Last month, I was at a Model United Nations conference held at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi. Being one of the protocol officers my assignment was similar to that of an usher at the same time I was to ensure that all protocols of the room are observed. It also meant that I had to constantly be moving around the hall to pick note papers from delegates either addressed to other delegates or the chair. Most delegates had laptops in the room connected to the internet and my surprise a good number of them were misusing the privileges of the internet provided by the UN by accessing Facebook and other social networking sites. It was not surprising that most of the delegates doing this were not contributing to the deliberations going on at the conference. Facebook addiction has had negative effects on many young people and teenagers especially students.
Firstly, it consumes most of their precious time that they can use to do something constructive. I have witnessed on several occasions that I have been to the university library, how some students spend a lot of time chatting on Facebook and social networking instead of engaging themselves in studying. There was even a moment when I saw a friend of mine who had a statistics paper the following day but decided to spend half the time he was in the library on Facebook instead of reading for his paper. Even when he began to read for his paper, the Facebook page was still on so that he could see any new notifications coming. If it is not by using a computer then it is by using a phone that can access the internet, either way, addicts have to Facebook.
The other negative impact Facebook has over its abusers is that both Facebook and other social networking sites tend to spoil written communication, especially among students. The way people communicate using Facebook is very informal and most of the language used in Facebook cannot be used in any formal writing. A student who is addicted to Facebook will get influenced by the social networking language. He will eventually forget and use it in formal writing setup in school. Just a few weeks ago I came across my younger brother’s composition paper. As I was reading the paper I was surprised to see abbreviations normally used with social networking such as ‘us instead of ‘you’, and ‘xul’ instead of ‘school’ among others.
Lastly, in connection with the points discussed above, facebook and social networking can deteriorate grades and performances of average students and employees. This addiction is not only witnessed among students but also in the places of work. A student who spends a lot of time on facebook will eventually have low grades at the end of an academic period. This is because he or she will have spent a lot time social networking instead of focusing on books. Similarly, an employee who uses office hours to facebook will have poor performance of his duties. Companies have come up with a good way of taking care of employees who are fond of this by blocking all popular social networking sites during official working hours. I witnessed this once when I visited my dad at his place of work.
The initial intention of facebook was not to cause people to get addicted to it. It was meant to connect people by creating a network of friends. From facebook one could easily find friends they had couple of years ago. If moderated, then facebook can really serve its purpose.