The Impact of Facebook on Relationships

Facebook has quickly become one of the fastest-growing phenomena globally. It is a similar case like Google earlier and it is being recognized as a new word to be added to the English dictionary. It is a great tool for being connected to people around us, especially those, who live far away and we do not have an opportunity for meeting them often. This social networking website became very popular in recent years, and for many people, logging on Facebook became a daily routine. However, we should realize, that we are humans and meeting friends personally is much more effective and this kind of communication differs from the virtual one. Posting what is new in our lives or what we are actually doing, checking the news feed of our Facebook friends or groups we like, commenting on pictures or postings of friends, or chatting, that is what we spend time on while being connected to Facebook. The impact of Facebook on human relationships is significant and it can jeopardize relationships with people around us.

Facebook makes us care so much about our virtual popularity, and some people are likely to spend hours on this social networking website every day. In many cases, people rather communicate with a number of their friends through chat or messaging at the same time, than meeting them in person.This fact simplifies and distorts communication with our friends. Instead of meeting someone personally, or talking on the phone to him/her we facilitate it to liking someones photo, status or posting short messages on each others walls to create an impression that we are in contact. This kind of communication saves time but limits our personal encounters with people around us. Clive Thompson discusses the issue of Facebook causes sociality to collapse in loose acquaintances in an article “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy” He points out “if you’re reading daily updates from hundreds of people about whom they’re dating and whether they’re happy, it might, some critics worry, spread your emotional energy too thin, leaving less for true intimate relationships”. For some people their Facebook page is almost like their diary, but with the difference that everyone in their friend list is able to see it. People using Facebook heavily create an impression, that they know everything about others lives because they follow friend's wall and everything important is stated or even pictured on their Facebook page. Instead of meeting with people in person to talk about what is new in our lives, showing pictures from holidays, or talking about intimate topics people using Facebook can communicate it through this website with a feeling of knowing everything about everyone in one's friend list. I strongly agree with Sherry Turkle who talks of how the increased social gathering on social networking websites is actually leading to people socialising less in the real world in a book “Alone Together”. She states “people are lacking one of the most vital things because of social networking websites and this is actual face to face interaction”. Despite the invention of these social networking websites like Facebook, people are actually feeling lonelier than ever as they are having less face to face contact than ever before. 

Even though Facebook entertains us and gives us the opportunity to express and present ourselves, it is important to pay more attention to keep relationships in real life, instead of communicating with our friends via Facebook all the time. We as human beings with social needs cannot replace real interaction with people around us with virtual interaction that has spread on Facebook and even if it might make us feel happy, the reality is different.