Facebook, think twise...

Facebook is one of the most trouble causing social media sites out there. That is of course, if you let it be. I’m forever hearing complaints about bullying over Facebook, there is quite a simple solution to this; block them! To the older generation, Facebook is the trouble that you take home from school or work with you; it’s the ‘acquaintances’ you don’t want to associate with and the ‘popular kids’ that you don’t want reading your diary. However, Facebook is what you make it, as it is with every other social networking or chat site out there. Facebook is no virus, you can turn it off, and you can delete it, such complexity! Not.
Bullying over social networking sites just ticks me off, its one simple click to get rid of these bored attention seeking nutters so why give them the encouragement to waste their time? You give reporters, like me hopefully, the stupid stories that fill the papers that then give parents, like mine, the impression that Facebook is some suicide bomb timer controlled by an assassin sat laughing in his chair at home at these ‘poor innocent little children’. Urm no, I don’t think so.
Facebook is a way of life for many, which I admit is unhealthy, but it’s not going to bring you to an early grave. Think before you post and you won’t cause any trouble. There is nothing more pathetic than seeing little year nine’s having arguments over Facebook. Grow up. The whole ‘Facebook is a killer’ situation is causing me a lot of problems, people assume that because I use Facebook I’m sitting on a time bomb and one nasty comment from an immature ‘friend’ will have me behaving like an ‘emo’ and hanging myself from the chandelier.
Facebook, like everything that happens in life, is what you make of it. I have always been over sensitive, as a child and a teen I was the quiet one in the corner, something I see on Facebook will upset me, I’m not superhuman with no emotions but what I see and I don’t like, I delete, it’s gone, no more problems.
On a more positive note, I use Facebook to meet new people, to find out things that are happening that I don’t know about and to basically nose around on people’s profiles, which is exactly what I know people do on mine too, that’s exactly why I only publish what I want people to see, and I have a profile setting so that any tags I am in I have to approve of first. Could it be any simpler? The Grimsby Institute journalism students promote the use of social media, it is vital in today’s industry. We are saying goodbye to so much print and hello to interactive media. I feel it is a vital part of who I am and it makes me think about my use of grammar, when the site first began it was ‘cool’ to use ‘text talk’ but times are changing now and it’s about your talent and your knowledge, not about how much ‘chav talk’ you can manage.
So parents and teens: Grow up. If you think your child is a little sensitive, wait until they are old enough before they create an account, or simply create one yourself too so that you can be there for them if they do need you. But certainly stop dismissing something you know nothing about!

By Boneata Bell
VOXX Magazine - February 2012 - http://www.voxxonline.com/