Facebook

Thank you for the debate Mr. Bitterness! I have enjoyed it, and while I don't truly agree with you 100%, you did shed some light on how people are using Facebook these days. :) Great debate! "As I have previously shown in round one, Facebook is causing a problem, regardless of whether or not you want it to." Is Facebook causing the problem, or is it the people overusing Facebook that are causing the problem? Just like I started earlier, playing too much basketball can cause a decrease in grades, just like talking on the phone too much can cause a decline in the productivity of a certain company. It is not Facebook's fault nor should they take the blame for people using their website excessively. They do what they are supposed to do. Offer a safe environment online for people to communicate through (and have some fun while they are at it.) Facebook is not forcing people to log in multiple times daily, therefore they should not have to take the blame for people who become dependent upon it, and therefore cause either a decrease in their company's efficiency or a decline in their grades. It's time for people to start taking responsibility for their selves instead of blaming it on other things, or in this case websites. "However, there are others who abuse the site to the point of addiction" To be truthful, I think addiction is too strong of a word to use for logging onto Facebook multiple times daily. Addiction usually refers to the strong dependence upon drugs or alcohol. "You wrote a pretty weak resolution, so if I may so bold, I will try to interpret what you meant." I respect your opinion, but may I say in response that my opponent has only been able to bring up one claim that is weakly backed up. That claim is: "At the end of the day, Facebook is hurting people. While it may not be harming you, it's harming others." The usage of Facebook may be hurting the efficiency of companies and grades, but I'm not sure how the actual website of www.facebook.com is ‘hurting' people. If they choose to get on recessively, it's a risk they are taking and they should take responsibility for their actions. It's like blaming a fast food restaurant for your obesity. Nobody is forcing you to eat the food (or log on multiple times daily.) The same is true with alcohol. I can promise you that the 15 people who die each hour due to alcohol or drug related activities. In 1998, about one person was killed every 33 minutes due to alocol related traffic crashes. 11 years later, I'm sure the number has more than doubled. (NHTSA, 1999) Alcohol can't be blamed for this. It's the people drinking the alcohol that need to be responsible and stop drinking after one or two drinks. The casual drinking, just like t he casual ‘Facebooking' is not what is detrimental. It's the people who overindulge in it that cause the problems. Not Facebook or the alcohol. The users. The people. "And while we can argue the worth of $256 million, the simple truth is that that's $256 million down the drain." Wait, I thought it was $264 million. Anyways, you are correct. It's a lot of money to be lost. But why should we be blaming Facebook for the loss? Facebook is not forcing or even implying that people should be logging onto Facebook while at work or while doing homework. Again, instead of charging Facebook with this, maybe we should start asking the employees of the companies why they log on so much? It's up to them to be responsible, not Facebook. All in all, Facebook, just like any activity, sport, or object is not the problem. It's the people doing it that cause the problem. Thank you for your time :)