Facebook does more good than harm

Ave!Facebook and Mental HealthFacebook has been known to have adverse consequences on the mental health of its users. Users can feel envious of other users who have more active social lives, more friends, more pictures, more likes, etc. Users can also feel depressed about a ‘’lack of feedback’’ to the content that they post on the site. This has been demonstrated in research done by Dr. Hanna Krasnova in Germany. (http://www.worldcrunch.com...)Quality of mental health can be harmed by the rampant cyber bullying that takes place on Facebook. One million children were harassed, threatened, or subjected to other forms of cyber bullying on Facebook in the year 2011. Users who attend middle and high schools can find themselves the victim of vicious rumors spread online by people who don’t like them. Insulting messages are frequent as well. (http://puresight.com...)"Dr. Kathy Charles of Edinburgh Napier University released a study early last year, which showed that, of the 200 people she surveyed, a majority felt some type of stress in relation to the social network, and 12-percent said the site makes them feel anxious. Those with a large number Facebook friends experienced the most stress. Dr. Charles also found that many become stressed at the thought of missing out on something good posted to the site, a phenomenon now known as the “fear of missing out,” which has become so widespread it has its own acronym (FOMO).’’ (http://www.digitaltrends.com...)""Dr. Larry D. Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, last year released a study that concluded that teenagers and young adults who spend much of their time on Facebook are at a higher risk of developing a cornucopia of psychological disorders, including mania, paranoia, aggressive tendencies, and antisocial behavior. Moreover, Facebook may add fuel to the fire in those teens who display narcissistic tendencies, by allowing them to broadcast their unhealthy self-love 24/7." (Ibid)"According to a recent survey of 600 Facebook users, ages 16 to 40, by the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, more than half say that seeing pictures of themselves and others on the site “makes them more conscious about their own body and their weight.” And it wasn’t only females who felt the burn; 40 percent of male respondents said they comment negatively about their own bodies on Facebook photos. On top of that, 32-percent said they feel “sad” when comparing photos of themselves to pictures of their friends. And 44-percent said they wished they had the same body or weight as their friends, when looking at photos on Facebook."Facebook and Physical Health'A recent study conducted by the University of Columbia has found a link between Facebook and obesity saying that using Facebook ultimately leads to increase in your waistline.' (http://topnews.ae...)'Facebook may lower one's self-control and tempt him or her into excessive eating or spending, says a new consumer study.' (http://gadgets.ndtv.com...)Obviously, being on Facebook prevents you from doing any serious physical activity. You sit down on a chair (unhealthy, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk...) and type on a computer. There is nothing healthy about this at all. Given the consequences it has on your mental health, is it really worth the lack of exercise?Facebook's PoliciesFacebook has an age limit on registering for its website. This is supposed to protect underage children from accessing the website at an inappropriate age. Despite the good intentions, Facebook has been very poor at enforcing this policy, allowing millions of underage children to join an unsuitable environment. (http://abcnews.go.com....)'In violation of Facebook's requirement that members be at least 13 years old to open an account, about 7.5 million users in the U.S. are under the age of 13, and about 5 million are under the age of 10, Consumer Reports said in a report released today. That's out of 20 million U.S. minors in total who actively used Facebook last year, Consumer Reports said.'Some people have argued that Facebook can't be blamed because they have a large amount of users, and it's difficult to enforce the rules on all of those users. However, the problems with keeping underage children off of the site begin at registration. Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports, criticizes Facebook:"We all know how bright those folks are that run it," he said "I cannot believe that they cannot devise better systems for preventing kids under 13 than just asking for a birth date."Fox also comments on why Facebook is bad for these underage children."There's a lot of dangers -- there's adults, there's bullies, there's malware," said Fox. "A 10-year-old is ill-equipped to deal with any of those things."Facebook has created a registration system that is very easy for underage users to get through. Then, it does a poor job of removing these users from Facebook, allowing them to participate in a dangerous and harmful environment.Contentions1: Facebook use leads to anxiety.2: Facebook use leads to depression.3: Facebook use leads to unhealthy self-consciousness.4: Facebook use allows the user to be bullied in ways that wouldn't be possible if they hadn't of signed up.5: Facebook allows narcissists to broadcast their self-obsession.6: Facebook allows underage users to enter a dangerous and unsuitable environment.7: Facebook prevents physical exercise.8: Using facebook on a computer has other detrimental health effects from siting.9: Facebook is linked to obesity.10: Facebook is linked to excessive over-eating.Vale!