Since its release in February of 2004, the online social network known as Facebook has had over forty-three million members register. This website allows people to find and connect with friends, send messages, create groups based on beliefs and interests, create and advertise events and create detailed personal profiles. With Facebook and internet use becoming so popular (and reachable via school labs, libraries, etc), Facebook itself is supposedly becoming the main way of communication for a majority of people. Facebook as a mean of communication impacts youth from elementary schools to high schools to universities. It also impacts working and unemployed adults and, in some cases, seniors.
But what about other means of communication such as phone calls, chat rooms and instant messengers, emails and talking in person? Is the high use of Facebook really because it happens to be convenient or are people becoming too lazy and rushed to take the time to write a letter or email? People add supposed “friends” to their Facebook accounts but do they treat them like friends and talk like friends do? Would the person bother to take the effort to communicate with the supposed “friend” outside of Facebook? What we're asking here is basically: is Facebook taking over the world of communication?
Facebook is becoming increasingly popular among people young and old, but especially the young. Facebook is the latest fad, and it's becoming a huge part of pop culture. This is affecting our society because the meaning of true communication is deteriorating. “Facing Facts on Facebook: Are you really over him as you think?” written by Sarah Lolley discusses how people go on Facebook for three main reasons. Reason number one is being a popularity contest which can help raise or emphasize a person's status, number two is contacting old friends and number reason three is looking up your past significant others. This article suggests that Facebook is becoming a social utility for communication among adolescents.
The article “The Virtual Cutting Edge: The Internet and Adolescent Self -Injury”, written by Janis L Whitlock, discusses the prevalence of increased internet use among adolescents. The author believes that the rate is so high in adolescence because it serves the “purpose of connecting with others” (Whitlock, 2006). This article supports the fact that adolescents are using internet as a main source of communication thus taking away from the rate of in-person communication. “More then 80% of the American youth 12 to 17 years of age use the Internet and log on daily. Research shows that however adolescents use the internet mainly for social reasons,” (Whitlock, 2006).
In another article, written by Naomi S. Baron, it is argued that computer-mediated communication does provide opportunities for adolescents to increase their social interaction. However, in the end, it's solely in the hand of parents, how they were brought up and their traditional views about communication. The author argues that if the person is grounded in their family traditions, they will not resort to using online communication systems as their main form of communication.
The chosen independent variables are females versus males and full-time students versus full-time employees. We chose females versus males because females tend to very actively socialize in crowds, especially ones which enforce conformity, whereas males, although social, tend to be more laid back regarding social networks. The hypothesis is that females will be registered with and use Facebook more then males because it used as more of a popularity contest. It also allows for more diverse communication between friends and family.
Students versus employees was chosen because students have more time and reason to access the internet. Students normally have a more active social life and have access to the internet via libraries and computer labs whereas full-time employees have the tendency of not having time or putting time towards a social life. Accessibility to leisurely internet activities may be limited to these employees as well therefore they most likely use other forms of communication including phone calls and chatting in person. Therefore, the hypothesis for full-time students versus full-time employees is that students will be more likely to be registered with and spend more time on Facebook. Students will utilize Facebook more then employees because most students are young and are familiar with technology and online communication.
In this research study, a full-time student is defined as any respondent who is a registered student at Loyalist College and is taking over half of the required courses within the semester. We defined a full-time employee as any respondent who is working at least 30 to 40 hrs a week.
Fortunately for this research project, use of a questionnaire was chosen over other methods (interviews, etc) for being cheaper and because conducting them takes less time. General disadvantages of conducting questionnaires include possible irrelevance of the topic being researched to those being questioned, the inability to generalize the results, misinterpretation of questions by the participants and the possibility that respondents could record fake answers. Also, the use of questionnaires can have the inability to appeal to certain groups in society including seniors, children and the handicapped.
