Negative Effects of Facebook Essay

Social media platforms are widely used in today's world as a means of communication, making new friends and connecting with old ones. These platforms have very many effects some of which are positive and others negative. Social media users consider the positive and fail to notice the adverse effects. These adverse effects have slowly manifested in people, and with time the shortcomings have been realized. Facebook is one of the components of social media has equally exhibited the adverse effects on its users.

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The first adverse effect of Facebook use is addiction. Addiction as a product of continued and uncontrolled Facebook use has probably led to any other results. According to Norman et al, addiction is an obsession that makes people use a substance or engage in a behavior whose immediate effects compels them to join the more despite the disadvantageous consequences that come with it. Research by BBC shows that an average youth spends about nine hours on media including music, videos and platforms and an average of two hours on Facebook alone(Brown). These studies indicate that America has the highest number of Facebook users including small children and people who have advanced in age. Facebook addiction has come with many disadvantages either health, social or economic.

Facebook addiction have adverse health effects on the users. First and most apparent, spending long hours on the screen causes eye problems and headaches due to light exposure (Norman et al). While eye problems were formerly an abnormality related to either old age or genetics, recent research shows that most youths are experiencing the difficulties and eyewear companies have confirmed an increased sale of glasses. Another health effect related to Facebook addiction is fatigue brought about by prolonged hours on gadgets (Tromholt). Many youths sacrifice their night hours to hang out and chat on Facebook which deprives them of enough sleep. Lack of adequate sleep affects their activities for the next day whereby many youths are reportedly unproductive.

People who spend a lot of time on Facebook have also displayed disorders such as aggression and social isolation. Whereas youths spend long hours on Facebook on the platform trying to look for friends and company, they isolate themselves from their families and friends (Wilcox & Andrew). These youths lock themselves in their rooms sometimes making people believe that they are doing constructive work such as studying. These antisocial behaviors have cut family relationships especially between parents and their teenage children. Youths have trusted the online friends who are mostly strangers more than they think in real relationships. These 'ghost friends' do not offer them much benefit especially during their time of need and this leaves the youths desperate.

Facebook has contributed a lot to family breakups between couples due to exposure and lack of privacy. Friends can access each other's timelines to view who has posted on them, who have liked and commented on a photo or a post. Any suggestive comment leads to envy which causes argument and fights between lovers. This negatively affects the general society that embraces family ties.

Cyberbullying is another effect that mostly affects young people and especially children who have no enough knowledge to cope with pressure. Cyberbullying is a situation whereby individuals with unknown identity impose threats such as death to online users (Wilcox & Andrew). Facebook is full of pseudo accounts containing false information about individuals. These accounts are used to perpetrate cyberbullying which has led to depression in small children and suicide as a result. Death associated with cyberbullying has increased over the years which has caused pain to parents and the society at large. This problem mostly affects girls and children from minority groups who are already emotionally broken. In their attempt to look for consolation from Facebook, they are bullied and forced to take away their lives.

Facebook use is time-consuming. Users especially youths engage in unproductive debates which take a lot of their time which would otherwise be used to do productive chores. They can also use the time doing alternative online tasks such as research on contemporary issues that affect the society today such as diseases (Brown). Youths spend many hours on Facebook and even forget to look after their welfare such as taking meals. The platform also has an effect of changing the moods of individuals whereby after spending time on it, individuals either develop the mod to eat the more or not eat at all depending on the content viewed (Norman et al). Besides time, energy is also highly consumed. This energy that would alternatively be used to do other essential duties is wasted browsing through pages and groups on Facebook which does not yield anything useful. The debates that youth engage in especially in social and political groups lead to stress. Teenagers compare their abilities and inabilities with other people who they find online (De Vries, Dian & Rinaldo). They also their social looks, and some of them develop low self-esteem because they feel they are not as good as the other person.

Facebook use leads to belief in fictions and non-existent ideas. For example, people on Facebook pages and groups provide information which is purely their personal views. Users who go looking for information from Facebook take the opinions and implement them despite their incredible sources. For instance, some groups claim to offer marriage advice on single and married parties. These people in most cases are not experts in the asserted fields, and they provide untested advice which worsens the situations.

Addiction to Facebook leads to a reduced concentration which leads to poor performance. A glance at Facebook while studying or working diverts attention from the field of work to a world of imaginary friends. Students who spend long hours on the platform register poor grades compared to those who do not (Brown). The same applies to employees who spend a lot of time on social media. They yield less than those who concentrate on their work. Lack of concentration also leads to distractions which often lead to accidents. This includes road accidents and domestic accidents at home such as falling items, breakages, and burns.

Facebook leads to impractical children who can do nothing on their own because they are used to copying and doing what they see others doing. These children are less creative and cannot even produce solutions to their problems without consulting social media and especially Facebook which in most cases have people ready to respond to questions. Children also exhibit many borrowed characters which are mostly poor such as arrogance and abusive words during communication.

Lack of strict privacy policies gives criminals chances to perpetrate evils. People post their pictures and attach personal information such as location and what they are doing without much knowledge that there could people stalking them. Those who regularly update their statuses are the most likely to face the threat of being tracked and harmed by criminals (Tromholt). People also can download pictures from other people's timelines without obtaining information from owners. These pictures have been used to carry out criminal activities, and judgment has been made on the wrong identities.

Staying online on Facebook comes at a cost. First, one must purchase the device whether phone, tablet, computer among others, that will be used to access the internet. These devices are expensive especially for youths who at the same time are trying to match or be better than their peers. This competition makes them buy gadgets that are unnecessarily expensive. There is also the cost of internet access which may be informed of modem data or alternative data plans made available by service providers. These costs impose an enormous burden on users especially youths who have no stable means of acquiring finances.

Facebook is used as a means of marketing for businesses. Small-scale traders are also advertising their products on Facebook with enticing offers such as free delivery which is convenient for many buyers. People consider buying products sold on Facebook because apart from timely delivery, they also do not have to go to the market or shops to look for the goods. These products which in most cases are unusually cheap are in most cases substandard, to the disadvantage of the buyer. Con men also take advantage of online marketing to steal money from unaware customers. Availability of goods online leads to impulse buying whereby individuals purchase products that they don't need. People buy products that appeal to their eyes even when they do not know where or when to use them. This leads to more consumption and therefore increased expenditure.

Finally, Facebook has contributed to undermining of discipline and growth of immorality. Youths adopt the mode of dressing they copy from their Facebook friends without enough reasons. They do not research the reasons why people engage in such dressing modes. Poor grooming denies people acceptability in society and also for jobs. Employers have adopted an assessment method whereby scrutinize people's Facebook accounts before offering them chances to work in their organizations. Morality has also decreased with increasing groups that discuss inappropriate sexual topics and display nude pictures. Exposure to these conversations and photographs leads youths to early sexual activities.

Facebook use has many adverse effects which overwhelm the positive. Its use encourages laziness which in turn leads to unproductive individuals who do not yield much towards the society. Users should find ways to manage the time spent on Facebook. These regulation methods include having scheduled time for example during work breaks or after work to relax and reduce work associated pressure. Parents should have talks with their children to create awareness of the adverse effects of the media platform. Total withdrawal of technological devices is not a good idea as the kids will have alternative ways of acquiring them back behind their parents' back. They will then overuse them when the parents are not aware, and this will even lead to worse effects.

Works Cited

Andreassen, Cecilie Schou, Stale Pallesen, and Mark D. Griffiths. "The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: Findings from a large national survey." Addictive Behaviors 64 (2017): 287-293.

Brown, Jessica. "BBC - Future - Is Social Media Bad for You? The Evidence and the Unknowns." BBC - Homepage. N.p., 5 Jan. 2018. Web. 21 Mar. 2018.

De Vries, Dian A., and Rinaldo Kuhne. "Facebook and self-perception: Individual susceptibility to negative social comparison on Facebook." Personality and Individual Differences86 (2015): 217-221. Print.

Norman, Prasan, Karthikeyan Elavarasan, and Thirunaaukarasu Dhandapani. "Facebook addiction and depression in adults [19 years-64 years]." International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health 4.8 (2017): 2999-3004.

Tromholt, Morten. "The Facebook Experiment: Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher Levels of Well-Being." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 19.11 (2016): 661-666. Print.

Wilcox, Keith, and Andrew T. Stephen. "Are Close Friends the Enemy? Online Social Networks, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control." Journal of Consumer Research 40.1 (2013): 90-103. Print.