By Myra
Tarayana
Facebook: Is it good or bad?
Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more effectively with their friends and family. It facilitates the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people's real-world social connections. Today, there are more than 500 Million active users all over the world. And people spend over 700 billion minutes per month.
(Source: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics)
In Bhutan, with a population of 699,847, there are about 50,000 internet users as of June 2010. Among these users, 30, 060 are on Facebook based on a research conducted in August 2010.
(Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm)
Some partnerships are formed, new products advertised, and events announced through Facebook. It is a great tool for communication. It keeps people connected even when they’re worlds apart. Technologies have indeed made our work a lot easier and convenient. But does it really make us a productive and effective person?
Tshering, a Media officer, admits that he spends more than 4 hours a days on the internet, specifically on Facebook. Oftentimes, he is unable to finish his tasks because he could not stop chatting with friends.
A mother of three shared that her 4-year old son would rather play games on his Facebook account than with his siblings. Her child spends about 2 hours everyday after school.
One private company employee said that Facebook is quite addictive. She looks forward to comments and messages posted daily by her friends and relatives. She is happy that her former classmates and colleagues are now easily accessible.
There are so many stories about relationships being damaged, people losing their jobs and quality family bonding time lost. It is time to remind the people on the responsible use of Social Networking sites. Time to assess ourselves if it is building or damaging our lives.
