essay about using facebook

Essay On Facebook

500 words essay on facebook.

Facebook has become one of the most famous social networking sites. However, it comes with its own sets of pros and cons. While it has helped a lot of individuals and business to create their brand, it is also being used for wrong activities. Through an essay on Facebook, we will go through all this in detail.

Benefits of Facebook

Facebook is experiencing dramatic growth currently where the number of users has reached one billion. It comes with a lot of benefits like video calling with your close ones and uploading your photos and videos without charge.

Most importantly, it allows you to get in touch with people from the other side of the world without spending a penny. It is also a great way to connect with old school friends and college friends.

Further, you can also make new friends through this platform. When you connect with people from all over the world, it opens doors to learning about new cultures, values and traditions from different countries.

It also gives you features for group discussions and chatting. Now, Facebook also allows users to sell their products or services through their site. It is a great way of increasing sales and establishing your business online.

Thus, it gives you new leads and clients. Facebook Ads help you advertise your business and target your audience specifically. Similarly, it also has gaming options for you to enjoy when you are getting bored.

Most importantly, it is also a great source of information and news. It helps in staying updated with the latest happenings in the world and subscribing to popular fan pages to get the latest updates.

Drawbacks of Facebook

While it does offer many advantages, it also gives you many drawbacks. First of all, it compromises your privacy at great lengths. Many cases have been filed regarding the same issue.

Further, you are at risk of theft if you use it for online banking and more. Similarly, it also gives virus attacks. A seemingly harmless link may activate a virus in your computer without you knowing.

Moreover, you also get spam emails because of Facebook which may be frustrating at times. The biggest disadvantage has to be child pornography. It gives access to a lot of pornographic photos and videos.

Similarly, it is also a great place for paedophiles to connect with minors and lure them easily under false pretence. A lot of hackers also use Facebook for hacking into people’s personal information and gaining from it.

Another major drawback is Facebook addiction . It is like an abyss that makes you scroll endlessly. You waste so much time on there without even realizing that it hampers the productivity of your life by taking more away from you than giving.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Facebook

To sum it up, if we use Facebook in the right proportions and with proper care, it can be a powerful tool for anyone. Moreover, it can be great for marketing and networking. Further, any business can also leverage its power to make its business success. But, it is essential to remember to not let it become an addiction.

FAQ of Essay on Facebook

Question 1: What is the purpose of Facebook?

Answer 1: The purpose of Facebook is to allow people to build a community and make the world a smaller place. It helps to connect with friends and family and also discover all the latest happenings in the world.

Question 2: What is the disadvantage of Facebook?

Answer 2: Facebook is potentially addictive and can hamper the productivity of people. Moreover, it also makes you vulnerable to malware and viruses. Moreover, it has also given rise to identity theft.

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Facebook Essay | Essay on Facebook for Students and Kids in English, Is Facebook Good or Bad?

Facebook Essay: Facebook is a long-range interpersonal communication site that associates individuals from one side of the planet to the other. It has made the planet earth a worldwide town. With only a single tick, you can associate with somebody living abroad.

Facebook has become one of the most popular people-to-person communication destinations. Notwithstanding, it accompanies its own arrangements of advantages and disadvantages. While it has helped a ton of people and businesses to make their image, it is likewise being utilized for wrong exercises.

It expects to unite the world with the force of the local area. You can likewise become more acquainted with what is happening all throughout the planet. You can even pen down your musings on that stage.

You can read more  Essay Writing  about articles, events, people, sports, technology many more.

Essay on Facebook Benefits and Disadvantages

The Internet has brought a big revolution to society and the communication world. Facebook is a piece of it. Facebook is for the most part known as the main online media. It is an online stage where we can get associated with individuals and can cooperate with them. It has made the world little and simple to get to. Anybody can get associated with anybody now. It has opened another entryway for business, correspondence, and relationships.

There are huge provisions that Facebook has. Anybody can join there for nothing. You need a web associated versatile or PC. You can join with your email or telephone number. When you joined, you will discover loads of individuals’ records there who you know, all things considered. Facebook consistently energize adding individuals that you know. Then, at that point, others will discover your record of their feed and will send you a companion demand. In the event that you acknowledge their companion demand, they will go to your companion list. An individual who is in your companion can make an impression on you.

At the point when you share a photograph or compose something on your profile or timetable, individuals of your companion rundown can see these. Not just see they can respond to them. Indeed, even they can remark on their viewpoint in the remark box. Facebook has a decent element named bunch. You can make a gathering and can add your companions there. It is an extremely simple and basic technique to make online home bases or offer things to a designated crowd. You can make a page for your business to advance on the web. Pretty much every business has a Facebook page now. They advance their items online with individuals. Counting all, there are heaps of provisions of Facebook that you can appreciate.

Benefits of Facebook

Facebook is encountering sensational development presently where the quantity of clients has arrived at one billion. It accompanies a ton of advantages like video calling with your nearby ones and transferring your photographs and recordings without charge.

Above all, it permits you to reach out to individuals from the opposite side of the world without spending a penny. It is additionally an incredible method to associate with old school companions and school companions.

Further, you can likewise make new companions through this stage. At the point when you associate with individuals from everywhere the world, it opens ways to find out with regards to new societies, qualities and customs from various nations.

It additionally gives you includes for a bunch of conversations and visits. Presently, Facebook additionally permits clients to sell their items or administrations through their site. It is an incredible method of expanding deals and setting up your business on the web.

Disadvantages of Facebook

Other than this load of good sides, there are a few disservices of Facebook. Facebook has turned into a period killing machine for understudies. In an understudy life, you need to stay away from web-based media like Facebook or Twitter. The youthful age is being dependent on Facebook. They are going through quite a while with it. What’s more, it has been an integral justification for their investigation hamper. The gatekeepers ought to know about this. They should restrict their child’s Smartphone utilizing time. Something else, that could be truly downright awful is their schooling.

Conclusion on Facebook Essay

To summarize it, in the event that we use Facebook to the right extent and with legitimate consideration, it very well may be an integral asset for anybody. In addition, it tends to be extraordinary for promoting and systems administration. Further, any business can likewise use its ability to make its business achievement. Be that as it may, it is fundamental to recollect to not allow it to turn into a fixation.

Small Essay on Facebook

Facebook is among the most famous online media organizing locales in the present occasions. Facebook is profoundly famous because of its different applications and the simplicity of correspondence it offers to the client. It permits clients to share pictures, occasions and situations with a solitary stage.

Facebook has various advantages like the capacity to shape gatherings, talk with companions and discover data on different points. Facebook is likewise profoundly instructive because of the different pages on a large group of points including yet not restricted to wellbeing, schooling, science, practice and so forth

It is likewise an optimal correspondence stage for family members, companions and individuals from a family who can remain associated with a solitary stage.

A later expansion to the online visit program is the video calling highlight which has acquired monstrous ubiquity. Not exclusively would one be able to converse with individuals yet in addition see them live with the assistance of this video talk highlight.

One more vital element of Facebook is the internet gaming gateway that it offers to its clients. There are a huge number of games on Facebook which one can play at some random time. The intriguing angle is the capacity to play these games with companions.

Facebook is turning into an exceptionally fruitful stage not just for making new companions and discovering old ones, however forgetting worldwide and nearby news also. The greater part of the news and media organizations have dispatched their Facebook pages.

FAQ’s on Facebook Essay

Question 1. Why do you like Facebook?

Answer: Individuals Are Addicted To Facebook Because It Is A Social Network platform. Having Facebook causes you to feel like you are very much educated with regard to everything everywhere. Facebook allows you the opportunity to stay in contact. You can stay in contact with your loved ones.

Question 2. What is Facebook?

Answer: Facebook is an interpersonal interaction webpage that makes it simple for you to interface and offers with loved ones on the web. Initially intended for undergrads, Facebook was made in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg while he was selected at Harvard University.

Question 3. What are the uses of Facebook?

Answer: Facebook is a site that permits clients, who pursue free profiles, to interface with companions, work associates or individuals they don’t have the foggiest idea, on the web. It permits clients to share pictures, music, recordings, and articles, just as their own considerations and feelings with anyway many individuals they like.

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Writing a Persuasive Essay About Using Facebook

Table of contents:

• Introduction
• Body paragraphs

Whether or not to use Facebook can be a controversial topic of debate. When you’re writing a persuasive essay, either for or against Facebook use, it’s important to be aware that there are a lot of nuances to the situation, and many points of both agreement and disagreement.

In your introduction, make sure to set out your thesis clearly, but it may be too harsh if you imply, for instance, that people are morally right or wrong to use Facebook. Be decisive but not aggressive. It may help to admit to some advantages or disadvantages of using Facebook right away.

Introduction examples

Pro: Facebook is a great way of keeping friends and family of all ages in touch, of building communities based on common interests and/or location, and a good way to keep up with current events as long as you keep your wits about you.

Con: Facebook is no longer relevant for our times, because it’s now full of spam from companies you don’t care about, advertisements, and fake news, rather than being a place for friends and family to keep in touch.

As you move on into the body of your persuasive essay, touch on all the arguments against your thesis, as well as for it, that you can think of. It’s good to have a full defence ready to go, as missing out any mentions of either benefits or negatives, depending on which side you’re taking, can make your argument look weak.

Body paragraphs examples

Pro: It’s true that there are some who try to exploit Facebook to spread total falsehoods, or marketers who use Facebook primarily as a way of advertising to their customers rather than listening to them and building a community with them. However, this isn’t the majority of the content on Facebook, and you can clear the clutter from your own feed quite easily. Facebook gives you the tools to do this by hiding things you’re not interested in, or giving you the ability to unfollow groups, pages, and even acquaintances you’ve lost interest in. At heart, Facebook still retains the benefits it always had, allowing you to easily talk with, share pictures and video with, and play games with, people you know.

Con: At one point, certainly, Facebook had a lot of benefits as a social media site. However, since then, it’s become a wasteland full of maniacs, advertising, and people pretending their lives are better than yours. Facebook changed the order you see your feed in so that you see “Top Stories” rather than the most recent updates, defeating the point of having a feed in the first place. You can now see updates with a lot of activity multiple times while never seeing the update from your friend that you really needed to see, because it was lost in the mania. It’s a popularity contest taken virtual, and there’s really no point to it anymore.

Your conclusion should then be a brief, succinct summary of your main points, followed by a request for the reader to do something, even if just to consider what you’re saying with an open mind.

Conclusion examples

Pro: Facebook isn’t perfect, but it’s not exactly a howling wasteland either. It has both good and bad points. Let’s improve the bad points rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Con: When considering the pros and cons, it’s easy to just maintain the status quo rather than say: “This isn’t good enough, and I can’t take it anymore,” and move on from there. There are many other social media sites on the Internet, and most of them are a lot better than Facebook.

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Ai or not ai a student suspects one of their peer reviewer was a bot, how to summarize a research article, loose vs lose, how to cite a blog, apa paraphrasing, the pros and cons of using facebook essay sample, example.

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with people who are far away. According to surveys, friends who reside in different countries and use Facebook to communicate with each other display a more optimistic mood and feel calmer about those who are close to them, compared to those who do not use any social networks, or use only email (IFR Database). People who use Facebook tend to feel like they are in touch with the rest of the world regardless of distances, and this sensation makes them feel better.

Facebook is a reasonable option for people who want to stay updated with the news of the topics that are of interest to them. Joining various communities regarding all kinds of activities, and receiving updates from them turn Facebook into an easy-to-use, completely-customizable newsline. Hence, Facebook can be a useful tool for those who need to receive operational and fresh information.

At the same time, Facebook is known to be a factor that distorts one’s perception of reality, declines the satisfaction of one’s life and personality, and negatively affects relationships between people. According to the research held by Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan and Philippe Verduyn of Leuven University, people who use Facebook often display a growing dissatisfaction with their lives, whereas respondents who use Facebook infrequently and socialize with peers in real life felt happier and healthier (The Economist).

The same research showed how the most common emotion experienced by people who regularly use Facebook is envy. This is due to the fact that people usually do their best to make their lives look better than they are in reality, and at the same time believe in the reality of “virtual lives” created by other Facebook users.

Facebook can be dangerous for teenagers and children. Parents who would like to protect their children from negative information on the Internet should consider how Facebook is full of links to other media resources, some of which can be explicit. Whereas it is possible, to some extent, to control a child’s use of Facebook, it is impossible to predict where browsing these links could lead them (TheOnlineMom). Due to the same reason, parents have a right to feel worried about the friends of friends. One can know all the friends of their children, but these friends have other friends, who can have a negative influence on these children.

Facebook is a tool which should be used with caution. Though it is a convenient way to stay in touch with friends and acquaintances who live far away, and to stay updated about events which are of interest for a particular person, it can also have negative impacts on one’s personality. For example, Facebook causes its regular users to feel envious about the lives of other people; it can also provoke dissatisfaction with one’s own life, especially compared to people who socialize more in real life rather than online. The relationship Facebook has with the world is bittersweet: but we may witness its relationship turn for the worse in the coming decades.

“Get a Life!” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 17 Aug. 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21583593-using-social-network-seems-make-people-more-miserable-get-life>.

“The Pros and Cons of Facebook for Kids.” TheOnlineMom. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://theonlinemom.com/secondary.asp?id=1275>

“What’s Wrong About Facebook?” IFR Database. 25 Jun. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2014.

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Social Media Essay: Benefits and Drawbacks of Social Networking Sites

The advent of various social media channels has revolutionized the internet landscape by introducing us to global networking. Today, an individual can connect with another in a completely different part of this world just in a matter of seconds. We will take you through various notions and opinions associated with social media and how they impact our everyday lives. Also, there are some incredible tips to give you a better insight into how to write a social media essay.

Sep 03 2020 ● 8 min read

Table of Contents

What is social media essay, how do you write a social media essay, structure of social media essay, various tones of a social media essay, incorporate an attractive topic.

As you know, an social media essay is a piece of writing that is used to introduce an essential topic to the world with its underlying advantages and disadvantages. These aspects are driven solely by facts and should not contain the opinions of the writers. It is drafted to give others a better understanding of the subject in hand.

No matter which subject it pertains to, an essay ends with a conclusion where the writers are permitted to give their opinion after weighing the advantages and disadvantages.

Similarly, a social media essay is written to appreciate the positive aspects and highlight the negative impacts of social media in this time and day. The conclusions include the analysis of the two elements by the writers in their own lives and give an open-ended point of view. Depending upon the essay writer or paper writing service , the decision can be decisive, too, but that is not encouraged.

Today, the use of social networks, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, or LinkedIn, has increased exponentially. An average millennial spends 2 hours and 58 minutes per day on social media platforms like Facebook. While some say that the platform is super-informative, others argue that all the information gathered on this platform is trivial and doesn't justify long hours invested in the use of social media.

The above arguments make using social media by individuals with a debatable issue, and this is why a lot of students are required to write an essay on social media. So, here are some incredible tips to help you out in writing an essay on social media even if you don't have marketing skills .

A classic essay consists of 3 parts – the introduction, main body, and the conclusion.

• The Introduction

As you introduce the main topic, always begin with how it is relevant to the current scenario. You can do this by providing some background information. The information can be made richer by adding some reliable stats and data . Once you have established the topic, you need to give a strong thesis statement of the hypothesis on which your essay is based.

The thesis statement in your essay should be precise and debatable. If not, the arguments that you are going to put forward in the essay would make no sense.

The main body of your text should consist of logical arguments in relevance to your hypothesis. Make sure you put forward one statement in one paragraph and start a new one with another section. This will make your essay look more organized.

Also, when developing ideas, only include the ones you can write clearly about. If not, avoid them. Make sure that the essay develops coherently.

To conclude the essay about social media, bring back your hypothesis, and state how the aspects you discussed earlier support or nullify it. Make it a point to summarize all ideas, but do not start adding more ideas when you are about to conclude. You can now give an, ideally, open end to your essay.

A great conclusion is the one that provokes thought and will make your readers question the use of social media in their everyday lives.

Also, remember that essays do not have to include pros and cons always. They can either be full of pros or cons or both, depending upon your hypothesis. Just ensure they are relevant.

You might believe that an essay is an essay, and two of them would be similar, but that's a misconception. Different essays have varying tones depending on how the author is treating the thesis statement through the main body of the text. Here are a few examples of essays on social media in different tones.

• Sample of a Persuasive Essay

If you are asked to write an academic paper about the effects of social media on the mental health of teenagers and young adults, you should make it persuasive. For this, just writing about the topic is not enough. It would help if you had an impactful thesis, followed by powerful arguments to support or question your theory.

The perils associated with social media addiction are forcing parents and "grown-ups" to throw their benefits in bad light today. In the race to become best in academics and non-academic activities, people are losing their grip on how social networks bring people together. They empower individuals with knowledge about various cultures and languages, which might not have been possible otherwise.

Social media sites can be addictive, and students might waste their formative years scrolling through the trivial feed and gain nothing but superficial knowledge. But that is just because neither parents nor the school is encouraging positive social media behavior. If these institutions start offering tips to students to limit and utilize their time on social media , one would be amazed to see their achievements.

Is social media a catalyst for the downfall of student life? Well, social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and more are teeming with inspirational achievers and content creators who go the extra mile to share their stories and inspire students. If the children are taught to see their access to social media as an opportunity to grow rather than a competition for likes and followers, they are bound to work harder and achieve goals that seemed insurmountable earlier.

• Sample of Negative Essay about social media

If you have been asked to highlight the negative aspects of social media, your teacher does not mean that you have to cross all limits to present the use of social media in a bad light. Instead, what they are asking for is some logical and believable arguments that tell us why social media is harmful to society.

Social media is destroying family links by creating a virtual shell for each individual, which dissociates them with their own parents and siblings. The kids are adversely affected by increased access to social media if parents are always indulged in their devices and ignore them. Eventually, even kids start using tools to connect to other people, ignoring their family members.

Since kids and teenagers are the most impressionable age groups, they start believing that everything that glitters on social media platforms is gold, and they become materialistic. Their lives start revolving around likes, comments, and followers/subscribers. No matter whether their minds are prepared for such exposure or not, social media exposes them to the best and the worst about this world, which might turn them into rebels. They start valuing their online friends more than their offline lives and go to unimaginable extents to keep them entertained.

So, parents and elders need to pay attention to their children and limit their social media use so that they can learn to form real relationships and values.

• Weighing the pros and cons

Another way in which you can present your social media essay is by comparing the positive and negative aspects associated with it. In such essays, the conclusion is better left open for the readers to decide their own take on social media.

One cannot argue that social media has taken the world by storm by allowing like-minded individuals to connect and share their experiences with the world. You can use these platforms to make new friends and discover the ones who have lost touch. You can talk to everyone on your friend list and share your content on these channels to become a part of the creators' community. There is no dearth for talent on social media and its admirers.

On the other hand, if you use social media sites for long stretches of time in one go, you run the risk of addiction. Gradually, a social media addict starts to build a cocoon for themselves, which they find hard to step out of. This leads to a disconnect between you and the family you already have and love. One might feel too confined yet comfortable in their space that they have no urge left to step out, pushing them towards social seclusion, or worse – depression.

When you flip the coin again, you will discover that social media has become an incredible platform for small businesses to grow and earn good profits . The grass-root companies do not have to invest much for advertising and promotion or even own an establishment. All they have to do is to create a grassroots marketing strategy for themselves, and their brand will start selling in no time!

In the end, social media is a game-changer on the World Wide Web. It allows people to connect with the virtual world with the risk of disconnecting with the real world. Then again, businesses are doing well on these platforms. There are indeed two sides to social media, one positive and another negative, and it is up to you which one you lean towards more.

• Argumentative social media essay

A challenging but equally exciting type of essay on social media you should know about is an argumentative essay. It is often written when you are tasked with altering the point of view of the reader, which is of a completely opposite belief. Here is a sample for your better understanding.

Social networks have an uncertain future with the string impression they leave on users, especially the younger generations. Parents panic with the first mention of social media sites by their children and learning about their presence on these platforms because they are afraid of cyberbullying. They do not want their children to get cat-fished by some stranger on Reddit when they are not around.

Moreover, social media platforms are the reason why several individuals are losing their confidential data every day to corporate houses. These businesses are using the information to bug users with ads about stuff they do not want to buy.

If such instances carry on, the day is not far when the government will start to keep checks on the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other channels. Massive surveillance will be imposed on these sites to prevent malicious minds from harming innocent teenagers physically or by hacking into their systems. So, before you get a chance to ask " have I been hacked ", know that someone is taking care of it.

Having an attractive topic for your social media essay does not mean using poetic words in it. You should have an issue relevant to the current scenario. In the process of selecting a fascinating topic, do not forget to keep it within the extents of your knowledge. If it becomes too complicated for you to write about, you will be stuck when coming up with arguments and ideas.

The perfect topic would be the one which offers good potential for research and is interesting for the readers too. Even if you present profound arguments about such topics, they should be in a logical, comprehensible, and readable format for people to understand easily.

Writing a social media essay is no cakewalk, whether you are a high-school student or university student. All you need to do is, structuralize it properly, be clear with the ideas and arguments you are planning to present, pick the tone of your essay, and began writing. Do not forget to top your essay up with a catchy topic so that your entire hard work doesn't fall flat.

Published on Sep 03 2020

Gintaras is an experienced marketing professional who is always eager to explore the most up-to-date issues in data marketing. Having worked as an SEO manager at several companies, he's a valuable addition to the Whatagraph writers' pool.

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169 Facebook Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best facebook topic ideas & essay examples, 🥇 most interesting facebook topics to write about, 📌 good essay topics on facebook, ✅ simple & easy facebook essay titles, ❓ research questions about facebook.

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• Banning of Social Media Such as Facebook from Schools Students, who spend most time using social media, such as Facebook and twitter, find it hard to concentrate in class because of the addictive nature of the social media.
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• Strategic Management. Facebook Faces Up In that sense Strategic management could be considered as the issue of decision making which with the use of flexible management would provide adaptation of the enterprise to the changing environment.
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• Zuckerberg in Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Scandal A recent scenario is the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal in which the Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, was summoned to explain the data breach.
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• Stanford University’s vs. Facebook Inc.’s Administration The term “public administration” refers to the implementation of appropriate policies that can meet citizens’ needs. In public organizations, the term “external culture” can be used to refer to the environment served.
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• Social Networks Diversity Analysis: Facebook In particular, regarding the criterion of a social class, the overwhelming majority is similar. In this context, it is appropriate to use the concept of “the wisdom of crowds” suggesting that larger groups can offer […]
• Facebook as a Social Network and Its Privacy Policy The case study explains that the privacy policy and privacy settings on Facebook are such that they considerably violate the privacy of the social network’s users by selling their data to third parties for a […]
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• Facebook’s Strategic Management and Competitiveness The undeniable fact is that the company’s growth and success are attributable to the explosion of the Internet. The founders of the company must have been inspired by the need to support the goals of […]
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• Facebook and Employees Political Bias Additionally, he refers to her personal opinions not discussed in her actual announcements, such as her posts on Twitter and Facebook.
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• Does Facebook Benefit College Students Socially and Academically?
• How Can Facebook Leverage Its Products and Services in the Workplace?
• Why Is Facebook the Best Social Media?
• Does Facebook Change People?
• What Type of Person Is Addicted to Facebook?
• How Do Different Narcissistic Traits Influence Facebook Use?
• Is Facebook Bad for Self-Esteem?
• What Is the Theory About Facebook Addiction?
• How Did YouTube and Facebook Earn Their Success?
• Does Facebook Have a Generally Positive Psychological Effect?
• What Are Facebook’s Biggest Challenges?
• How Can Facebook Be Used Positively?
• Who Is Facebook’s Biggest Competitor?
• How Does Facebook Change the Way We Communicate?
• Why Are People Leaving Facebook?
• How Does Facebook Advertising Affect Its Users?
• Does Facebook Make Us Unhappy and Unhealthy?
• Why Do People Like to Use Facebook?
• Has Facebook Positively Impacted Society?
• What Effect Does Facebook Have on Democracy?
• Is Facebook No Longer Popular?
• Why Doesn’t Gen Z Use Facebook?
• How Does Facebook Treat Their Workers?
• What Gives Facebook a Competitive Advantage?
• How Do Fashion Companies Promote Themselves on Facebook?
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The uses and abuses of Facebook: A review of Facebook addiction

Tracii ryan.

1 School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

ANDREA CHESTER

2 School of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

SOPHIA XENOS

Background and aims: Recent research suggests that use of social networking sites can be addictive for some individuals. Due to the link between motivations for media use and the development of addiction, this systematic review examines Facebook-related uses and gratifications research and Facebook addiction research. Method: Searches of three large academic databases revealed 24 studies examining the uses and gratifications of Facebook, and nine studies of Facebook addiction. Results: Comparison of uses and gratifications research reveals that the most popular mo- tives for Facebook use are relationship maintenance, passing time, entertainment, and companionship. These motivations may be related to Facebook addiction through use that is habitual, excessive, or motivated by a desire for mood alteration. Examination of Facebook addiction research indicates that Facebook use can become habitual or excessive, and some addicts use the site to escape from negative moods. However, examination of Facebook addic- tion measures highlights inconsistency in the field. Discussion: There is some evidence to support the argument that uses and gratifications of Facebook are linked with Facebook addiction. Furthermore, it appears as if the social skill model of addiction may explain Facebook addiction, but inconsistency in the measurement of this condition limits the ability to provide conclusive arguments. Conclusions: This paper recommends that further research be performed to establish the links between uses and gratifications and Facebook addiction. Furthermore, in order to enhance the construct validity of Facebook addiction, researchers should take a more systematic approach to assessment.

Introduction

In the last decade, the use of social networking sites (SNSs) has grown exponentially. For example, statistics provided by Facebook ( 2014 ) reveal that as of March 2014 there were 1.28 billion active users on the site per month, and at least 802 million of these users logged into Facebook every day. With statistics such as these, it is not surprising that Facebook is the most popular SNS in the world (see Figure 1 ). It is also one of the most popular websites on the Internet, second only to Google in global usage ( Alexa Internet, 2013 ). As a result of this popularity, social scientists have recently begun to examine aspects of its use (for a detailed review of this topic see Wilson, Gosling & Graham, 2012 ). However, limited research has examined the potential for Facebook use to become addictive ( Griffiths, Kuss & Demetrovics, 2014 ).

Active users of ten popular social networking sites

SNS addiction

SNS addiction has been defined as a failure to regulate usage, which leads to negative personal outcomes ( LaRose, Kim & Peng, 2010 ). While a growing number of researchers accept the possibility that the use of online applications can become addictive, the concept is contentious ( Griffiths, 2013 ) . In fact, despite over 15 years of Internet addiction research, the most recent version of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5 th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ) failed to include it as an addictive disorder.

While the exclusion of Internet addiction from the DSM-5 may create the perception that online addictions are not legitimate mental disorders, there is a large body of literature that suggests otherwise (see Kuss, Griffiths, Karila & Billieux, 2014 , for a more extensive review of this topic).

Note: Usage statistics in Figure 1 are current as at December 2013, and were sourced from the webpage “How Many People Use 340 of the Top Social Media, Apps & Services?” by Craig Smith, 1 December, 2013. Retrieved 9 December, 2013, from http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media .

In addition, a member of the DSM-5 working group suggested that inclusion of Internet addiction in future iterations of the DSM is possible, but is contingent upon the results of more rigorous research studies ( O’Brien, 2010 ). Unfortunately, at this point, there remains a sense of conceptual confusion associated with Internet addiction ( Meerkerk, van den Eijnden, Vermulst & Garretsen, 2009 ). For instance, a recent systematic review identified that there is no gold standard measure of this condition, nor is there any widely accepted theory ( Kuss et al., 2014 ).

One emerging theory of online addiction is Caplan’s ( 2010 ) social skill model of generalised problematic Internet use. This model states that individuals who prefer to communicate in an online environment are at greater risk of experiencing negative outcomes related to excessive online use. These individuals, who demonstrate deficient self-regulation of Internet use, tend to engage in online social communication as a means of escaping from negative mood states, such as loneliness or anxiety. Communicating online alleviates negative moods (known as mood alteration ), which then reinforces online use. Given the social focus of SNSs, this theory has the potential to explain SNS addiction. However, despite the popularity of SNS use, empirical research examining addiction to these online social platforms is currently lacking.

In 2011, Kuss and Griffiths performed a comprehensive literature review to examine the legitimacy of SNS addiction. In their paper, they focused on six areas associated with SNS addiction: usage patterns, motivations for SNS use, personalities of SNS users, negative consequences of SNS use, empirical evidence of SNS addiction, and co-morbidity. At that time, the authors were only able to locate five studies of SNS addiction. As a result, they were limited in their ability to ascertain the status of this potential disorder. While they were able to recognise that excessive use of SNSs can be linked to negative outcomes, they concluded that more extensive research was required to prove the existence of this disorder.

Three years later, Griffiths et al. ( 2014 ) performed another review of SNS addiction, this time locating 17 studies. This increase in the extant literature highlights the perceived salience of this topic of investigation. However, despite the larger body of research available for review, Griffiths et al. were not able to offer any more substantial conclusions. While they did find preliminary evidence for some symptoms of SNS addiction (e.g., preoccupation, withdrawal, and negative consequences), methodological issues associated with the majority of studies precluded the ability to form any conclusions regarding the legitimacy of SNS addiction. As a result, they proposed that the question of whether addiction to SNSs exists remains open for debate.

Griffiths et al. ( 2014 ) also made the valid point that describing SNS addiction is not a clear-cut process. In particular, they posit that becoming addicted to the social aspects of SNS use may represent “cyber-relationship addiction” ( Young, Pistner, O’Mara & Buchanan, 1999 ), while addiction to SNS games, such as the popular Facebook application Farmville, should fall under the classification of “gaming addiction” ( Griffiths, 2012 ). In the present paper, we argue that this notion should be taken one step further; just as the Farmville addict may differ from someone who compulsively posts social content on SNSs, so too may the motivations of the Facebook addict differ from the Twitter addict. As will become clear, this point is supported by research relating to the gratifications of SNS use.

Uses and gratifications of SNSs

Commonly, when researchers choose to examine the motivations associated with particular forms of media, they do so by employing a uses and gratifications approach. Uses and gratifications theory states that one of the keys to understanding the popularity of mass media lies in the identification of the factors underlying its use ( Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch, 1973 ). One of the first studies to examine the uses and gratifications of SNSs was performed by Raacke and Bonds-Raacke ( 2008 ). After surveying a sample of university students from the USA, these authors reported that the primary motivations for Facebook and MySpace use was to form and maintain social connections. Since that time, numerous studies have reinforced the importance of relationship maintenance as a key reason for Facebook use (e.g., Joinson, 2008 ; Sheldon 2008 , 2009 ; Valentine, 2012 ). Indeed, Kuss and Griffiths ( 2011 ) argue that relationship maintenance is the main motivator for all SNS use.

However, studies looking at the uses and gratifications of SNSs other than Facebook tend to indicate that Kuss and Griffiths’ ( 2011 ) argument may be somewhat misleading. For example, Dunne, Lawlor and Rowley ( 2010 ) report that one of the most important uses and gratifications for Bebo use among teenage girls was impression management. In addition, research relating to video and image sharing SNSs (such as YouTube and Pinterest) indicate that the use of these sites is primarily influenced by the need for self-expression and entertainment ( Gülnar, Balcé & Çakér, 2010 ; Mull & Lee, 2014 ). Given the varied features of different SNSs, these findings are hardly surprising. As Chen ( 2011 ) notes, “multiple media compete for users’ attention”, and “active users select the medium that meets their needs” (p. 759).

The results of these studies show that, while it is true that all SNSs serve a similar purpose - to facilitate social interaction through the efficient dissemination of information to a desired audience - the specific features of each individual site are often varied ( Boyd & Ellison, 2007 ). For this reason, it is unwise to assume that the results of a study that focuses on one particular SNS can be generalised to every SNS that is currently in existence ( Panek, Nardis & Konrath, 2013 ). Furthermore, important differences in SNS usage might be undetectable when data from different sites are combined ( Hargittai, 2008 ). Therefore, in the case of literature reviews such as those performed by Kuss and Griffiths ( 2011 ), it seems that the assumption of SNS homogeneity might be misguided. On the contrary, we argue that the need to separate out results from specific sites is crucial to understanding the development of SNS addiction.

Uses and gratifications and SNS addiction

Earlier, the point was made that the gratifications of a Facebook addict may differ from those of a Twitter addict. This example highlights the need for SNS addiction researchers to consider the motivations behind the use of addictive SNS platforms. According to Papacharissi and Mendelson ( 2011 ), “online media serve as functional alternatives to interpersonal and mediated communication, providing options or complements for aspects of an individual’s environment that are not as fulfilling” (p. 214). In certain circumstances, Internet users may lose control over use that was originally motivated by “active consideration of the gratifications of online behaviour” ( Song, LaRose, Eastin & Lin, 2004 , p. 390).

While the relationship between uses and gratifications and SNS addiction was previously recognised by Kuss and Griffiths ( 2011 ), limited research has been performed in this area. One of the first empirical studies to examine the relationship between SNS addiction and uses and gratifications was performed by Wan ( 2009 ). She studied use of the campus-based SNS Xiaonei.com amongst a sample of 335 Chinese college students. The results revealed that Xiaonei.com addiction was significantly associated with the motives of socialisation and relationship building. Similarly, another study based on a Greek sample of 1971 adolescents ( Floros & Siomos, 2013 ) found that the motivations of seeking friendship, relationship maintenance, and escapism, along with impulsive use of the Internet, predicted more frequent SNS participation.

While the two studies mentioned above support the notion that SNS use can be associated with a desire to socialise and form relationships online, findings from other studies indicate that this is not always the case. For example, Huang ( 2012 ) examined SNS use among 1549 adolescents, and found that entertainment gratifications were the strongest predictor of SNS addiction. In another study, Chen and Kim ( 2013 ) revealed that there was a positive relationship between SNS addiction and using SNSs for diversion and self-presentation. Of course, given that all of these studies (with the exclusion of Wan, 2009) measured aggregated SNS use, it is possible that these contrasting results reflect different types of SNSs used by each sample. If so, this would contribute to the argument that SNSs researchers should focus on specific sites rather than SNS use in general.

Rationale and scope of this review

As outlined above, the development of SNS addiction is likely to be linked to the gratifications associated with use of the particular site. The aim of this paper was to clarify this relationship by synthesising literature relating to the motivations for SNS use and SNS addiction. In doing so, the present paper builds upon a previous review of SNS literature by Kuss and Griffith ( 2011 ). Based on the issues outlined above, we argue that this review is necessary for two main reasons. First, although only three years has passed since Kuss and Griffiths’ original review was conducted, Griffiths et al. ( 2014 ) recently demonstrated that the extant literature has grown substantially in this time period. Second, previous reviews of SNS addiction have failed to examine results from particular social networking sites in isolation. As argued above, this approach may have obscured important results relating to the particular motivations of SNS use and SNS addiction. In contrast, the present review expands on the previous work by focusing only on research related to a single SNS: Facebook.

There were two main reasons for selecting Facebook over other SNSs. First, Facebook is considerably more popular than other SNSs (see Figure 1 ). The widespread acceptance of Facebook suggests that there maybe unique factors associated with this SNS that are working to gratify the needs of a large number of Internet users. Second, in their review of SNS addiction, Griffith et al. ( 2014 ) demonstrated that empirical studies based on Facebook outweigh studies focusing on any other SNS.

The synthesis of literature provided in this review should not only clarify the findings related to Facebook addiction, but will also help to address questions regarding the particular motivations of Facebook users, and whether these motivations are linked to the development of Facebook addiction. Furthermore, by performing a review of Facebook addiction literature at such an early stage, inconsistencies with the conceptualisation and assessment of this disorder can be identified. Through this process, recommendations for future research can be made, which should hopefully fortify the construct validity of this potential condition. If this can be achieved, Facebook addiction research would avoid the conceptual confusion that has consistently plagued Internet addiction research.

A literature search was performed using the academic databases ProQuest (including PsycInfo), ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. These databases were selected as they provide access to a large number of scientific peer-reviewed journal articles and theses from multiple disciplines. Two types of research studies were of interest in the current study: those relating to the uses and gratifications of Facebook, and those relating to Facebook addiction. Searches for uses and gratifications studies were performed using the terms ‘Facebook’, ‘social networking sites’, ‘social network sites’, ‘motivations’, and ‘uses and gratifications’. Searches for studies of Facebook addiction were performed using the terms ‘addiction’, ‘problematic’, ‘abuse’, ‘compulsive’, ‘excessive’, ‘social networking sites’, ‘social network sites’, and ‘Facebook’.

Uses and gratifications studies were included in the review if they measured the motivations of Facebook use in general; therefore, studies were excluded if they only focused on specific features of Facebook (i.e. a particular Facebook game). Furthermore, given that the present review was focused on the uses and gratifications of Facebook, rather than those of other SNSs, studies were excluded if they measured aggregated uses and gratifications for multiple SNSs (even if they included Facebook). According to LaRose, Mastro and Eastin ( 2001 ), “uses and gratifications researchers typically start with descriptions of common media uses, obtain ratings of the frequency or importance of those uses, and factor analyse the results to obtain gratification factors that are then correlated with media use” (p. 396). However, as this systematic review was interested in identifying all of the possible uses and gratifications of Facebook use, studies were included even if they had not reported evidence of factor analysis. In cases where factor analysis had been performed, the percentages of variance explained by each factor were recorded where available. This information was included in order to ascertain whether certain motivators of Facebook use are more important than others.

In regard to Facebook addiction literature, studies were excluded if they focused on addiction to SNSs in general (even if this included Facebook) and only provided combined results from these multiple sites in an aggregated format. As explained above, this criterion was necessary to ensure that results relating to other SNSs were excluded. For similar reasons, studies considering the role of Facebook use in relation to Internet addiction were also excluded.

Results and Discussion

Within this section, the results of the literature searches are presented, followed by a review of the common findings identified within the extant literature. Uses and gratifications studies are discussed first, including a section dedicated to a discussion of the variables associated with particular uses and gratifications. This is followed by a review of Facebook addiction studies, including an examination of the various instruments that were used to measure this construct.

Uses and gratifications

Twenty-four studies were identified that examined the uses and gratifications of Facebook and met the criteria identified above. For ease of comparison, the results of these studies are displayed in Table 1 . When the uses and gratifications factors are compared, some clear patterns emerge. In 14 out of the 16 studies where the percentage of variance for each factor was reported, the factors accounting for the majority of the variance relate to either relationship maintenance or passing time . In this context, relationship maintenance involves interacting with members of an individual’s existing offline social network ( Sheldon, 2008 ). Clearly, many Facebook users view the site as a useful tool to facilitate social interaction with existing friends and family. In this regard, Facebook differs from many older online social applications, such as discussion boards and newsgroups, which were primarily used for the formation of new relationships. Instead, Facebook appears to have an offline-to-online social focus ( Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007 ).

Systematic review of studies of the uses and gratifications of Facebook

a As these results originate from conference papers, they may be of a lower quality than the other reported studies.

b Individual variances for each factor were not provided.

Similar to the results presented here, Kuss and Griffiths ( 2011 ) also found that relationship maintenance was an important motivation for SNS use. As those authors did not look at specific SNSs independently from each other, it is unclear whether all SNSs have this focus, or whether these authors primarily discussed results from predominantly Facebook-related studies. The latter explanation is possible as, due to the popularity of the site, Facebook-related research tends to be more prominent than research relating to other SNSs. Clearly, researchers should endeavour to determine whether the uses and gratifications of other popular SNSs are similar or different to those associated with Facebook. In doing so, it would establish whether the popularity of Facebook is tied to unique factors.

In regard to the popular gratification of passing time, the findings appear to reflect the habitual use of Facebook to occupy time when bored, or to procrastinate from other activities ( Foregger, 2008 ; Sheldon, 2008 ). Using Facebook for this purpose may involve such activities as checking the News Feed for new updates or playing games. Papacharissi and Mendelson ( 2011 ) refer to such use as ritualised, and indicate that it reflects “the addictive nature of the genre” (p. 226). Based on this, it is possible that the gratification of passing time may be related to Facebook addiction, but further research is required.

If the remaining factors in Table 1 are compared, it is apparent that entertainment, companionship, and escape appear across multiple studies. Although these factors tend to account for less variance in their respective analyses than relationship maintenance and passing time, they are also worth discussing briefly, as they may be related to the development of Facebook addiction.

Fifteen studies in Table 1 include a factor relating to the use of Facebook for entertainment purposes. This factor encapsulates using Facebook to engage in socially passive activities, such as looking at user-generated content on the site, or playing games. In essence, the entertainment factor appears similar in nature to the more popular passing time factor. However, the latter appears to be motivated more by task avoidance, procrastination or filling time, while the former reflects planned usage for the purposes of pleasure seeking. In Sheldon’s ( 2008 ) study, the entertainment factor had a high mean score, which highlights the importance of this motivation for Facebook use in certain populations.

In regard to companionship, this factor was present in six out of 24 studies. Companionship taps into the use of Facebook to avoid loneliness and gratify interpersonal needs. Similarly, two other studies included motivations that related to decreasing loneliness ( Balakrishnan & Shamim, 2013 ; Teppers, Luyckx, Klimstra & Goossens, 2014 ). Given that there is a link between loneliness and the development of Internet addiction ( Caplan, 2010 ), it is possible that factors such as these may also be related to Facebook addiction. It is interesting to note that in Valentine’s (2011) study, top-loading items in the companionship factor related to the use of Facebook to escape from worries and problems. Such items may be suggestive of mood alteration, which, as mentioned earlier, is linked to addiction of online social applications ( Caplan, 2010 ; Lortie & Guitton, 2013 ). However, none of the uses and gratifications studies reviewed here explicitly referred to this dimension. Instead, they appear to use the term escape , which was included in four out of 24 studies.

Variables linked to uses and gratifications

Several of the 24 studies in Table 1 also identified variables that are commonly linked to the uses and gratifications of Facebook. A discussion of these variables was deemed to be germane to the current paper, as it sheds light on the types of people who may be at risk of Facebook addiction. This discussion taps into three main variables: gender, frequency of use, and duration of use.

Of the studies presented in Table 1 , five examined the association between gender and uses and gratifications of Facebook ( Hunt, Atkin & Krishnan, 2012 ; Joinson, 2008 ; Sheldon, 2009 ; Spiliotopoulos & Oakley, 2013 ; Teppers et al., 2014 ). In all of these studies, women were more likely than men to use Facebook for connecting with existing contacts. In contrast, Sheldon ( 2009 ) found that men were more likely than women to be motivated by making new friends or forming new romantic relationships on Facebook. Although Facebook has changed since Sheldon’s study was published, a recent study by Spiliotopoulos and Oakley ( 2013 ) also found that men prefer to use Facebook to engage in social network browsing.

The above results point to a fundamental difference between women and men in their uses and gratifications of Facebook; women prefer to use the site to maintain their existing social networks, while men prefer to use it to expand their social networks. Given that past research has linked Internet addiction with a tendency to prefer communicating with new online friends (e.g., Morahan-Martin & Schumacher, 2000 ; Young, 1998a ), it is possible that men may be more likely to fail to regulate their online communication and become addicted to Facebook. However, recent research has found that women are heavier users of Facebook than men ( Foregger, 2008 ). In light of these conflicting results, it is clear that researchers should examine the difference that gender plays in the development of Facebook addiction. In fact, it may be the case that there are multiple pathways to addiction, and these are mediated by different communicative motivations.

In Joinson’s ( 2008 ) study, frequency of Facebook use - that is, returning to Facebook multiple times per day - was found to be associated with what he called surveillance gratifications . This involves looking at user-generated content, such as photographs and status updates. Similarly, Hart ( 2011 ) reported that the entertainment gratification was a significant variable in a model predicting the frequency of Facebook use in both undergraduate and high school students. These results imply that passively engaging with social or entertainment-related content on Facebook can motivate users to return to the site frequently. This kind of use may be associated with checking for real-time updates on the News Feed, as content will generally be updated regularly. Such behaviour may be tapping into what is anecdotally referred to as fear of missing out or FoMO ( Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan & Gladwell, 2013 ); however, this warrants further investigation.

Interestingly, Papacharassi and Mendelson ( 2011 ) found that people who used Facebook more frequently developed a greater affinity with the site, especially when they used it to escape from negative emotions. As already discussed, the use of online applications for mood alteration is associated with deficient self-regulation and negative outcomes ( Caplan, 2010 ). Therefore, it is possible that this aspect of the social skill model of generalised problematic Internet use is relevant to the use of Facebook. While more in-depth research is required to support this theory, it is plausible that lonely or socially anxious individuals may feel more connected with others when checking the News Feed for recent updates, or when receiving messages or comments from friends. If so, this may lead such users to check the site frequently, in order to attain the negative reinforcement of mood alteration.

Joinson ( 2008 ) also found that the duration of time spent on Facebook per day was predicted by what he referred to as content gratifications, which involve engaging in non-so- cially oriented Facebook activities (i.e., playing games, searching applications, and completing quizzes). Similarly, Foregger ( 2008 ) found that using Facebook to pass time led to more time spent on Facebook per day. Taken together, these findings suggest that individuals who spend a lot of time on Facebook per day may do so for different reasons than those who check Facebook frequently. For example, rather than passively engaging with posted social content in the way that frequent users do, heavy users may be gratified by non-social activities such as game playing.

In contrast to the assumption above, Hart ( 2011 ) discovered that using Facebook for entertainment and relationship maintenance significantly contributed to a model predicting the amount of time spent on Facebook per day. This opposing result can potentially be explained by changes made to Facebook after 2008. In particular, Facebook added the real-time synchronous instant messaging application ‘Chat’ in April of that year ( Wiseman, 2008 ). This feature may have encouraged some Facebook users to spend more time on the site for social purposes, such as chatting with their friends and family. Furthermore, Alhabash, Park, Kononova, Chiang and Wise ( 2012 ) reported that Facebook intensity was predicted by the desire to share personal information via status updates. These results suggest that socially active Facebook applications, such as Chat and status updates may be associated with heavy Facebook use. One potential explanation for this trend is that the use of these applications increases the chance of receiving comments and messages from other users. For some individuals, such as those who are lonely, receiving this type of feedback could provide relief from feelings of social isolation and reinforce the use of these applications. In support of this, Yang and Brown ( 2013 ) reported that the use of status updates was associated with higher levels of loneliness, while Teppers et al. ( 2014 ) found that lonely adolescents were more likely to use the socially interactive applications of Facebook than non-lonely adolescents.

Facebook addiction

Nine studies measuring Facebook addiction were located through the literature searches (see Table 2 ). The results of these studies suggest that Facebook addiction is associated with being male ( Çam & İsbulan, 2012 ), being a heavy Facebook user ( Hong, Huang, Lin & Chiu, 2014 ; Koc & Gulyagci, 2013 ), and being in a higher year level at university ( Çam & İsbulan, 2012 ). Facebook addiction was also linked to certain psychological variables, such as relationship dissatisfaction ( Elphinston & Noller, 2011 ), depression ( Hong et al., 2014 ; Koc & Gulyagci, 2013 ), anxiety ( Koc & Gulyagci, 2013 ), subjective happiness, and subjective vitality ( Uysal, Satici & Akin, 2014 ). In terms of the symptoms of Facebook addiction, support was found for the existence of preference for online social interaction, mood alteration, deficient self-regulation, negative outcomes ( Lee, Cheung & Thadani, 2012 ), salience, loss of control, withdrawal, relapse ( Balakrishinan & Shamim, 2013 ), and tolerance ( Zaremohzzabieh, Samah, Omar, Bolong & Kamarudin, 2014 ).

Systematic review of Facebook addiction studies

a As these results originate from a conference paper, they may be of a lower quality than the other reported studies.

Only one study directly examined whether there was an association between the uses and gratifications of Facebook and Facebook addiction. Sofiah, Omar, Bolong and Osman ( 2011 ) reported that Facebook addicts were more inclined to use Facebook for social interaction, passing time, entertainment, companionship, and communication. These findings support the assumptions made earlier following the systematic review of uses and gratifications studies. Despite the lack of direct examination of the motivations of Facebook use by addictions researchers, the results of the studies included in Table 2 tap into three distinct themes that were also apparent in the uses and gratifications research: habitual Facebook use, excessive Facebook use, and mood alteration. The following section will discuss these results in more detail. Following this, a discussion relating to the measurement of Facebook addiction in these studies will be provided.

Habitual Facebook use

In the study performed by Elphinston and Noller ( 2011 ), the three items on the Facebook Intrusion Scale with the highest individual mean scores were ‘I often use Facebook for no particular reason’, ‘I feel connected to others when I use Facebook’, and ‘I lose track of how much I am using Facebook’. Likewise, Sofiah et al. ( 2011 ) reported that the items with the highest mean scores on their measure of Facebook addiction were ‘Facebook has become part of my daily routine’, ‘I find that I stay on Facebook longer than intended’, and ‘I feel out of touch when I haven’t logged onto Facebook for a while’. These results highlight the propensity for Facebook use to lead to deficient self-regulation through habitual and unmonitored use.

The results of the study by Sofiah et al. ( 2011 ) also revealed that the gratification of using Facebook to pass time accounted for 17.3% of the variance in scores from their measure of Facebook addiction (described in Table 3 ). Further, using Facebook for the combined motives of passing time, entertainment, and communication accounted for 23.9% of the variance. Therefore, habitual use of Facebook for passing time may put users at risk of Facebook addiction through the development of deficient self-regulation. As discussed above, passing time on Facebook appears to be predominantly associated with task avoidance and procrastination ( Foregger, 2008 ; Sheldon, 2008 ). As these types of gratifications are not socially focused, it seems that Caplan’s ( 2010 ) social skill model may not be adequate to explain these particular results. Further research is warranted to explore this supposition.

Facebook Addiction Assessment Instruments

a These measures have been subjected to factor analysis.

b This paper was not included in Table 2 as it is an instrument development study rather than a Facebook addiction study.

Excessive Facebook use

Two of the studies listed in Table 2 reported that higher levels of Facebook use were linked to Facebook addiction ( Hong et al., 2014 ; Koc & Gulyagci, 2013 ). These results are not surprising, given that online addictions researchers have previously pointed to a link between heavy Internet usage and addiction (e.g., Tonioni et al., 2012 ). In fact, many scholars have used the term “excessive Internet use” interchangeably with the term Internet addiction. This trend is most likely due to the popular belief that spending a large amount of time performing a particular behaviour, such as exercise or eating chocolate, is an indicator of the presence of addiction ( Leon & Rotunda, 2000 ); however, there are mixed views on this argument. Both Caplan ( 2005 ) and Griffiths ( 1999 ) have pointed out that excessive time spent online does not automatically qualify an individual as addicted. There are many non-problematic Internet behaviours that would involve extended periods of time online, such as study or work-related research. However, while not all people who spend large amounts of time on Facebook per day are necessarily addicted, due to the role that deficient self-regulation is thought to play, it makes sense that Facebook addicts would generally be heavy users.

Research relating to the uses and gratifications of Facebook has indicated that time spent on Facebook per day is related to content gratifications ( Joinson, 2008 ), passing time ( Foregger, 2008 ), and relationship maintenance ( Hart, 2011 ). Frequency of Facebook use has also found to be associated with using Facebook for entertainment ( Hart, 2011 ) and surveillance gratifications ( Joinson, 2008 ). This suggests that there are several different gratifications associated with both heavy and frequent Facebook use, and again, not all are socially focused.

Mood alteration

Lee et al. ( 2012 ) assessed whether Caplan’s ( 2010 ) social skill model applied to Facebook addiction. The results revealed that having a preference for online social interaction, and using Facebook for mood alteration, explained 35% of the variance in scores measuring deficient self-regulation of Facebook use. In turn, deficient self-regulation of Facebook use had a direct impact on the experience of negative life outcomes. While not measuring mood alteration directly, two other studies ( Hong et al., 2014 ; Koc & Gulyagci, 2013 ) provided evidence to support a relationship between low psychosocial health (depression and anxiety) and Facebook addiction. These findings may indicate that depressed and anxious people turn to Facebook to find relief and escape.

In regard to the link between these findings and uses and gratifications, evidence suggests that lonely people use Facebook to gain a sense of companionship ( Foregger, 2008 ; Sheldon, 2008 ), and to help them escape from their worries and problems ( Valentine, 2012 ). Papacharassi and Mendelson ( 2011 ) found that people who use Facebook to escape from unwanted moods use the site more frequently. They also tend to enjoy Facebook use more than non-lonely users. In 2007, Caplan reported that loneliness is associated with Internet addiction, and that this relationship is mediated by social anxiety. Therefore, it seems that the findings reported here partly support Caplan’s ( 2010 ) social skill model.

Measuring Facebook addiction

Due to the fact that Facebook addiction is an emerging field, different researchers have taken varying approaches to the measurement of this potential disorder. This is illustrated in Table 3 , which provides a summary of existing Facebook addiction instruments. As can be seen, scholars have tended to either create their own measures based on research from related addiction fields, or they have borrowed and modified existing measures of Internet addiction. A similar process also occurred when researchers began to create measures of Internet addiction ( Lortie & Guitton, 2013 ). Most Internet addiction instruments seem to be based on other addictive disorders, such as pathological gambling or substance-related addiction. This approach has led to confusion surrounding the appropriate criteria with which to measure Internet addiction, and has contributed to the underlying sense of conceptual chaos in the field ( Meerkerk et al., 2009 ). As a result, applying a similar approach to the measurement of Facebook addiction should be avoided.

In support of the above argument, examination of the Facebook addiction instruments that have been subjected to factor analysis (see Table 3 ) highlights inconsistency in measurement. For instance, both The Facebook Intrusion

Questionnaire ( FIQ; Elphinston & Noller, 2011 ) and the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale ( BFAS; Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg & Pallesen, 2012 ) include factors tapping into salience, withdrawal and relapse; however, that is where the similarities between these measures end. Likewise, there are more differences than similarities between the Generalised Problematic Internet Use Scale ( GPIUS2; Caplan, 2010 ) and the BFAS, although both include a mood-related factor (mood alteration/mood modification) and a negative outcomes factor (negative outcomes/conflicts). These examples underscore a lack of construct validity surrounding Facebook addiction. Moreover, they highlight the inconsistencies underlying behavioural addictions research in general.

As Facebook is an application of the Internet, it could be argued that the manifestation of Facebook addiction would have more in common with Internet addiction than it does with other forms of addiction, such as pathological gambling. In support of this claim, Caplan ( 2010 ) argues that preference for online communication is the key factor associated with the development of problematic use of online forms of communication. Given that Lee et al. ( 2012 ) found this factor was also relevant to Facebook addiction, it seems that preference for online social interaction is a factor worth including in ameasure of Facebook addiction. The modified version of the GPIUS2 therefore possibly presents the best option for measuring Facebook addiction out of all of the measures in Table 3 ; however, it also has limitations. For example, it does not provide a cut-off point for recognising problematic use ( Spraggins, 2009 ), nor does it measure how long the use has been problematic ( Griffiths, 2000 ).

Another point to consider is that, in light of the unprecedented popularity of Facebook with Internet users across the world, it is possible that there may be unique aspects associated with the development of addiction to this site. For example, past research has linked Internet addiction to the desire to communication with new online acquaintances, but uses and gratifications research has shown that the main motivation of Facebook use relates to maintaining existing online relationships. In this way, Facebook may be different to other forms of social media; however, this has yet to be determined.

Furthermore, if it is true that maintaining existing online relationships leads to Facebook addiction, it is important to be clear about what ‘existing relationships’ means. Does it refer purely to current and strong existing offline relationships, or does it take into account relationships from the past that have been rekindled through Facebook? One way of answering such questions would be to conduct in-depth exploratory research with Facebook addicted individuals. As opposed to borrowing and amending measures from conceptually related disorders, proceeding with research in an exploratory direction could enhance the construct validity of Facebook addiction and its associated measures.

Conclusions

The aim of this paper was to extend the work of Kuss and Griffiths ( 2011 ) by synthesising literature relating to the uses and abuses of Facebook. By examining this research, several important and previously unreported points have been highlighted. First, researchers have recognised that the main uses and gratifications of Facebook are relationship maintenance, passing time, entertainment, and companionship. Some of these gratifications appear to be more common among particular groups, such as women and younger users. Although there is limited empirical research examining the links between uses and gratifications and Facebook abuse, it is possible that these motives may cause Facebook use that is habitual, excessive, or motivated by a desire to escape from negative moods.

Second, in regard to Facebook addiction, the findings discussed here paint the following picture: individuals with low psychosocial wellbeing, such as loneliness, anxiety or depression, are motivated to use Facebook to find social support or to pass time. The lift in mood that this provides (also known as mood alteration) leads to deficient self-regulation, possibly due to negative reinforcement. In severe cases, this can eventually lead to negative life consequences.

For the most part, this description appears to support Caplan’s ( 2010 ) social skill model of generalised problematic Internet use. On the other hand, it is also possible that there are multiple pathways to Facebook addiction; for instance, those triggered by non-socially motivated use or fear of missing out. Unfortunately, at this point in time, inconsistency in the measurement of Facebook addiction makes it difficult to propose compelling arguments regarding this condition. It seems, therefore, that researchers should focus on strengthening the assessment of Facebook addiction before examining alternative pathways to the development of this condition. Further research should also aim to explore Facebook use within the general population, rather than focusing primarily on university students.

Furthermore, the offline-to-online social interactions that appear to motivate most Facebook users may be different to other forms of social media. Therefore, when measuring Facebook addiction, it is important to use an instrument that takes into account the potentially unique symptoms of the condition. At present, the existing measures described within this paper fail to achieve this, as they are primarily based on research from other areas of addiction. While the inclusion of the core symptoms of addiction is important, researchers in this area should also aim to conduct detailed exploratory studies of Facebook addiction, using either qualitative or mixed methods. This process should facilitate the development of more focused instruments of Facebook addiction, which, in turn, should provide more concrete evidence to support the legitimacy of this addictive disorder.

Limitations

Prior to concluding this paper, it is worth mentioning the possibility that performing a meta-analysis rather than a systematic review may have led to greater understanding of the uses and gratifications of Facebook and Facebook addiction. It should be mentioned, however, that a lack of consistency in regard to Facebook addiction measurement made a metaanalytic approach difficult.

Broader implications

It appears as if there is some evidence to support the notion that the uses and abuses of Facebook are linked. At this point in time, however, research addressing this salient area is still in its infancy. While some tentative steps forward have been made with this review, it is clear that the construct validity of Facebook addiction and its associated measures must be strengthened before research continues.

In addition, there is a strong need for a systematic method of item development when measuring emerging forms of addictive behaviours. As demonstrated in the present review, researchers currently tend to take a haphazard approach, which could end up resulting in conceptual confusion. Until a more systematic process is established, behavioural addictions researchers should think carefully when borrowing criteria or items from other addictive disorders. Ideally, researchers should endeavour to perform exploratory research in the first instance. This would offer more clarity in regards to which symptoms are relevant to the addictive disorder in question. Furthermore, an exploratory approach would provide opportunities for the identification of unique symptoms, which should improve construct validity.

Funding sources

No financial support was received for this study.

Authors’ contribution

TR and AC are responsible for the study concept and design. JR and SX performed study supervision. No data is included in this review.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

This review did not involve human and/or animal experimentation.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their insightful contributions to this paper.

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Persuasive Essay Writing

Persuasive Essay About Social Media

Learn How to Write a Persuasive Essay About Social Media With Examples

Published on: Jan 26, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 29, 2024

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Are you looking to learn how to write a persuasive essay about social media? 

Perfect, you've come to the right place!

From navigating the power of hashtags to analyzing changes in public opinion, these examples will help guide you on your journey. 

Whether you’re a seasoned pro at writing persuasive essays or just a starter, look at these examples to be inspired.

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Brief Overview of Persuasive Essay

A persuasive essay persuades the reader or audience to take a particular stance on an issue. It is used to present an opinion on any subject, and it typically takes the form of an academic essay. It includes evidence and facts supporting its arguments.

The writer must use facts and reliable sources to back up his or her claims.

It is also important that the essay should be well-structured. It should have clear arguments and a logical flow from one point to another.

Learn more about crafting perfect persuasive essays with the help of our detailed guide.

Persuasive Essay Examples About Social Media

Are you a student unsure how to write persuasive essays successfully? Well, never fear! 

We've got examples of some amazing persuasive essays about social media that will surely give you inspiration. Let’s take a look at a short persuasive essay example: 

Check these FREE downloadable samples of persuasive essays! 

Persuasive essay about social media on students

Persuasive essay about social media addiction

Persuasive Essay about Social Media Platforms are Danger to Our Privacy

Persuasive essay about social media beneficial or harmful

Persuasive essay about social media privacy

Persuasive essay on social media is bad for students

Examples of Argumentative Essay about Social Media

To help get your creative juices flowing, look at these example argumentative essays about social media below!

Argumentative essay about social media advantages and disadvantages

Argumentative essay about social media addiction

For more examples of persuasive essays, check out our blog on persuasive essay examples .

How Can You Write a Persuasive Essay About Social Media?      

A persuasive essay about social media can be an interesting and challenging task.

Understanding what makes a persuasive essay unique and how to craft arguments that effectively communicate your point of view is important. 

These are a few steps you should follow before writing an effective persuasive essay on social media.

Step 1: Decide Your Stance

First, you must decide on your stance regarding the issue at hand. Are you for or against the use of social media? Are you in support of social media?

After you decide your stance, move on to the research process.

Step 2: Conduct Due Research

Once you have established your position, you must research the topic and develop an argument that supports your stance. 

Make sure to include facts, statistics, and examples to back up your points.

Step 3: Outline Your Essay

Create a structured persuasive essay outline before delving into detailed writing. This roadmap will help organize your thoughts, ensuring a logical flow of arguments. Outline your introduction, key points, counterarguments, and conclusion.

Step 4: Craft Your Introduction 

The introduction should provide context, state the thesis statement , and grab the reader's attention. It precedes deciding your stance and initiates the overall writing process.

Read this free PDF to learn more about crafting essays on social media!

Persuasive essay about social media introduction

Step 5: Write the Body

Organize your arguments logically in the body of the essay. Each paragraph should focus on a specific point, supported by research and addressing counterarguments. This follows the introduction and precedes maintaining a persuasive tone.

Step 6: Address All Counterarguments

It is important to anticipate potential counterarguments from those who oppose your stance. 

Take time to address these points directly and provide evidence for why your opinion is more valid.

Step 7: Maintain a Persuasive Tone

To maintain your audience's attention, it is important to write in a confident and persuasive tone throughout the essay. 

Use strong language that will make readers take notice of your words. 

Check out this video on persuasive writing tones and styles.

Step 8: Conclude Your Essay

Finally, end your essay with a memorable conclusion that will leave your audience with something to think about. 

With these important steps taken into account, you can create an effective persuasive essay about social media!

Step 9: Revise and Edit

After completing your initial draft, take time to revise and edit your essay. Ensure clarity, coherence, and the effective flow of arguments. This step follows the conclusion of your essay and precedes the final check for overall effectiveness.

Persuasive Essay About Social Media Writing Tips

Here are some additional writing tips to refine your persuasive essay on social media.

• Highlight Numbers: Use facts and numbers to show how important social media is.
• Tell Stories: Share real stories to help people connect with the impact of social media.
• Use Pictures: Add charts or pictures to make your essay more interesting and easy to understand.
• Answer Questions: Think about what people might disagree with and explain why your ideas are better.
• Talk About What's Right: Explain why it's important to use social media in a good and fair way.

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Social Media Persuasive Essay Topics

Take a look at these creative and enticing persuasive essay topics. Choose from one of them or get inspiration from these topics.

• Should social media platforms be held accountable for cyberbullying?
• Should age restrictions be stricter for social media access to protect younger users from its negative effects?
• Should social media companies be mandated to prioritize user privacy over targeted advertising?
• Should schools integrate mandatory education on the pitfalls of social media for students?
• Should governments regulate the amount of time users spend on social media to prevent addiction?
• Should social media influencers face stricter guidelines for promoting unrealistic body standards?
• Should there be more transparency about how algorithms on social media platforms amplify divisive content?
• Should employers be allowed to consider an applicant's social media profiles during the hiring process?
• Should there be penalties for social networking sites that propagate false information?
• Should there be a limit on the amount of personal data social media platforms can collect from users?

Check out some more interesting persuasive essay topics to get inspiration for your next essay.

Wrapping up, 

Learning how to write persuasive essays about social media matters in today's digital world is crucial whether you are a high school student or a college student. These examples guide us in exploring both the good and bad sides of social media's impact. 

We hope this persuasive blog on social media has given you a few new ideas to consider when persuading your audience.

But if you are struggling with your essay assignment do not hesitate to seek professional help. At CollegeEssay.org , our writing experts can help you get started on any type of essay. 

With our professional persuasive essay writing service , you can be confident that your paper will be written in utmost detail.

So don't wait any longer! Just ask us ' write my essay ' today and let us help you make the most of your writing experience!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some good persuasive essay topics.

Good persuasive essay topics can include topics related to social media, such as 

• whether or not it should be regulated more heavily,
• the impact of social media on society, 
• how social media has changed our daily lives.

How do you write an introduction for social media essay?

You should start by briefly explaining what the essay will cover and why it is important. 

You should also provide brief background information about the topic and what caused you to choose it for your essay.

What is a good title for a social media essay?

A good title for a social media essay could be "The Impact of Social Media on Society" or "Social Media: Regulation and Responsibility." 

These titles indicate the content that will be discussed in the essay while still being interesting and thought-provoking.

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Good Argumentative Essay About Facebook

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Management , Time , Facebook , Video Games , Games , Community , Communication , Sociology

Published: 03/19/2020

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There is a plethora of social media sites that enable people to stay in touch with each other. Facebook is one of the biggest largest and evolved leading social networking platforms that facilitates people to stay connected to their families and friends. People also routinely use Facebook to chat with their loved ones as well as to share their photos and videos with others. It is a blessing for international students who leave their homes and travel to foreign countries for a better and higher education. Facebook helps them stay connected and updated on the developments back home. Facebook offers a host of features that aid and benefit its users enormouslyimmensely. Recently, Facebook added the video chat feature to the its Facebook messenger. Apart from helping people stay connected, Facebook also aids in everyday activities like such as narrowing down places and restaurants for users depending based on their likes and preferences. Another awesome feature utility provided offered by Facebook is the “location” feature. Moreover, Facebook also provides offers its users the an option to create a group of selected people using its “group” feature. While a lot many people use FFacebook for is not only for communication and media sharing purposesphotos, it is increasingly being used for . Some people use it for gaming as well. Apart from the overwhelming bunch of benefits that Facebook offers, it also has its fair share of some disadvantages. FirstlyForemost, the laptop camera could can be hacked and users’ activities could can be recorded without their knowledge or consent. Many users consider the personalized ads generated by Facebook a bother. Further, Facebook’s location feature could benefit stalkers could benefit from the location feature of Facebook by , as it would enablinge them to monitor their target’s location and whereabouts. The location feature may also pose a danger threat to users, as thieves might track someone from the a group that they are a member of in order to cause harm to them. Facebook could also be a waste of time if it is not used in a controlled and appropriate proper way. As mentioned above, Ssome people don’t use Facebook for communication only. They use iuse Facebook t for gaming purposes as well. These people use the “application game”. Another awesome feature that provided by to the Facebook users is the application game. According to Muhammad Jamil Ather of the . Pakistan Observer, “Facebook facilitates communication, helps people find friends, offers enjoyable games and applications.” Facebook users have have the privilege to play and enjoy more than a thousand games that they can choose from. Not all users use Facebook for the same reasons. Everyone has their own utility approach towards Facebook.users are not the same. Everyone uses Facebook for different reasons. Some people use it for gaming gaming, while and others use it for communication. A big downside to using Facebook is that On the other hand, people at times lose track of timesometimes forget themselves while they are in front of their computers. They sat sit for hours at long for more than an hour just just playing games on Facebook. According to Gerry Krochak, Leader Post,. “People who spend countless company daytime hours and lonely nights on Facebook call it, an addiction.” Some employees use Facebook during their work hours, which is a big mistake. their work’s time on Facebook and that is a big mistake. People should manage their time and use it wisely, especially when they are getting paid for that time. Facebook could be a waste of time when it is’s not used in a fittingjudicious manner proper way. People should be vigilant about the time they spend on Facebook and manage their time efficiently.For such a problem like that, people should manage their time while they are using their computer. It is’s always good to have fun and play games as long as people manage their time. Facebook has the gate for these games and users should manage their time playing. In conclusion, Facebook has many great features that help people communicate and have fun at the same time. It is’s the users’ call to use Facebook in their favor or against at their perilthem. I did took a small survey of on several some of EERAU students about their Facebook usageif they are using Facebook. Conclusively, each and every one of the students had a And the result was that all of those who I asked have profprofile on Facebook. Adults are old enough to know what is useful for them and what is not. Facebook users must use all of the great advantages that offered to them by Facebook. The world is not a perfect place In this world there is nothing perfect and complete. However, peoand people should know realize what is good for them and how they get can benefit from the same,the benefit of it while staying away from its evils. Facebook is a great social media website as long as people using use it in a proper way.

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Facebook — Benefits and Disadvantages of Concerning Using Facebook

Benefits and Disadvantages of Concerning Using Facebook

• Categories: Facebook

About this sample

Words: 665 |

Published: Jan 15, 2019

Words: 665 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Works Cited:

• Kiefer, A. W., & Riley, M. A. (2019). The influence of dance experience on dynamic balance across the lifespan. Journal of Motor Learning and Development, 7(2), 155-167. doi: 10.1123/jmld.2017-0051
• Quiroga Murcia, C., Kreutz, G., Clift, S., & Bongard, S. (2010). Shall we dance? An exploration of the perceived benefits of dancing on well-being. Arts & Health, 2(2), 149-163. doi: 10.1080/17533010903488529
• Pinniger, R., Brown, C., Thorsteinsson, E., & McKinley, P. (2012). Argentine tango dance compared to mindfulness meditation and a waiting-list control: A randomised trial for treating depression. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 20(6), 377-384. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2012.05.003
• Duberg, A., Hagberg, L., Sunvisson, H., & Moller, M. (2013). Influencing self-rated health among adolescent girls with dance intervention: A randomized controlled trial. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 167(1), 27-31. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.1191
• Fong Yan, A., Cobley, S., Chan, C., & Ho, R. T. (2015). Effects of dance on physical and psychological well-being in older persons. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 60(1), 97-105. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2014.10.011
• Gremigni, P., Casu, G., & Willems, M. (2019). Effects of a modern dance program on self-esteem and self-concept in adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(5), 1365-1374. doi: 10.1007/s10826-019-01394-3
• Houston, S., McGill, A., & Lee, R. (2009). The relationship between participation in leisure activities and constraints upon leisure in a group of older adults from the United Kingdom. Leisure Studies, 28(3), 333-346. doi: 10.1080/02614360902802118
• Keogh, J. W., Kilding, A., Pidgeon, P., Ashley, L., Gillis, D., & Burkett, B. (2009). Physical benefits of dancing for healthy older adults: A review. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 17(4), 479-500. doi: 10.1123/japa.17.4.479
• Yim, S. Y., Cho, J., & Lee, M. K. (2015). The effects of dance-based aquatic exercise on mobility and balance in older women. Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy, 38(3), 113-119. doi: 10.1519/JPT.0000000000000037
• Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). The connection between art, healing, and public health: A review of current literature. American Journal of Public Health, 100(2), 254-263. doi: 10.2105

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That Viral Essay Wasn’t About Age Gaps. It Was About Marrying Rich.

But both tactics are flawed if you want to have any hope of becoming yourself..

Women are wisest, a viral essay in New York magazine’s the Cut argues , to maximize their most valuable cultural assets— youth and beauty—and marry older men when they’re still very young. Doing so, 27-year-old writer Grazie Sophia Christie writes, opens up a life of ease, and gets women off of a male-defined timeline that has our professional and reproductive lives crashing irreconcilably into each other. Sure, she says, there are concessions, like one’s freedom and entire independent identity. But those are small gives in comparison to a life in which a person has no adult responsibilities, including the responsibility to become oneself.

This is all framed as rational, perhaps even feminist advice, a way for women to quit playing by men’s rules and to reject exploitative capitalist demands—a choice the writer argues is the most obviously intelligent one. That other Harvard undergraduates did not busy themselves trying to attract wealthy or soon-to-be-wealthy men seems to flummox her (taking her “high breasts, most of my eggs, plausible deniability when it came to purity, a flush ponytail, a pep in my step that had yet to run out” to the Harvard Business School library, “I could not understand why my female classmates did not join me, given their intelligence”). But it’s nothing more than a recycling of some of the oldest advice around: For women to mold themselves around more-powerful men, to never grow into independent adults, and to find happiness in a state of perpetual pre-adolescence, submission, and dependence. These are odd choices for an aspiring writer (one wonders what, exactly, a girl who never wants to grow up and has no idea who she is beyond what a man has made her into could possibly have to write about). And it’s bad advice for most human beings, at least if what most human beings seek are meaningful and happy lives.

But this is not an essay about the benefits of younger women marrying older men. It is an essay about the benefits of younger women marrying rich men. Most of the purported upsides—a paid-for apartment, paid-for vacations, lives split between Miami and London—are less about her husband’s age than his wealth. Every 20-year-old in the country could decide to marry a thirtysomething and she wouldn’t suddenly be gifted an eternal vacation.

Which is part of what makes the framing of this as an age-gap essay both strange and revealing. The benefits the writer derives from her relationship come from her partner’s money. But the things she gives up are the result of both their profound financial inequality and her relative youth. Compared to her and her peers, she writes, her husband “struck me instead as so finished, formed.” By contrast, “At 20, I had felt daunted by the project of becoming my ideal self.” The idea of having to take responsibility for her own life was profoundly unappealing, as “adulthood seemed a series of exhausting obligations.” Tying herself to an older man gave her an out, a way to skip the work of becoming an adult by allowing a father-husband to mold her to his desires. “My husband isn’t my partner,” she writes. “He’s my mentor, my lover, and, only in certain contexts, my friend. I’ll never forget it, how he showed me around our first place like he was introducing me to myself: This is the wine you’ll drink, where you’ll keep your clothes, we vacation here, this is the other language we’ll speak, you’ll learn it, and I did.”

These, by the way, are the things she says are benefits of marrying older.

The downsides are many, including a basic inability to express a full range of human emotion (“I live in an apartment whose rent he pays and that constrains the freedom with which I can ever be angry with him”) and an understanding that she owes back, in some other form, what he materially provides (the most revealing line in the essay may be when she claims that “when someone says they feel unappreciated, what they really mean is you’re in debt to them”). It is clear that part of what she has paid in exchange for a paid-for life is a total lack of any sense of self, and a tacit agreement not to pursue one. “If he ever betrayed me and I had to move on, I would survive,” she writes, “but would find in my humor, preferences, the way I make coffee or the bed nothing that he did not teach, change, mold, recompose, stamp with his initials.”

Reading Christie’s essay, I thought of another one: Joan Didion’s on self-respect , in which Didion argues that “character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life—is the source from which self-respect springs.” If we lack self-respect, “we are peculiarly in thrall to everyone we see, curiously determined to live out—since our self-image is untenable—their false notions of us.” Self-respect may not make life effortless and easy. But it means that whenever “we eventually lie down alone in that notoriously un- comfortable bed, the one we make ourselves,” at least we can fall asleep.

It can feel catty to publicly criticize another woman’s romantic choices, and doing so inevitably opens one up to accusations of jealousy or pettiness. But the stories we tell about marriage, love, partnership, and gender matter, especially when they’re told in major culture-shaping magazines. And it’s equally as condescending to say that women’s choices are off-limits for critique, especially when those choices are shared as universal advice, and especially when they neatly dovetail with resurgent conservative efforts to make women’s lives smaller and less independent. “Marry rich” is, as labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards put it in Bloomberg, essentially the Republican plan for mothers. The model of marriage as a hierarchy with a breadwinning man on top and a younger, dependent, submissive woman meeting his needs and those of their children is not exactly a fresh or groundbreaking ideal. It’s a model that kept women trapped and miserable for centuries.

It’s also one that profoundly stunted women’s intellectual and personal growth. In her essay for the Cut, Christie seems to believe that a life of ease will abet a life freed up for creative endeavors, and happiness. But there’s little evidence that having material abundance and little adversity actually makes people happy, let alone more creatively generativ e . Having one’s basic material needs met does seem to be a prerequisite for happiness. But a meaningful life requires some sense of self, an ability to look outward rather than inward, and the intellectual and experiential layers that come with facing hardship and surmounting it.

A good and happy life is not a life in which all is easy. A good and happy life (and here I am borrowing from centuries of philosophers and scholars) is one characterized by the pursuit of meaning and knowledge, by deep connections with and service to other people (and not just to your husband and children), and by the kind of rich self-knowledge and satisfaction that comes from owning one’s choices, taking responsibility for one’s life, and doing the difficult and endless work of growing into a fully-formed person—and then evolving again. Handing everything about one’s life over to an authority figure, from the big decisions to the minute details, may seem like a path to ease for those who cannot stomach the obligations and opportunities of their own freedom. It’s really an intellectual and emotional dead end.

And what kind of man seeks out a marriage like this, in which his only job is to provide, but very much is owed? What kind of man desires, as the writer cast herself, a raw lump of clay to be molded to simply fill in whatever cracks in his life needed filling? And if the transaction is money and guidance in exchange for youth, beauty, and pliability, what happens when the young, beautiful, and pliable party inevitably ages and perhaps feels her backbone begin to harden? What happens if she has children?

The thing about using youth and beauty as a currency is that those assets depreciate pretty rapidly. There is a nearly endless supply of young and beautiful women, with more added each year. There are smaller numbers of wealthy older men, and the pool winnows down even further if one presumes, as Christie does, that many of these men want to date and marry compliant twentysomethings. If youth and beauty are what you’re exchanging for a man’s resources, you’d better make sure there’s something else there—like the basic ability to provide for yourself, or at the very least a sense of self—to back that exchange up.

It is hard to be an adult woman; it’s hard to be an adult, period. And many women in our era of unfinished feminism no doubt find plenty to envy about a life in which they don’t have to work tirelessly to barely make ends meet, don’t have to manage the needs of both children and man-children, could simply be taken care of for once. This may also explain some of the social media fascination with Trad Wives and stay-at-home girlfriends (some of that fascination is also, I suspect, simply a sexual submission fetish , but that’s another column). Fantasies of leisure reflect a real need for it, and American women would be far better off—happier, freer—if time and resources were not so often so constrained, and doled out so inequitably.

But the way out is not actually found in submission, and certainly not in electing to be carried by a man who could choose to drop you at any time. That’s not a life of ease. It’s a life of perpetual insecurity, knowing your spouse believes your value is decreasing by the day while his—an actual dollar figure—rises. A life in which one simply allows another adult to do all the deciding for them is a stunted life, one of profound smallness—even if the vacations are nice.

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Facebook let Netflix peek into user DMs, explosive court docs claim

The court documents were unsealed last week and form part of a major anti-trust lawsuit.

Facebook privacy lapses showed gross negligence, but no crime: Judge Napolitano

Facebook privacy lapses

The social media giant Meta allegedly allowed Netflix to access Facebook users' direct messages for nearly a decade, breaking anti-competitive activities and privacy rules, explosive court documents claim.

The court documents, which were unsealed last week, are part of a major anti-trust lawsuit filed by U.S. citizens Maximilian Klein and Sarah Grabert, who claim Netflix and Facebook "enjoyed a special relationship" so that Netflix could better tailor its ads with Facebook .

Facebook received millions of dollars in ad revenue from Netflix as part of these close ties, guaranteeing ad spending of $150 million in 2017, the lawsuit claims. 

Social media giant Meta allegedly allowed Netflix to peek into Facebook users' direct messages, court documents claim. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images | Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via / Getty Images)

APPLE, GOOGLE, META TARGETED IN EU'S FIRST DIGITAL MARKETS ACT INVESTIGATIONS

The lawsuit also claims Netflix's co-founder, Reed Hastings, joined Facebook’s board of directors and then was instrumental in the closure of Facebook Watch – a streaming service competitor to Netflix.

The lawsuit was filed in April 2023 and demands the court have Hastings respond to the plaintiff’s claims.

"For nearly a decade, Netflix and Facebook enjoyed a special relationship. Netflix bought hundreds of millions of dollars in Facebook ads; entered into a series of agreements sharing data with Facebook; received bespoke access to private Facebook APIs; and agreed to custom partnerships and integrations that helped supercharge Facebook’s ad targeting and ranking models," the lawsuit states.

APIs (application programming interface) are pieces of software that allow two or more computer programs or components to communicate and share information with each other.

The API agreement allowed "Netflix programmatic access to Facebook’s private messages inboxes, in exchange Netflix would ‘provide to FB a written report every two weeks that shows daily counts of recommendations sends and recipient clicks by interface, initiation surface, and/or implementation variation (e.g. Facebook vs. non-Facebook recommendation receipts).’"

"In August 2013, Facebook provided Netflix with access to its so-called ‘Titan API,’ a private API that allowed a whitelisted partner to access, among other things, Facebook users’ ‘messaging app and non-app friends,’" the documents claim.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg established Meta in 2021. (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

INSTAGRAM USERS FUME AS APP BEGINS LIMITING POLITICAL CONTENT

Meta has said in the past that it does not disclose people’s private messages to partners without their knowledge and that the API access only gave partners an ability to reach inboxes, i.e. to send messages to users via API.

"Meta didn’t share people’s private messages with Netflix," a Meta spokesperson told Fox Business on Tuesday. "As the document says, the agreement allowed people to message their friends on Facebook about what they were watching on Netflix, directly from the Netflix app. Such agreements are commonplace in the industry. We are confident the facts will show this complaint is meritless."

FOX Business also reached out to Netflix for further comment but did not immediately receive a response. Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021 as its CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled metaverse, a virtual reality space.

In 2018, the New York Times published a report citing hundreds of pages of Facebook documents , alleging Facebook had authorized Spotify and Netflix to access users' DMs. 

The publication reported that the connections helped Facebook gain explosive growth and bolstered its ad revenue streams. 

Meta has already been fined for sharing users' information without permission. 

In 2022, Ireland fined Meta $284 million after data about more than half a billion users was leaked online. 

Netflix logo is displayed in a photo illustration, Jan. 23, 2023. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via / Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Full names, phone numbers, locations and birthdays of users who used the platform between 2018 and 2019 were leaked online by a "bad actor" who Meta said exploited a security vulnerability, reports the Daily Mail.

That same year, Meta agreed to pay $725 million to settle a security breach case related to Cambridge Analytica, a British social media engineering company.

The firm had paid Facebook for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users, which was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign that culminated in Donald Trump's election win.

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Ohio english teacher faces firing for using sick days to attend nashville concert.

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An Ohio school teacher could get axed for calling out sick for two days — so she could attend a concert in Nashville.

Eileen Washburn, an English teacher at Lakota West High School in Beckett Ridge, was placed on unpaid leave as the Lakota Local School District investigates whether she violated her teachers’ union contract to attend the concert.

Washburn allegedly “falsified sick leave” for February 8 and 9 to attend the out-of-state performance, telling several colleagues where she was going, according to a Resolution to Consider Termination obtained by WXIX.

The educator is also accused of not providing information to school officials when asked during a meeting after her trip was discovered.

“During her predisciplinary meeting, she refused to answer questions regarding her whereabouts or specifics on her alleged need for sick leave.”

Lakota West High School is 20 miles north of Cincinnati.

The school board, under the direction of newly sworn-in Interim Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli, unanimously voted to begin Washburn’s termination process during a board meeting Tuesday.

The vote also kept the teacher on unpaid leave until the board votes on her employment status in a subsequent meeting scheduled for April 22.

Washburn can submit a written demand for a hearing before the April 22 vote.

Along with violating the teachers’ contract, Washburn was found in violation of the state code for “Termination of contract by board of education” and multiple board policies that included sick leave and staff ethics.

“Her actions also violated the Licensure Code of Professional Conduct for Ohio Educators,” the proposed termination legislation stated.

Washburn serves as an ESL teacher, according to the school’s website.

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She is also a board member for the nearby Loveland City School District.

While there’s no indication which concert Washburn attended in Nashville, several large shows took place in the Music City during the weekend in question, including Drake and J. Cole’s performance at the Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 8.

Washburn isn’t the only teacher to be fired in the Midwest for enjoying music, as a Michigan charter school teacher was fired after a parent complained about her growing rapping career.

Domonique Brown, who performs under the pseudonym Drippin Honey, was a US history teacher at Taylor Preparatory High School in metro Detroit before she was fired last month.

Brown, a former “teacher of the month,” revealed on social media she was canned because of “a single parent’s disapproval.”

The parent’s complaint was submitted anonymously in October, after she released her song “Drippin 101,” resulting in several months of meetings with school administrators.

In a final act of defiance, Brown shot a music video with some of her students singing and dancing to her song on her last day at the school.

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I Use My Stanley Tumblers Every Day. Here's the Size I Like the Most

If you're thinking about getting a Stanley tumbler, now's the time because you can get one for $10 off right now.

If you've been trying to decide whether dropping $45 on a Stanley cup is worth it, there's good reason to take the plunge because Amazon is having a sale right now. You can get the ash-colored 45-ounce tumbler for $35 , which is $10 off the regular price. Since I've been looking at Stanley cups, I've never seen them drop in price, so these might sell out fast. 

Here's what my experience has been with the Stanley cups. And are you looking for a nice koozie for the summer? This Brumate Hopsulator Trio is my favorite and it keeps drinks ice cold for hours.

My favorite size Stanley cup

Over the years, I've tried multiple trendy water bottles to encourage myself to drink more water. I tried an hourly  motivational bottle , which got me to drink more water for maybe three days, and I've tried using only disposable water bottles to better keep count -- I know, bad for the environment. But nothing ever sticks, and I'm back to chugging water at night to catch up. But the cup that I've actually stuck with, because it makes it easy to gulp water on the go, is the 30-ounce  Stanley tumbler . 

Here's what I thought about each size of the Stanley cups

I bought three different sizes of Stanley tumblers to try from Amazon -- the 14-ounce in charcoal ($20) , 30-ounce in cream ($35) and 40-ounce in orchid ($45) -- and there's a clear winner. Though the 40-ounce would probably be my cup of choice, I regularly have to lug around my 23-pound, energetic toddler, which means I need something lighter to put my water in. That same child is always following me around, so constantly refilling the 14-ounce tumbler is also out of the question -- plus it doesn't have a handle, which is inconvenient. The handle is definitely a game changer.

That leaves the Goldilocks of the group: the 30-ounce Stanley tumbler. It's light, fits in my car's cup holder and is insulated with stainless steel, so I can use it to keep my water cold or my coffee hot. I once left my Stanley tumbler, filled with ice water, in the car during an 89-degree day, and the water was still cold when I got back hours later.

What I don't like about the Stanley tumblers

The only downside I've found is that when the straw is in the cup, there's no way to make it leak-proof. So when my 1-year-old gets ahold of my cup, he spills water all over himself. The straw is removable, but I prefer to use it, because it makes drinking water easier (in my opinion).

For more, check out my favorite espresso machine that keeps me out of coffee shops and CNET's Cliff Colby's favorite $20 knife .

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Guest Essay

The Next Frontier? Philosophy in Space.

By Joseph O. Chapa

Dr. Chapa is a U.S. Air Force officer and the author of “Is Remote Warfare Moral?”

The window to apply to be a NASA astronaut — a window that opens only about every four years — closes this month, on April 16. Though I’ve submitted an application, I don’t expect to make the cut.

The educational requirements for the astronaut program are clear: Applicants must possess at least a master’s degree in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), a doctorate in medicine or a test pilot school graduate patch. Though I have a Ph.D., it’s in philosophy. (And though I’m an Air Force pilot, I’m not a test pilot.)

I hesitate to tell NASA its business. But I think its requirements are closing the astronaut program off from important insights from the humanities and social sciences.

Of course, the requirement for astronauts to have technical training makes some intuitive sense. NASA was founded in 1958 “to provide for research into problems of flight within and outside the earth’s atmosphere.” Who better to solve flight problems than scientists and engineers? What’s more, NASA’s space missions have long conducted science experiments to learn how plant and animal life behaves in the far-flung emptiness between us and the moon.

But the need for STEM in space might be waning — just as the need for humanities and the social sciences waxes. After all, the “problems of flight” that once tethered us to this planet have largely been solved, thanks in no small part to all those scientist and engineer astronauts who blazed the trail to space.

By contrast, the future of our relationship with the cosmos — a colony on the moon? Humans on Mars? Contact with intelligent alien life? — will require thoughtful inquiry from many disciplines. We will need sociologists and anthropologists to help us imagine new communities; theologians and linguists if we find we are not alone in the universe; political and legal theorists to sort out the governing principles of interstellar life.

Naturally, some scholars can study these topics while still earthbound. But so can many of today’s astronauts, who often end up working on projects unrelated to their academic training. The idea behind sending people with a wider array of academic disciplines into the cosmos is not just to give scholars a taste of outer space, but also to put them in fruitful conversation with one another.

My own discipline, philosophy, may be better suited for this kind of exploration than some might think. To be sure, much philosophy can be done from an armchair. Descartes arrived at his famous conclusion, “I think, therefore, I am,” while warming himself by the fire and, as he noted, “wearing a winter dressing gown.”

But some of the greatest philosophical breakthroughs occurred only because their authors had firsthand experience with extreme and uncomfortable conditions. We might not have the Stoic philosophy of Epictetus had he not faced the hardship of slavery in Nero’s court. We might not have Thomas Hobbes’s “Leviathan” (and his principle of the “consent of the governed,” so central to the American experiment), but for his flight from the English Civil War. And we might not have Hannah Arendt’s insights on the “banality of evil” had she not attended the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a chief architect of the Holocaust.

Not all philosophers who want to learn what it means to be human in this vast and expanding universe need to experience living in space. But perhaps some of us should.

Throughout the history of Western philosophy, space has often served as stand-in for life’s deepest truths. Plato thought that the things of this world were mere images of true reality, and that true reality existed in the heavens beyond. What inspired admiration and awe in Immanuel Kant was not just the moral law within all of us but also the “starry heavens above.” The Platos and Kants of today are in a position to take a much closer look at those very heavens.

In general, the work of philosophy is to ask, “And suppose this proposition is right, what then?” When faced with a proposition — say, “The mind and body are separable,” or “One must always act to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number” — the philosopher takes another step and asks, “What are the implications of such a view?”

Though Earth has been our only home, it may not be our home forever. What are the implications of that proposition? What might that mean for our conception of nationhood? Of community? Of ourselves and our place in the world? This would be the work of space philosophers.

These days, unfortunately, the prestige of STEM continues to eclipse that of the social sciences and humanities. It seems unlikely that NASA will buck this trend.

That would be bad news for me, personally — but I think also for humanity at large. One day we may all echo Jodie Foster’s character in the sci-fi movie “Contact . ” When the mysteries of space-time were unfurled before her, all she could manage to say was, “They should have sent a poet.”

Joseph O. Chapa ( @JosephOChapa ) is a U.S. Air Force officer and the author of “Is Remote Warfare Moral?”

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