Valencia, The Social Network

The Social Network follows the life of Mike Zuckerberg, the world’s youngest billionaire, as he creates (and is sewed over) one of the most important websites of our time: Facebook. I believe there is a political message behind this film; however I feel there is a more important message about how modern-day society is evolving.

The political message behind The Social Network is that privacy is a thing of the past. Things on the internet aren’t written in pencil, they’re written in ink. The only difference however is that with facebook, you choose which information you put out for the entire world to see. It’s strange to me that multitudes of people will complain about invasion of privacy, yet many of the same people will post the most intimate details of their lives on the internet for all to see.  

I think that social networking is both positive and detrimental to society. Facebook is like a gun, it’s a tool. However in the wrong hands that tool can seriously harm someone. Now I’m not saying facebook is the devil, I’m not gonna lie, it’s a pretty awesome tool to keep in touch with friends who are out of state or in different countries. There are some major problems with facebook and social networking in general.

First off, it is changing the way people interact with each other face-to-face and this is particularly evident in younger generations. In my opinion, kids are losing their guts (not literally of course). People start fights on the internet because they are too scared to actually confront a person and look them in the eye. Another problem is many people seem completely different in real life as compared to the internet. I think that a barrier is put up; a sort of virtual comfort zone that people can hide behind instead of dealing with things in real life. This leads to a lot of “fake” people. This is my main problem with social networking in general.

Another thing, I don’t think employers or schools should have access to your facebook page. I believe access to a criminal record is good and understandable, but not to facebook. I don’t believe one should be judged on their personal lives outside of work or school when being considered for employment or acceptance.  Many jobs and scholarships have been lost to pictures on facebook.

All in all, I believe facebook is a tool that can be used positively or negatively. It all depends on you. Just make sure you do some housekeeping on your photos every once in a while. It can avoid some rather unpleasant situations. I think it’s agreeable that some things just shouldn’t be shared.