If you want to find out first-hand why Facebook can be bad for you, sign up and experience it for one week. Just use a trial period to see what "FB" has to offer. After all, being there online for only a week isn't time enough to become addicted to it.
Or is it? One week is only a teaser. There is so much to do - so many activities - that a week is hardly enough of a stay to see it all. What's more, there are new opportunities popping up all the time. Nearly every day, there are new games, new polls, new quizzes, or new features added to the applications that are already in place and quite popular. You've already searched for every friend you've ever had, and now you are friends with their friends, as well, and with their entire family in some cases! You couldn't possibly leave them now and lose track of them again.
The point is this: Facebook, as useful and helpful as it can be, is very addictive. It takes time away from the other more meaningful and important things in your life. Addiction to this site can be as bad for you as any other addiction that jeopardizes the way you function in the real world. Too many are finding out that Facebook is becoming one of the false gods we worship these days. At its worst, it can be a breach of our sense of reality as we go about our work on our imaginary farms and in our sororities and great little villages each day.
In terms of cost, there is no fee to join. However, many or most of the games give you the opportunity to buy their "funny money," (the cash or coinage that is used in a particular application) through a few simple clicks at PayPal. In effect, you ARE spending money to be on Facebook, or at least to participate in your favorite games more fully. There are even casinos with slot machines that require coins to play. You can use the coins supplied at the beginning of the game or gifted by friends, or if that is not enough, you can buy the cash that is needed, and again, you're spending money that you perhaps should be using for more important things in real life - like your bills.
Personal values can also become eroded if you become involved with some of the games offered on Facebook. There are games that are based on organized crime, magic, the occult, and some that are harmful to the psyche of impressionable teens - young people who perhaps do not yet realize the impact these influences are having upon them. Some of the applications also put an inordinate amount of emphasis on hedonistic pleasures. Materialism and clawing one's way to the top by trampling others is foremost in some of the games used daily by youngsters who, again, have not the least idea of what is happening and how their values are being changed so very subtly.
At 15 or 16, teens are unaware of how their pictures portray them, or how their language makes unfavorable impressions on others. It is not unusual to find suggestive photos posted and transmitted to friends and family members, or comments made that give away the mind set of a particular young person. Language is not censored in most cases and shows up in comments on the screen with everything else, where everyone can see it. Imagine the parent or grandparent who has been shocked and disgusted by conversations containing foul language and which allude to (or even describe) unsavory activities, and posted so nonchalantly by their seemingly innocent children or grandchildren!
These are only a few of the ways Facebook can be bad for you. Used responsibly and appropriately, it can be a great place to solidify relationships and rekindle friendships, as well as bring families and friends together in one place at one time. It can be educational when links to written articles of interest are followed, or when articles are shared with others, when they have social value. It can be useful as a networking tool to boost your business and make important connections. It can be a place to relax for a short time in the day or evening, with games and other applications that help keep the mind sharp and the wit keen. Keeping Facebook and its many applications to a minimum of hours per week is important in being a responsible user.
Keeping the Facebook experience in perspective is necessary so that it is not bad for you. Users must keep in mind that Facebook is pitting itself against not only other popular social networking sites such as MySpace, but also the real world and real life, and it aims to win out.