So much this.
You can hide on OCUK but on Facebook people know who you are and I'm often gobsmacked at some of the things 'friends' post or share without evaluating anything.
I like the "This only takes 5 seconds to share, Melissa Jones has been missing from Birmingham" and then I post "Melissa was found in 2013 in Birmingham USA, it took a 5 second Google".

I've just recently had a 'friend' who has been sacked because of all the racist posts he shares. I did warn him to be careful since he works at a place with at least 50% immigrants but I got the impression he thought 'nobody would know'.
Last week a bloke came on saying that he couldn't get a job anywhere, that he was getting to the final interviews and failing every time. I suggested that perhaps it was because they were doing their homework, finding his open Facebook page, reading all his posts and giving him the boot. "Don't be ridiculous, they wouldn't have time for that"

 

Absolutely negative IMO

 

As mentioned, as a tool it’s fantastic but people have ruined a good chunk of it.

It’s possible though to still use it solely in a beneficial way for family/group stuff. Some local pages are okay if moderated correctly, unfortunately the one for our area has became a joke, every post has to have a sarcastic reply or the same people sat on there all day waiting to comment on everything.

 

Facebook is pretty much the only contact I have with my family for most of the year, we're pretty dispersed geographically. It's full of dross though. Like sewers I guess. Massively useful but full of ****

 

It's all about choosing your audience I guess,unlike the unnecessary sales pages and groups, they're literally pointless. Unfriend the arsehats and people you literally do not speak to, get on with life.

Or, customise ones news feed to only see certain people, even better

 

It's hard to weigh up the good and the bad with social media, it depends on what you look at.
Lately, it's a massive negative when used for politics and mainstream media... but on the flip side, social media has done some outstanding things for good causes and smaller charities...

 

I used to enjoy it, catching up with old "friends" but now I am off it. Just full of tedious guff, fake news and bile.

I only have a fake facebook account now to browse various groups of interest.

 

Our local one is excellent and moderated really well, the first whiff of racism eg Easter eggs, St George etc and they get deleted.
The thing that winds me up are the posts that say 'Anybody know where this is?' and then it's followed by 500 people with the same answer. I'm the one who is then sarcy saying 'Even though 500 people have correctly answered has anybody said it's the Rose & Crown?'

 

Negative.

- tedious narcissism
- end of privacy as we know it
- polarising opinions on everything/echo chamber mentality
- political and social manipulation
- trial by social media (particularly on Twitter)
- exposing children to unncessary social pressures/conformism (it’s really bad these days)
- people are often no longer ‘present’ as there is a constant nagging urge to be using SM on mobile phones
- huge increases in loneliness and isolation

Social media has some good points, of course. I’m not churlish enough to ignore them.

 

As someone who remembers a wonderful time and a great child-hood prior to the advent of digital social media, even against a backdrop of council estates and single parenthood, and as someone who today is child-free, the absolute worst of it has to be cyber-bullying and the inability for young people to seemingly extricate themselves from it. I do not use social media but just about everyone else does; I find it invasive and disturbing how quickly people subject themselves to it.

It's a negative from me I'm afraid.

 

In my world it's all adults up to 80 years of age.

 

Its effect is negative but its down to how its used rather than the tools themselves. I have Facebook and Twitter and find them hugely useful sources of information and as a means of communication but at the same time I don't post my every waking thought for the world to see and neither do my friends so its fine. I see my wifes social media though and Id have sacked off half the people on it immediately. Shes seen more photos of friends babies every 5 minutes every time they so much as blink than she has pics of our own wee one! That would drive me nuts!

I also worry as a new parent how my child will interact with the world given how those who are growing up with phones and tablets permanently attached to them are existing.

As an aside my nephew is 9 and spends hours hidden away in his bedroom on his PS4 playing FIFA against all his pals. He sits with his headset on shouting and bawling away at them and I cant decide if this is a bad thing because its time he could be spending outside actually with said friends or a good thing because at his age I was probably passively watching TV and at least he is interacting. He does play football IRL as well and is a fit young lad so its not like he is socially awkward or anything but when he is at home he permanently has some form of gadget for interaction rather than talking to people!

 

Like every technology it depends how you use it.

For all of Facebooks faults, I'm a member of some local community groups which have enabled people to come together very quickly and get things done in the real world. Adverts in the local newspaper or shop window would be a much slower process. You can find out about something and ask questions straight away on social media. You don't need to turn up to a damp church hall on a Tuesday night to see what people have planned.

I'm please none of my childhood and teen years had social media or were documented online. It would be cool to look back privately but people should have the right to move on from their youth and not be judged on it forever more. I really cringe when I see people plaster their kids all over Facebook.

 

I think people receive the sugar cube of family groups and contact with "friends" and end up completely oblivious to the actual issue with Facebook:

Facebook is free to use because you are not utilising a product; you are the product. It's not you that receives a free service, it's actually Facebook that receives your service for free, and they whore you to anyone with a dollar to spend. The behaviour that Facebook encourages is geared towards profit and it comes at a high psychological cost that affects the development of children and young adults in particular.

It's a disgusting institution and you only need to look at the comments from management level as they exit the company, very few with a positive word to say about the techniques employed.

 

I make a purpose of not watching ads at all costs including the TV I just switch over when they come on. I am sure my subconscious picks up some of it even if I see only a couple of seconds of them. The Udemy one has got me however as it's on YT all the time. They must be doing well.

Anyway FB could only be because of the Angel investors that funded it in the first place so blame them or blame money as that's what fuels everything.

 

The problem is it is now too mainstream. A niche area has become ubiquitous. The general public aren't all that smart really and as they are handed incredibly powerful phones and tablets and access to the entire world they blindly go about their day using it with no actual thought for the consequences. When all forms of computing and internet were a bit more niche you at least tended to have people who were a bit more switched on with regards to its pitfalls and issues. Now you have granny posting pics of her dog from her £40 kindle fire and your 5 year old playing games on their parents phone both oblivious to what they are actually doing.

 

Net negative. It hasn't actually improved my relationships with anyone. It only gives the illusion of doing so.

 

I have found FaceBook incredibly useful when I joined a group that catered for people with or cares of throat cancer, I learnt more from the group than I did from the medical team who were treating me who I felt I was little more than a number. I must admit I rarely stick stuff on my own page.
Twitter I just don't get and even less so when the President of a super power seems to use it for strange reasons.

 

This, this is the issue, initially there was little to no dregs of society on social media this included alleged celebrities / persons of power who at the time would use a PR specialist for any social interaction but due to the evolution of mobile tech this has now changed dramatically.

A simple solution to weed out the dregs on Facebook would be to implement a spellchecker that would block the post unless the spelling was correct however this spellchecker would not suggest the correct spelling

 

Agreed.