Facebook: Boon or Bane?

'Facebook' – sounds familiar? Well, Facebook is just simply a social networking site which allows users to '…share details of their lives with friends and loved ones, trading pictures of their memorable moments and participating in shared interest groups…', as quoted from a Straits Times article entitled Facebook User Made Police Report. Facebook, whether is it boon or bane, good or bad, beneficial or harmful, is a question worthy of debate.

Before we can even start on any discussion, we should understand the word boon. As defined in the Longman Dictionary, it is 'something that is very useful and makes your life a lot easier or better'. One cannot deny that Facebook has indeed many functions and applications which definitely enhance communication amongst friends and acquaintances through games, quizzes, groups, pages and photos being shared on it. No doubt, Facebook thus enables us to make more friends as we can know a friend, B, through an existing contact, A. Then, through B, we can know C, D, E and the virtuous cycle continues.

Having now highlighted the advantages of Facebook, it is time we consider the bane aspect. Longman Dictionary defines bane as 'something that causes trouble or makes people unhappy'. One cannot deny that Facebook has its obvious flaws. One very crucial blemish, which cannot really be controlled, is that anyone can join Facebook anytime, anywhere, and post any topic on it. Anyone on Facebook can also just create a social group and opine anything they like, post comments on their 'wall' and unfortunately, Facebook cannot restrict such activities if they are of malicious and offensive nature. The Facebook creator simply cannot possibly scan through everybody’s groups and 'walls' to verify anything considered harmful or uncivil. Although users can inform the site's moderator about anything impertinent, and many do; when the moderator is informed, then what? Remove the comment or group, ban the account user from Facebook or to take legal actions? The comment or group being removed can easily be created again, the user whose account was banned can always create a new one, and finally, taking legal action is tricky at times as the information provided can be dubious or unreliable and it would take a long time to track down the guilty.

The exciting part is here, so is Facebook boon or bane? In my opinion, it is unquestionably a boon if used appropriately and all users abide by the simple rules of Netiquette. Even if Facebook did not exist, there are still many different platforms available to post anything provocative or derogatory. Thus, boon or bane, it’s all our choice. It is our choice to make boon or bane. Undeniably, no matter how good something is, if the users misuse it, how good can it be?