In the article, Porter criticizes Facebook claiming that this internet application that has been in existence for over ten years does not excite her one bit. Many people might not agree to these sentiments, especially those who joined this social networking company recently. However, the sad truth is that Facebook is nothing more than just a shallow world where a majority of people chat with each other day long without any substantial returns to make out of these talks . However, it is not the returns that worry the writer. Instead, it is the state of disillusionment in which it leaves its users that disgusts the author.
Facebook allows individuals to have as much as 5,000 “friends” and many other followers. Out of this large group, individuals only know a few of them at a personal level. Most of the people Facebook users claim to be their friends are not even friends and just acquaintances and in some instances, they do not know these people altogether. The author condemns Facebook claiming that it has done away with actual friends that people used to have . Most of the connections on this social media site are not real and the author feels that this has made her miss the strange habits and wonderful gossip she used to have with her friends.
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Some people might disagree with the opinions of this author on Facebook. If it was that bad, why is it that everyone she knows is subscribed to this social media site? The creators of this site knew how to prey on people’s weaknesses. Through Facebook, people can create their own profiles where they can meet their “friends” with whom they can share the thoughts that they have . It creates some sense of fulfillment albeit an unreal one because many of these people are not often happy.
The attack on Facebook should not be confused with as an attack of the internet because they serve very different purposes. The author’s argument is simply that as much as Facebook is important in allowing interactions, it somehow lies to people about making friends. In the real world, people do not send requests to other people to become friends. People have to know each other at certain levels and this means that a lot of patience is needed for this to be possible . When one undergoes this complicated problem and finally makes a friend, the process feels very rewarding and truthful.
Many people will not agree but every internet invention has a darker side. Cybercriminals are on the rise and sites like Facebook offers them the perfect chance to do so. Since Facebook allows people as young as thirteen years to have accounts, ‘faceless perverts’, as Street Porter calls them have taken advantage of such people due to their gullibility and trick them into releasing sensitive information. She raises the issue of young, naïve and vulnerable girls who have been known to post pictures of themselves on this site when in various state of undress. The author adds that the girls might think that such ‘cool’ pictures will make them more popular but in reality, compromising their privacy and safety. In recent times, cases have emerged of young girls and women being groomed for this social networking site who are preying on their naivety. It is not children alone. Many people provide real information about them on this site that these cybercriminals can use for fraudulent activities . The level of anonymity that users enjoy in this site has made it easier for the fraudsters to carry on their businesses.
Facebook was created to help people make friends but instead it is has created an environment where people who do not fit into a particular group feel bullied and it has created some form of peer pressure. Some people have been ridiculed on Facebook to the extent that they end up taking their own lives . Besides, in the past, bullying was mainly confined within the learning environment . Today, Facebook has extended this abuse to home and the victims do not feel safe anywhere. Evidence have emerged that these bullies use Facebook to send videos that contain abusive and threatening messages to their targets. It is for this reason that many schools in Britain have banned Facebook.
The more one reads the article, the more the points addressed by Porter become clearer. People live in the information era but is right to assume that this amounts to over communication. People are posting all the things that they do, including the non-important ones on this site not knowing that it could hugely compromise their security. Information should be educative not posting about having an evening coffee. Some people find such information boring and irrelevant because it does not help them in any certain way . In a way, it shows how lonely people are that they want some sense of justification from the “likes” they would obtain to feel better about themselves.
Finally, Porter states that individuals who use social media most of the times are losing their social skills very fast and are having trouble communicating in an effective way, especially in social situations. Majority of Facebook users often spend their time on this site. It is right to agree with Porter’s sentiments that people learn their manners at a young age. Since most people spend their times indoors, they are increasingly having a hard time to learn these basic skills that would be important in the course of their learning as well as later in their lives when they have jobs . Since very little is being done to address these problems, it is right to suggest that they will remain unsolved and a big part of the life of future generations.
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