Have you ever gone on Facebook, and by the time you stop you realise that the sun has set and that it is actually time to sleep?
I have. In fact, it happens almost every time I get on Facebook. And thus, I have come to the wonderful conclusion that Facebook is evil.
And don't go around saying that I haven't tried refraining from accessing it in the first place, because I have multiple times, only finding myself succumbing to the cold turkey and going back to square one just to satisfy the nagging feeling at the back of my head to check my notifications. The very moment I feel like I've just successfully pulled away from Facebook is the day my phone fizzles into paroxysms of vibrations, masked by a cunning Facebook message notification from my friends, or a ridiculously distracting poke notification. It seems like it just never ends.
One common myth about being in SST is that students are required to have a Facebook account. To be fair, a Facebook account would give you much more advantages than not having one, but it is not entirely necessary.
One advantage includes a source of conversational currency with your peers, as it bombards you with current happenings, scientific discoveries, international disasters and local news to talk about, both online and offline. Of course, this works both ways, as excessive use can hinder the net amount of time that you have to do other things like doing your homework or finishing up a project.
Another advantage is the fact that some teachers use it as a medium for assigning individual and group work, in the form of posting reflections, answering questions, or posting your raw assignment in itself. A downside of this includes the fact that despite being a school branded with the frequent use of technology, the sheer number of teachers that practically use the listed functionalities of Facebook for educational purposes is scarce, and I can literally count the total number of teachers doing so with my ten fingers.
Not to mention, a source of entertainment and stress-relief. Often people use social media as a form of catharsis as they are able to ignore their worries and cares that haunt them, and just break free and fill their minds with eye-catching facts and figures. Of course, this is not entirely a bad thing, but one has to be weary of addiction and to have the self control to be able to moderate and regulate themselves from excessive use.
For all you out there who stick to your ideologies that Facebook is a form of social interaction, I personally feel that Facebook hinders social interaction, and that the best form of social interaction is face-to-face communication in it's purest form. To me, face-to-face interaction displays your personality, while Facebook displays your projection. One factor is the fact that in face-to-face interaction, we are able to identify and convey any form of non-verbal communication, whilst in Facebook all you see is the static avatar of your friend. Another factor is the fact that in reality, you do not have forever to react to the person you are talking to, which causes you to act more on your feelings, whilst on Facebook you have the excuse that you just did not see the message to waste as much time as possible to figure out the best way to reply your friend. This does not demonstrate yourself as a person, but rather yourself as who you want to be; your perception of perfection. This can hinder proper social interaction, especially when in real life.
So I to regulate the amount of time I use on Facebook, I have brilliantly decided to implement a "policy": Once a day, for a maximum of 20 minutes. Hopefully that would help to soothe my Facebook addiction, and help me to do much more other things, while not neglecting the benefits that Facebook itself can provide.
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