[sollythewise]

(Original post by Superlogon)
Im addicted. i cant go 20 minutes without checking my notifications. I wish i could just upsticks and leave t but all my pictures are on there and so will future ones. Invites to things are done soley on facebook.

Almost feel trapped by social stigma.

get out of it. your real friends will find another way to contact you, everyone else isn't worth worrying about.

[zKlown]

(Original post by GoingInsane)
I agree. However, the annoying thing is how people use it not the site itself which is useful to connect with people. The drawbacks are numerous though.

For one, it panders to an idol system people are too weak to resist. The ego you can be, the image you can present- the possiblities are endless.

Its like your life as an OK! Magazine headline. Your 15 mintues of celebrity, your name in print, the banal minutiae of you life annouched in 24hour newsculture. It allows you too manafactur identity.

Its a haven for the narcissits and preys on the insecure. Your every move can be externally validated and your ego stroked by a 'like' even for the most trivial thing such as what you had for breakfast. An opputunity for the ordianry person to feel like a celebrity, where your every move is documented and commented on.

You've nailed it tbh

It's also destroyed "normal" ways of communication.

I know people on FB who like my statuses and all that ****, yet would blank me in RL...

[I<3LAMP]

I use it out of boredom tbh.

It does its job sometimes I guess.

[Ciccina]

I deleted my account a couple of times, only to come back later on...

Sad but true, it is now a primary way of communication. Many of my friends dont use texts or msn or whatsapp, seems the only way to stay in touch.
But it does worry me. Ive heard some people say if you havent got facebook then youre a sociopathic and have no life. Insane.

[StartSomething]

I guess I agree in a way. I only have facebook to keep in contact with people. And when events and stuff are organised, quite often the only way you'll find out is facebook. Also my course has a group on facebook so it's good to have it for that.

[Boo_x]

It's a lazy to keep in contact with people and find out about their lives. I have friends from different parts of the world and it is so much easier to keep in contact that way than by phone/email/just skype.

At the moment I use it through boredom but I can take it or leave it when I have things to do I'll just check it occasionally.

[ihearthomos]

I think it is crazy how much we rely on facebook.
10 years ago we had to ask people what they did last night, now we can just check facebook. I find that people communicate less with each other as they can just check online.

I recently read an article about employers in America asking interviewees to log in to their account and go through it with them, so they can get a better view of the candidate.

Before facebook it was unacceptable for people to request to know that much information about a person, but now it is accepted and for the most part people give away that information to the internet everyday.

[GoingInsane]

(Original post by zKlown)
You've nailed it tbh

It's also destroyed "normal" ways of communication.

I know people on FB who like my statuses and all that ****, yet would blank me in RL...

There is research that shows the observation that you made to be true, people are paradoxically disconnected whislt connected.

I'm currently doing research on the role of social media and its influence. Theres one quote from a academic I found which summarises the negatives affects of using FB in the wrong way.

" Facebook tends to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from real world issues, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink people's capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it"

[Bethan0x]

(Original post by zKlown)
I've never seen any cyber bullying on Facebook

Maybe it occurs at younger ages I dunno, I've only ever had it since I was 18

It happens and not just at a younger age - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ocial_Network/ (not that I'm saying you HAVE to watch it, but it was an eye opener for me).

[AntiMonarchist]

(Original post by GoingInsane)
I agree. However, the annoying thing is how people use it not the site itself which is useful to connect with people. The drawbacks are numerous though.

For one, it panders to an idol system people are too weak to resist. The ego you can be, the image you can present- the possiblities are endless.

Its like your life as an OK! Magazine headline. Your 15 mintues of celebrity, your name in print, the banal minutiae of you life annouched in 24hour newsculture. It allows you too manafactur identity.

Its a haven for the narcissits and preys on the insecure. Your every move can be externally validated and your ego stroked by a 'like' even for the most trivial thing such as what you had for breakfast. An opputunity for the ordianry person to feel like a celebrity, where your every move is documented and commented on.

I think that is possibly the best analysis of the facebook phenomenon I have read.
+ rep

[Superstar6318]

Facebook destroys our lives

[slappyhours]

it's a great way to stay in touch with friends who have gone to different universities, and to see what they are getting up to - after all, friends do take interest in other friend's lives. what gripes me about facebook is when, as mentioned, people post endless photos of their lives, including food they've made or have ordered in a resturant. some people spend way too much time on there. i've deleted most people i find have an extreme obsession with it, so luckily i don't have to see it anymore on my newsfeed.

[Rascacielos]

I don't think it's a good idea to spend a lot of time on facebook and I do agree with you, OP, that the people who update their statuses 3 or 4 times a day, tag themselves "in bed" or "in the shower" (how do people tag themselves when in the shower anyway?!) and upload a new profile photo every day are overdoing it a bit. But I'm not against Facebook in principle. I think it is a good way of keeping in touch with friends and family, particularly those who live a while away from you and who you don't get to see very often (e.g. friends at university or family living abroad). It's a good way of arranging events etc as well because it's so much quicker than having to phone everyone up or even send out a written invitation. And whilst I like to be nostalgic and write letters sometimes, I appreciate not everyone (in fact, very few people) can be bothered so in some respects, it doesn't reflect well on you if you're not going to 'keep up with the times', as they call it.

It's a bit like my grandparents who refuse to buy a computer or to learn how to use a mobile phone properly (they don't even save contacts; they just get the number out of the phonebook every time they want to use it, like with a landline). What I'm trying to say is - yes, Facebook isn't always a good thing but it's something that's part of life nowadays and I think you're just cutting off your nose to spite your face if you refuse to use it on the principle that "everybody uses it so I'm not going to."

[zKlown]

(Original post by Bethan0x)
It happens and not just at a younger age - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ocial_Network/ (not that I'm saying you HAVE to watch it, but it was an eye opener for me).

I wasn't commenting saying you're wrong, just saying I've never experienced it

But yeah, I've actually seen that lol. I class alot of that as beyond cyber bullying. It's worse tbh.

[miss_sexy]

(Original post by ACEdwards)
I'm a guy, 20 years old...and I do have a facebook account. However I have previously deleted it in the past, only to realise it's like not owning a mobile phone. Plus I have a lot of old friends and friends from sport I compete in and random people tag me in pictures of me in my sport which is cool. However I do not like using facebook. I don't even fill out any information about myself let alone upload pictures other than a profile picture.

It really annoys me when people upload pictures of themselves everyday, or pictures of the food they've just cooked etc. It seems that people live in a 'facebook' kind of way nowadays...where it almost matters more about how they appear on facebook than how they appear to us in real life. My friends are always updating statuses when they go out places, and take photos of what they're doing. I just keep away from all that and I am also really contemplating deleting my facebook again...if it wasnt for all the old friends from my sport and the pictures then I would delete it right away. I guess i'm just the one who is rebelling against the 'modern way of living'...I almost think I should have been born in another era!

What are your views on this?

theres lots of people like you, dont make urself feel special

[JollyGreenAtheist]

Hipster alert.

[Tahooper]

I have a facebook account but the only non-compulsory details (i.e. name, d.o.b) I have included is my religious views (none) and my political views (centre-right libertarian).

I can't believe the amount of people that show private details like what school they go to and their phone number, it's like a paedophile's heaven.

[QuantumOverlord]

(Original post by ACEdwards)
I'm a guy, 20 years old...and I do have a facebook account. However I have previously deleted it in the past, only to realise it's like not owning a mobile phone. Plus I have a lot of old friends and friends from sport I compete in and random people tag me in pictures of me in my sport which is cool. However I do not like using facebook. I don't even fill out any information about myself let alone upload pictures other than a profile picture.

It really annoys me when people upload pictures of themselves everyday, or pictures of the food they've just cooked etc. It seems that people live in a 'facebook' kind of way nowadays...where it almost matters more about how they appear on facebook than how they appear to us in real life. My friends are always updating statuses when they go out places, and take photos of what they're doing. I just keep away from all that and I am also really contemplating deleting my facebook again...if it wasnt for all the old friends from my sport and the pictures then I would delete it right away. I guess i'm just the one who is rebelling against the 'modern way of living'...I almost think I should have been born in another era!

What are your views on this?

Now I often consider saying this out loud, but I never have the courage and just drop subtle hints. I would really like to say: I don't give a **** that you are eating breakfast at that time, and WTF is the x at the end for.

[ACEdwards]

Wow a lot of replies on this topic, thanks for showing interest. I want to delete my account but I know there are a lot of great people i've met through racing who I have as friends on there, who don't race anymore and live miles away. They are the same as me; they never post anything on there or use it much...but if I deleted my account I would not have the choice of contacting such people again which is my loss. I think it's all about limiting yourself to facebook. If you stop using facebook as much and only log in to 'maintain' your profile once a week and then log straight back out again, you won't see all the crap people put on there. This is my new perspective of how I now want to use facebook.

[g_star_raw_1989]

(Original post by GoingInsane)
I agree. However, the annoying thing is how people use it not the site itself which is useful to connect with people. The drawbacks are numerous though.

For one, it panders to an idol system people are too weak to resist. The ego you can be, the image you can present- the possiblities are endless.

Its like your life as an OK! Magazine headline. Your 15 mintues of celebrity, your name in print, the banal minutiae of you life annouched in 24hour newsculture. It allows you too manafactur identity.

Its a haven for the narcissits and preys on the insecure. Your every move can be externally validated and your ego stroked by a 'like' even for the most trivial thing such as what you had for breakfast. An opputunity for the ordianry person to feel like a celebrity, where your every move is documented and commented on.

Reading this makes me glad I didn't get sucked in