Online activities have rapidly become a part of the daily routines of individuals all across the globe. Facebook is one of those activities that tops the list of Internet activities. While there are many reasons why being a Facebook member is advantageous, there are also many reasons why Facebook may be considered bad for you. A few of the top contenders are safety, addiction and the fact it could cause harm to a career, or put a job in jeopardy.
The dynamics occurring on Facebook is an interesting phenomenon because it has changed the structure of online social networking. Previously on networking sites such as MySpace, people tended to use chat names and still communicated and connected with others. People typically remained within the anonymous factor the Internet had previously encouraged. Today it is a different scenario.
Facebook, which tops the list of social activities with hundreds of millions of members, encourages people to share their real identities, personal information and brings social networking to a much higher level. This kind of philosophy has led to the aforementioned safety, addiction and troubles in professional lives emerging.
• Safety
With the heavy use of Facebook, safety has become a primary issue. Way too many people post personal information about themselves that they mistakenly belief is safely contained within the walls of Facebook. This is not necessarily true. While it is true Facebook offers privacy tools to help combat this problem, the fact is that anything posted on the Internet can be copy/pasted and shared through the site's internal messaging system, e-mail or other messaging problems.
People post on their statuses when they are on vacation, information about their children, and share other intimate details of what they're doing at any given time. This information is not necessarily hidden from search engines, and can even show up on your friend's lists if strangers (to you) are checking them.
Since Facebook encourages people to use their real identities and has built their business model around connecting with people you know, a lot of personal information is shared online that normally would not even be considered and, as a result, people often, albeit inadvertently, put themselves at risk.
• Addiction
It is easy to become addicted to Facebook. With all the features the site offers, it is often overwhelming, but some may want to enjoy the entire Facebook experience and spend inordinate amounts of time on the website. This may include providing constant updates on their own profiles, repeated refreshing of pages to see what others are doing, playing games, taking quizzes, participating in groups, sending virtual gifts, or a host of other Facebook activities. An addiction to Facebook can be bad for you because it can impact your family life, friendships and job.
• Career Jeopardy
Facebook is a great site for social networking, but if you are not exceptionally careful, this could put your job or career in jeopardy.
Nowadays employers regularly turn to Facebook to research applicants or check up on current employees. The nagging thing about the web is that something you posted years ago could show up in a simple Internet search. While at the time you may not have had a career concern, pictures or comments posted could eventually come back to haunt you.
In addition, since the Internet is a public arena, anything you say or do could be seen. You can try to restrict this by using privacy tools, but again, anyone can copy/paste information and share. Many of today's Facebook users regularly connect with colleagues, if not their bosses, and even if you don't say or do anything unacceptable to your boss, one of your Facebook buddies might share something about you on their profiles.
While there are many reasons why Facebook is bad for you, the site does have its positives too. The key is moderation and exercise due care when using the website. In addition, be very aware of the safety, addiction and professionalism issues occurring on Facebook and you'll be one step ahead of falling into these pitfalls and experiencing these reasons why Facebook is bad for you.
Carelessness will lead to bad things happening, but a combination of common sense and proactive behavior will allow you to enjoy the positive aspects of feature while diminishing the potential negative effects.