaking. Thus, there might be a growing feeling of
alienation between both of us.
Nevertheless, Facebook also has
a large number of advantages. For example, my professor created a group on
Facebook last semester and he always gave assignments and shared many
beneficial articles on it. My classmates and I used that group as a space for
discussion and updating some interesting ideas about the topics that we studied.
Besides educational upsides, Facebook is one of the most accessible sources and
people tend to rely more on it in order to get news, especially about social
unrest and natural disaster. To illustrate, during big flood last year, some of
state media might not cover full details but we could follow up actual details
and facts on Facebook.
Considering all relevant ideas,
Facebook is like a double-edged sword. It is good and also bad for us. In order
to avoid being over-reliance on it, we should manage time effectively by trying
to spend less time on online activities and more on other activities such as
exercise and recreation.
________
Reference
Wortham, J. (2012, May 17). Are we addicted to Facebook? It's complicated. Bits: The New York Times. Retrieved January 16, 2013 from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/are-we-addicted-to-facebook-its-complicated/
Wortham, J. (2012, May 17). Are we addicted to Facebook? It's complicated. Bits: The New York Times. Retrieved January 16, 2013 from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/are-we-addicted-to-facebook-its-complicated/
I'd like to recommend you an impressive TV commercial, "Disconnect to Connect" . One key message is that individuals tend to be separated from their society thanks to technology.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Facebook and all technology have their advantages and drawback. For my Facebook problems, it takes me at least half an hour everyday. It sometimes distract me from working; for examble, while I writing a blog, my friends sent messages to me. I closed Facebook suddenly. Worse than Facebook, the combination of news articles, Youtube and social networks including twitter can lose my all day on weekend. If I read my friend's post on Facebook, and leaved comment, then searched for its background and its video on Youtube, finally shared it on my Facebook and Twitter. That was the worst internet addiction. I feel that my concentration was shorter and I can't stand updating my Facebook. To relieve such problem, I used to use the same way to you, deactivation, during my senior project. I think it helps me a lot in focusing only in my project.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I like your TV advertisement. As we can see today, most people look at a 3 inch display. It is better to leave such a small screen and see a big picture-the world surrounding you.
I have being troubled with Facebook because of my daughter, who is addicted in SNS. She knows that, but she cannot control her instinct as like adults.
ReplyDeleteThe teens are more venerable to the addiction than adults. And, most schools use a coumputer and the internet as a material and sources for education. Students easily contact that kinds of things from their early ages. The controlling and restriction are possible in their young ages, but when they are in thier puberty, in this period thier egoos are stronger, it's hard to advise( I write 'advise', but read 'control') them.
It's not avoidable to use the new technology, but there should be proper restrcitions and educations to use it properly at least for children.
I also use Facebook. In my case, the main purpose is holding on-line contact with my daughter even though she doesn't like it. KakaoTalk is another SNS which I use it. These SNS's notifications force me to open them whenever I notcie them. So, I put them in silence mode to check when I want to do.
The contributors so far have all made points that I like on this issue of modern life.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get Facebook for a long time, and since I did get it a couple of years ago, I've hardly used it. When I have, it's largely been as Soi described - I set up groups where members of a class (Reading and Speaking) could have less formally structured, more spontaneous and shorter discussions than we have, for example, on this blog.
But I prefer a blog such as this one for more lengthy writing and written discussion. I used to use to have a class blog for my students in regular classes as well, but have now switched to using Google Documents which offer advantages that seem to me more appropriate for that group of students.
Personally, I write on my Facebook page about once a month. Like Soi suggests, if it's someone I actually see regularly, speaking face to face seems preferable, and for those I don't see, I prefer to call or sometimes email - I email a couple of brothers and sisters in Australia, and call my mother.
I was also reminded of my nieces and nephews, some of whom love Facebook, or at least did for a few years, though that now seems to have cooled. One niece used to post everything, such as her trips to the corner shop, and every other tedious detail of her life. Fascinating I'm sure, but perhaps she realised that just as she wasn't interested in her friends trips to buy milk, neither were they interested in hers all that much.
My favourite is my nephew's wall, which used to be full of lurid declarations of love from his girlfriend. He did not seem thrilled when I joked about it.
Some of my friends always post everything about their lives and check in every corner that they pass through. Although their posts, for example, “I am happy”, “I feel bored” and “I am sleepless”, were not totally interesting, I read them since they appeared on the news feed and then wondered why they love posting every single detail in their daily lives.
DeleteLike your nephew, my friend used to post almost everything that he did with his girlfriend, including statuses about his love and sweet photos. He got many “Likes” from his friends. Nevertheless, he finally broke up with his girlfriend and deleted all of those photos. In my opinion, it’s no use erasing those from his wall since everyone has already known the progress of the relationship and his love story. It’s just too late. Facebook shows everything. One friend asked me how was my trip even though I had not told her before. I thought that she might see my check-in at the airport. The ugly truth that there is no secret on Facebook makes me scared of my privacy.
Soi's friend's behaviour makes me wonder: if he could so easily delete them all, why bother to collect it in the first place?
DeleteActually, this reflects on some wonderment at my own behaviour: I tend to collect things, like photos and, in the past, magazines. I think that they are useful or a record of something important (my life), but in reality I never look at at least 99% of it again. If I never look at it or use it in any way, how can I then think it's useful? I think that there is something interesting about human psychology here, though perhaps not something very flattering to human beings.
A concrete example is that on my computer I have a record of every piece of work, meaning every draft of every assignment, that a student has sent me since 2006 when I started requiring AEP students to use email and MS Word, completely ditching the ancient paper habit. But I don't think I've ever searched back more than two years. And this is probably has a much greater potential to be useful to me than the old shirts and things that clutter my wardrobes because I don't want to throw anything out in case I might one day want it.
And then there is the privacy issue that Soi raises. I used to worry about that, and still do, but rather less than in the past.
DeleteI think that as more people are videoing or photographing more things in real time and posting it online, the possibilities for good for society greatly outweigh the nonetheless very real dangers. For example, it people start recording acts of police corruption, perhaps bribery by traffic police, and then publishing it online, that seems good to me.
But even better might be the exposure of such things as Lek Loso using illegal drugs and Thailand's deputy prime minister obviously drunk in public on an official visit. The public discussion that can ensue might help to correct the popular irrational thinking and morally dubious opinions on these closely related issues.
I am the one who don't use the facebook. Last year, in Peter's class I also made a facebook account but I forgot the password. For me it's very bothering to check every day in online and the recommends of the new friends(100% I I don't konw them). I also use Kakao talk, for me it's more useful because I can contact with my friends easily in Korea;however, I usually check in my house. My friends are generouse for my late reply but they know I reply always. Whenever I miss my friends and family I call them. I like their voices.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same as Jennifer. Although I've had a Facebook account for a couple of years, I rarely use it. I never look at it every day, except when I've used it with a class, and I'm not sure I'll do that again. It was worth trying, but I'm not sure it was a great success (I think it's OK to try things that seem like good ideas - some are, but some are not.)
DeleteActually, I also had a personal Facebook account for my family and friends, but after never using it at all, I closed it.
Like Jennifer, I prefer to call and talk, or send an email. I'm very happy that so many love Facebook, but I don't mind being different. I do love technology, but not everything is for me.
But blogging is definitely a good thing for AEP students. And as you've probably noticed looking at the four websites the weekend homework was based on, blogs are also very popular with high-quality online media as more relaxed way to discuss a topic at some length, and invite comments from the readers.
But if you've had a look at The Stone blog on The New York Times, which is also on my list of suggested reading, you will also have seen that some blogs are very academic, especially when written by guest academics from leading universities around the world.
DeleteIf you are looking for some challenging reading on a wide range of philosophy topics, I recommend the regular essays published on The Stone blog on The NY Times. And if you register, you can also comment to take part in the discussions.
Also on The New York Times, though slightly more relaxed, is the Room for Debate opinion column, where the pieces are shorter and more varied in level of formality.
ReplyDelete