I, like many other people, spend a lot of time on Facebook. I wouldn't say I am addicted but I definitely could use it a lot less. I check my Facebook at least 20 times a day, and while most of these are just quick glances at the News Feed, sometimes a post will catch my eye and I'll end up spending a couple hours following links, looking at memes/pictures, or just reading people's posts.
The question I have been asking myself is; is Facebook just a big waste of time?
I think there are a number of ways to answer this question and there's not really a complete answer because the answer would depend on what we mean by a waste of time. I think many people spend a lot of time on Facebook and it can be a distraction for our work, school, or other responsibilities, but it doesn't have to be. It can be used as a tool to promote your business, church, organization or events. It can be used to connect with other students at your school to work together on group projects and it is a great place to share ideas. So I think that to answer the question it comes down to how each person uses Facebook and only that person can decide whether the time they spend on Facebook is helping to achieve their purpose in life.
The way I see it Facebook tries to fulfill a deep need that we all have for communion. The greatest desire of the human heart is to love and to be loved; or we can say to know others and be known by others. I think Facebook is so popular because it tries to provide a forum for people to share their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. It's a place to express yourself through words, videos, pictures, and music. It enables all of us to share who we are and who we want to be with the whole world. Through Facebook we have the ability to know and be known by a large portion of the world's population.
That being said what you can share on Facebook is very limited and it will never replace direct human relationships. It is just one way to share yourself with others, and a very limited one at that because there's only so much you can post online and there is more to a person then their Facebook profile. Also, it should be noted that posting too much about yourself online has a lot of negative consequences and this can have serious repercussions in your life. You open yourself up to a lot of negativity and hatred because the community is so large. Instead of being rejected by the people in your geographical area, you make yourself vulnerable to attacks from people around the world. So we need to be careful what we post online and I, personally, am not in favour of posting everything about myself on Facebook.
The goal of this post is to try and see Facebook in a positive light. To see how amazing it can be as a tool to connect with people around the world and the potential it has to fulfill a deep desire of the human heart. If we see Facebook as a way to truly know someone then I think the time we spend on Facebook is well used because we are participating in the lives of millions of people and becoming a part of a global community.
With all the benefits of Facebook I am still not a huge fan of it because I think that even though it has potential to help people know others and be known by others, that potential is not being actualized, and because of this there really isn't a whole lot of benefit to Facebook and you can waste a lot of time. It is up to each person to use Facebook responsibly and ensure that they do not spend excessive amounts of time online, especially when that time could be put towards improving the real people and situations in your life. All I hoped to achieve is to present a positive case for Facebook because I think there are a lot of people who see no benefits at all to Facebook and are just hating on it all the time, which I don't see as a good approach either.
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