Abstract

In the recent years, social media has become a major part of our lives which has greatly impacted and influenced our ways of socializing both in the real world, as well as in online communities that are present. With the new and advanced technology Web 2.0, social media has gained immense popularity and its power has left certain long-lasting effects on people. Nowadays, social networking sites among teens have increased, where they are creating online identities that may be similar to themselves or which might completely differ from that of their real life. These sites allow individuals to build relationships, form new and stronger bonds, share and gain knowledge, and to connect with the entire world; by having friends abroad (Boyd, 2007). However, social media sites, are not always advantageous, as it has its wickedness as well. This article will show some of the risks of Facebook such as depression, catfishing and cyberbullying, and the rise in identity theft and the impact it has had in people’s lives.

Keywords: Social Media, Risks, Depression, Catfishing, Cyberbullying, Identity Theft

INTRODUCTION

With the latest technology Web 2.0, it is undeniable that social media has removed communications barriers and has opened the door to the public, where everybody has a fair chance to voice out and enter in the participatory culture; by either chatting, sharing, commenting or posting contents (Jenkins, 2006). In the present society, we are surrounded by social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat. “Facebook is a standout amongst the most famous networking site ever with around 350 million dynamic users” (Valenzuela, 2017). Social media has now become a part of our society, by changing the social norms and cultures (Al-Sharq et al., 2015), and by being a major part in people’s lives, especially for the youths, who make their personal activities as public (Edge, 2017). Wherever they go, they put their location on Facebook or the food that they are eating, and they even upload their own pictures. According to Mitchell (2002), he claimed that “social networking sites are used by youngsters to get engaged in romantic and casual online relationships”.

In addition, this has influenced the daily life path of students, as this platform also helps them to create a group chat, where they can have all their group discussions, gossips, and may share pictures, memes, or ideas, and may comment on pictures and tag their friends (Rajeev, 2015). Facebook gives “an individual a sense of freedom and identity, where they can express themselves well and boosts up their confidence level, and by cheering them up during hard times” (Nyagah et al., 2015). It allows individuals to connect with their friends, distant relatives or family members. Information can be passed in the nick of time; for example, cyclone warnings, the demission of a parliament member or an accident that has occurred during the day. Amidst all the advantages that social media has, it might surprisingly have negative impacts that could be unrepairable. In this virtual world, people’s real identities are in danger as they are more prone to social media risks, which are affecting their lives. Many teenagers are using social media, especially Facebook, to build stronger personalities and have better social lives (Boyd, 2007), by connecting with people whom they don’t know. However, by making friends with unknown people, some mature teens do not even know that they are exposing themselves to risks. Sharing personal information with strangers is not always a great idea since privacy plays a very important role and is another serious concern in an individual’s life; as they should know to whom they are giving their personal details and whether it will be safe with them or not.

1. INDIVIDUAL’S OBSESSION ON FACEBOOK LEADS TO DEPRESSION

“Facebook is mainly known as being the medium to express opinions, views, and is the platform for sharing; but apart from that, it is also known a medium to reduce distances by making people feel more connected and to build new relationships” (Boyd & Elison, 2007). On Facebook, people create their personal profiles in order to make new friends and to make the public view their profile, allowing them to pass on their judgments. This is done so that the public or their friends understand their opinion on their personal lives (Muise, 2009). While staying online, individuals seek for acceptance and to stay connected with their peers all the time, and share all their personal information. However, if there is no sharing of personal information, then the outcome would be decreased online interactions, for those who value popularity. A recent research stated that adolescents and emerging adults are concerned with highly value popularity, and they are the one who are more prone to disclose information online, in order to continue a conversation (Christofides et al., 2012).

The brutal truth is that some people might be so addicted to likes, that they will keep on posting pictures of themselves, quotes or memes, and will keep on cherishing upon hearing the notification sound. They feel important and they get dependent on Facebook so much, that getting a ‘like’ becomes an addiction for them and they require to be validated again and again (Kariou et al., 2016). Moreover, in the past, girls would write in their personal diaries or discuss it with their friends on the phone to deal with their problems. But nowadays, girls use social media, especially Facebook as a primary channel to vent their current problems, by posting on their page which is most likely to receive both positive and negative comments; causing an obsession to develop this ‘problem post’. The requirement of constant engagement, and with the feeling of being validated all the time, has undoubtedly affected social and human feelings and has created a factor of self-awareness which may trigger ‘Facebook depression’ in some people. According to Kessler (2005), the symptoms of depression develops when an individual spend an excessive amount of time on social media sites. Depression is one of the inadvertent consequences of excessive social media usage, which might cause psychological problems later on. One study conducted by Professor Dr. Joanne Davila, discovered that groups of teenage girls who made excessive usage of Facebook are exposed to a higher risk for depression and anxiety (Starr et al., 2009).

Furthermore, with offline depression, people who suffer from Facebook depression are at risk for social isolation and sometimes turn to risky Internet sites and blogs for ‘help’ that may promote substance abuse, unsafe sexual practices, aggressive and self-destructive behaviors” (Jacobs, 2014). Feelings may result in both positive and negative way such as joy, happiness, excitement; and pain, hurt, mental and emotional breakdown or crisis in marriage, respectively (Williams, 2012). Emotional breakdown happens when people feel rejected or their posts have not been “liked”, then they feel lost and lonely, as they put it in their mindset that people do not think of them as being important as they are not responding to their posts.

2. FACEBOOK IS GIVING RISE TO CAT-FISHING AND CYBERBULLYING

“Catfishing is the process of befriending strangers online while using a fake or stolen identity” (Harris, 2013). It is a very deceptive act, which has ruined a lot of relationships and the emotions of people. “Catfish is a based off the documentary film, which showcases illusion of social media connections. For instance, “in one of the episodes of Catfish, the narrator on the show, Nev Schulman, went to meet his online love in person for the first time, and he was shocked to death by the deception he discovered. The picture of the woman whom he saw on social media was completely different from that of the person in real. Thinking about that, in Nev’s mind, he made his perception about the girl that if she can lie about her appearance, then her whole character would be in question” (Saedi, 2012). Nev had fallen with someone who has constructed herself as a mirage. This is where people create a fake account and fake identities, with different names, photos, and another personal contact. Some people do it because for love, for revenge, to stalk people, and as well as for time pass. Other might do this because of privacy issues, where they are restricted to use Facebook account by their parents or they want to have some fun by being another person at the same time, with another fake account. In addition, chatting with strangers is not always a good thing. Strangers tend to manipulate the mind of people and are most likely to take out personal information (O’Keefe, 2002).

Likewise, with identity threat on social media, there is also cyberbullying. “Cyberbullying is defined as an aggressive act that is carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and overtime against a victim who cannot easily defend him; and which occurs via an electronic method, via the Internet and especially through social media” (Bannink et al., 2014). These people hide their identity, posing as someone else, through false and fake identities to terrorize the victims. These bullying issues leave teenagers with deep mental traumas, where they may have Facebook depression, mental problems, emotional breakdown, where they may even have the tendency to end their lives through suicides.

3. FACEBOOK IS GIVING RISE TO IDENTITY THEFT

With the high growth of technology, it has given hackers the opportunity to steal personal information of many victims at once. “Identity theft is a type of crime, which is associated with the sharing of personal information such as name, address, phone number, bank account number and highly confidential data such as social security numbers” (Marcum, 2014). Identity theft can be done by manipulating people, especially to those who are easily vulnerable such as young adults and college students because they lack enough knowledge and experience, and where they get easily influenced. One type of identity theft is family fraud. This consist of hackers taking information from the victim relative’s Facebook page, and get to know where the latter is. Hence, depending on the information they gathered, they imitate their identity and start blackmailing the victim’s relatives and ask them for money (INVISUS, 2014). Teenagers are most likely to post pictures of themselves while eating somewhere, or while going somewhere, or even when traveling. In doing so, they have opened themselves up for theft. Therefore, they can be attacked anywhere at any time, without getting a hint of it.

A report has stated that around 83 million profiles from various one billion were not genuine profiles (Demange, 2010). People like creating a fake account in order to stalk people or to keep their lives in private. For instance, some parents don’t allow their children to use and create an account on social media sites, due to privacy and security concerns. Therefore, these children tend to create a fake account, in order for their parents to not get a clue that they are using Facebook. Hence, the children tend to use fake information, which sometimes makes the search very difficult and therefore, they conceal their real identity and start using Facebook with a different name, a different personality and a different lifestyle; from that of their real and offline lives. However, some people or even hackers, tend to create people’s account as theirs and claimed that they are the real one. They do so by putting the same name, same picture, and the same information.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, Facebook is a good thing as it allows us to remove communication barriers and stay connected with many people. However, Facebook should be used in the limit, and people should restrict the information that they give online. They should think well what information should be provided and what should not. Many people have lost some of their friendships as they have stopped interacting with people face-to-face. Instead, they rely more on online communications, rather than offline, where some people are not on Facebook, and their friends completely forget them, since they are not available online. Teenagers especially, should not be exposed too much on Facebook, as they are the one who easily falls into traps and are more vulnerable to dangers. Therefore, the responsibilities of parents are to control the usage time of social media for their children and explain to them the risks of Facebook. Also, with the rise in the number of identity theft and catfishing, people should be very more careful, when chatting to strangers and telling who are they and should not really be interested in meeting them personally; as they could be anyone. In addition, teenagers should not really post everything online, as some things should remain in private and not let everybody know what they are doing and where are they. Hence, people should be very careful online and should beware from hackers and from fake accounts. They should also avoid creating fake accounts and instead create their own account to avoid problems.

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