Page 217 - 梁文燕紀念中學（沙田）－青苗文集

The Creative Collection of the Budding Writers

life and show them to all your friends. Even though you and your friends live in
different places, you can easily know what others are doing and connect with each
other. Besides, Facebook users like using chatrooms to talk with their family, friends
and classmates. This means of communication is convenient and free, so everyone
is willing to use it. Regular conversations will help people maintain their relationship,
and there are just no excuses not to do so with the convenience that Facebook
offers. All in all, Facebook can help maintain and expand one’s social network.
While Facebook brings us advantages, it also
affects our real life negatively and can cause serious
consequences.
Facebook may alter people’s moral values. The
‘like’ button after you upload something is a popular function that many people
love. Some may think that the more ‘likes’ they get, the more famous they are. As a
result, Facebook instills the wrong values into people’s mind. It is not uncommon to
hear that Hong Kongers like taking videos of an accident instead of stepping up and
helping the victims, as can be seen in viral videos like ‘Bus Uncle’ or ‘A girl slaps her
boyfriend for 14 times’. These videos are uploaded possibly because people want
to share a so-called ‘interesting’ video, in the hopes of it going viral and giving the
uploader and the people involved their 15 minutes of fame.
Another problem that we have to be aware of is the mob mentality that
Facebook or other social media help create. Internet users often want to make
judgment based on what they see online, and it
is often easier to voice insulting comments when
you are sitting behind a screen instead of being
face-to-face. Such ‘internet trials’ are more and
more frequent, yet should not be encouraged.
Moreover, people often point out that teenagers
are susceptible to others’ influence. This has
been a point of contention during the social
unrest in recent years, with some suspecting that participants of these movements
were only following what they saw on social media blindly, without making their own
judgment. Therefore, Facebook can affect people’s life and mindsets negatively.
To conclude, Facebook has its pro and cons, and it can truly affect people’s
life. To avoid the drawbacks from Facebook, my suggestion to all of you is to strike
a beautiful balance between the virtual world of Facebook and your real life, so that
you can enjoy the benefits brought by the convenience of Facebook.
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