How Facebook Ruins Friendships

[why]

I find Facebook turns otherwise sane thirty and forty-something adults, into high school/junior high kids. The drama!! :rant:
I admit though, I won't leave soon, as it is the only way I keep in touch with some people. It's also good for contacts in my industry.

 

[Fiver]

I find Facebook turns otherwise sane thirty and forty-something adults, into high school/junior high kids.

HEY! Have you been reading the comments spun from my status updates?!

(I gotta say though, we have a blast being goofy. No reason being an adult has to be boring, you know?)

 

[Miroku]

I agree with most of the things said in the first post, especially the thing about not needing to know absolutely everything others are doing. I realize that most people?s lives are mundane and are not neccessarily full of drama, and it is alright because they are not there to entertain me - neither I am there to entertain them - but why most people think everybody needs to know the flavor of the latest juice they drank, or how many fleas their dog has...really, I don?t understand it at all

I don?t have a facebook account and don?t plan to get one for the time being, because I just don?t see any reason for doing so...if anyone could tell me about his/her reasons for being in here, other than keeping in touch with people from the past - I believe that if contact was lost with someone, there was a reason for things to go that way - I would really like to know.

 

[Daniel E.]

From a new article "Facebook ‘fiends’ are narcissistic, insecure, study says":

For her undergraduate psychology thesis, Mehdizadeh recruited 100 fellow university students and analyzed their Facebook postings...

The more prolific the Facebook activity, the lower they rated on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the higher in the Narcissism Personality Inventory.

 

[Will]

My girlfriend posts a lot of interesting articles on her facebook which appeal to a lot of people in the scientific community and has actually gotten some friend requests from fairly famous people. She also has some friends who are somewhat dysfunctional and insist on posting 'inappropriate self-disclosure leading to social friction'. I've got a facebook which I really don't know what to do with. I have thirteen friends on there and am rarely visiting it.

I definitely see both sides. On one hand, it's a powerful way to communicate information within a niche group - or even a few niche groups - of people. On the other hand, it certainly has the capacity to elevate undesirable behavior to a public level.

 

[marie2010]

I agree that the needless chatter on Facebook can get annoying and some folks overuse their status updates. Nonetheless, I like Facebook. I have a massive family scattered all over the country. Facebook provides useful tools for keeping everyone posted and keeping track of everyone (and their birthdays).

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I have a massive family scattered all over the country. Facebook provides useful tools for keeping everyone posted and keeping track of everyone (and their birthdays).

Same here, in at least three countries.

 

[rdw]

Facebook is a great way to keep in contact with family and friends. The downside is the number of people who use it to bully, disparage others and air grievances that should remain private. All that being said it is not facebook that encourages people to behave inappropriately but it appears that immature people are encouraged by their ability to legitimize their views as facts in a somewhat open forum.