Is Facebook Making us Lonely Essay Sample

Social networks have changed lives of the ordinary people rapidly. The young generation doesn’t imagine their life without one of the most popular networks in the world – Facebook. It is a place where everyone can communicate, share music, pictures, and video, and get to know information about other people and about the world. Some scholars think that a great number of young people are addicted to this social network. Every day millions of them visit Facebook and spend at least a couple of hours there. They find dozens of reasons to be there, like friends, news, hobbies, and so on. An average Facebook user has about two- three hundreds friends. Yet, the question is whether this network really helps to be closer to people or it makes us lonely. From one side Facebook and other networks connect people even if they live far away from each other. It is possible to get acquainted with a person from the other continent and even become a best friend with him or her. Sometimes, it is very difficult for people to find a person near them who can understand them and help solve their problems. It is much easier to share your problematic situation with a stranger. Apart from this, most of the people are very busy nowadays. Very often they don’t have enough time to spend it with friends every time they want this. In this case, Facebook and other networks are very helpful. It is very easy to find some information about a person from the posts and short messages. It also helps to connect people who have a lot in common. Sometimes to find a person who listens to the same music as you do, or who has the same hobby as you have is much easier through Facebook. Yet, this method works only if you don’t have borders and are ready t o meet different people personally. Looking at these arguments, it is easy to state that Facebook isn’t making us lonely. Unfortunately, this is only the part of the truth. There are a few arguments that can convince you that Facebook and other social networks are making us very lonely. First of all, it is essential to understand what loneliness mean. You can be alone, but it doesn’t mean that you are lonely. However, you can be in the middle of the crowd, but you still can feel loneliness. Therefore, loneliness is a psychological problem. Facebook is really making us feel lonely because it diminishes the personal communication. It isn’t enough to look at some photos and read some posts to get to know what a person feels. As a result, people get the false sense of the friendship and close relationships. Nobody knows how you really feel and what life you really have. In other words, 300 friends on Facebook are not real friends, they are just strangers, who know next to nothing about you, and you know next to nothing about them. It is good if you have at least a couple of real friends there with whom you not only chat but also speak and meet in person. Facebook usage has its advantages and disadvantages. From one side it helps to look for people, with whom you have something in common, easier. From the other side, it diminishes personal communication. As a result, it definitely has an impact on our feeling of loneliness. Yet, the problem isn’t in this social network or any other. The problem is in every person. It is possible to use Facebook and still feel yourself very happy. It is just necessary to understand that such problem exists and do everything possible to fix it by starting communicating personally as much as possible.