Special editorial : Facebook embarrassment
Monjorul Bari Nayan : -I think Facebook always just as a social media. But in today’s world it is no longer a social media. It has become the so-called media. People are constantly facing various difficulties while using this medium of communication. Especially those who are addicted to Facebook Disorder. I am forced to say that I myself have been embarrassed by Facebook more than once. We upload photos, status or content on Facebook. After giving, I kept an eye on who liked and commented. The greed for a virtual like mechanical comment is a kind of addiction. Like a disease in some cases. It is not appropriate for media workers like me to have such greed. Because, we all get a lot of likes, comments and rewards when we go to take reports or pictures in real life. Then why should we be greedy for mechanical likes and comments. It is normal for ordinary people to have this greed. A journalist will be very different from ordinary people. That is why I do not look down on any human being. Many people like me are wasting precious hours by using Facebook every day. The time I give to my profession will increase the excellence of the profession, increase the income of the business, will save valuable time, and will have good health and body. If you look at your mobile, laptop or desktop for a long time due to Facebook, your eyes will also be severely damaged. Restricting or not using Facebook will not cause these problems. Journalists like me have a huge and reliable field for publishing news, pictures, expressions and even any content. Whose name is media? It can be a print or online newspaper, radio or television. The media is a thousand times stronger than Facebook and trusted by the masses. While the number of Facebook users in the world is two and a half crore, the number of internet users is around five hundred crore. Any news or picture published or disseminated in the media directly or through the internet spreads all over the world in an instant. Facebook is limited to certain boundaries. Only friends or followers can see a photo or news uploaded by someone. Before talking about the Facebook embarrassment, I am presenting some data for the readers about this powerful social media. Although many people know this information.
Facebook was first established on February 4, 2004 in California, USA. Mark Zuckerberg, then a student at Harvard University, created Facebook with three of his friends. This popular and powerful website was initially limited to Harvard University students. Today, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide use Facebook. In the beginning, Facebook has faced several obstacles on the way. About 60 million people are currently using Facebook in Bangladesh. Napoleonkat a Poland-based organization provides monthly accounts of communication.
According to them, by May 2021, 4 crore 82 lakh 30 thousand people in the country use Facebook. This is 28 percent of the total population. Of these, 30.9 percent are women and 69.1 percent are men. The majority of users are between the ages of 18 and 24. Their number is 2 crore 12 lakhs. The number of Facebook users in the country in April 2020 was 3 crore 84 lakh 75 thousand. At the same time, the number of Messenger users in the country was 93 lakh 91 thousand. It has increased to 4 crore 21 lakh 50 thousand in one year. Although the number of internet users in the country is about 12 crore at present, the number of Facebook users is less than half that. The first use of Facebook in Bangladesh started on August 22, 2006. Dhaka has the second highest number of Facebook users in all urban areas of the world. The number of Facebook users in Dhaka is 2 crore 20 lakh. And the Bangkok has 3 crore Facebook users. The city of Bangkok is the first in the world in terms of the number of Facebook users. Now I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook. The benefits of using it are the ability to chat for free, connect with many people through video chatting, upload new photos and videos, entertain, find old friends, exchange new information, look at the memory or the past again and again. Keep yourself updated, start your own business, create online business, create your own group and page etc. Disadvantages are: privacy and security, health and body damage, stress, addiction to likes and comments, wasted precious time, looking down on others, giving away personal information by contacting fake Facebook accounts, away from family. Moving away, thinking of the virtual world as the real world, and so on. Although Facebook has been used in the country since 2006, I have started using it since 2012. One of my colleagues also opened my Facebook account. Although I started journalism in Dhaka in 1996, I started using computer in 2000. I don’t know much about in information technology. There is no attempt to know more than what is required at work. I still occasionally write reports on paper. Later office colleagues did not type with anyone. Long then ten years ago, when I opened a Facebook account, I didn’t use much at first. Suddenly I would open my Facebook ID every week and see who had sent a friend request. Whether someone is writing something, whether someone is uploading any new information or news, etc. I was always a aloof self-promotion man. I addicted to Facebook and became self-promoting in the greed of like & comments.
The government announced a lockdown when the corona infection started in the country at the end of March 2020. I am basically a very ordinary person who works hard. I have worked as a reporter in various newspapers for 25 long years. I was a crime reporter. I have always tried to work honestly in my long working life. I was twice elected vice-president and once finance Editor of the Bangladesh Crime Reporters Association, the only organization of crime reporters. I have also served as a three-time elected executive member of the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity. He is also an active member of the National Press Club, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists. When the lockdown started in 2020, there was no place to go except for a few months of office, home, market and urgent needs. Basically at that time I got used to watching movies, dramas and other programs on the internet on my mobile phone. Besides, I became addicted to Facebook. Due to low usage, my Facebook friend list has not been extended for a long decade. Currently I have 1275 Facebook friends. 862 friend requests were sent and only 125 followers. I have already cut off several more. Why am I using Facebook, I keep asking myself this question again and again. The only answer is because of professionalism and addiction. I have to use this medium more than once a day to keep myself updated in the current age of information technology. Every time I open Facebook, I also open Messenger. Recently, I have been embarrassed more than once while using Facebook and Messenger. I was the victim of the last embarrassment on the night of October 26. That night a Facebook friend of mine asked me, brother do you have any other Facebook ID in another name? In reply I said no. He asked the same thing again, I said no. Then my suspicions were aroused. I repeatedly asked him to give details, but he did not say anything properly. I could not sleep at night after hearing about another fake ID in my name. After many pleas, he said at noon on October 27, about two young men from Fulbaria. Those who have created fake ID. One of them is a government college teacher and the other is a private bank official. Both were students of reputed public universities in the country. They are also established and widely known in the society. They are huge people. My Facebook friend is also a very high class person in the society. His extensive acquaintance in the area. I don’t want to make people with skyscrapers look down on society. I, as a young editor, think it makes sense to refrain from exposing such huge people. My Facebook friend told me about another fake ID and caused me mental, physical and social damage. He kept me in mental turmoil for four days.
He has taken it as a mere fun. The language he used on Facebook Messenger seemed nothing but my fun. When I repeatedly asked him to find out about my fake ID, he said at first, that’s what I said. Later he says that he has done such and such. At one point he said, you unfriend or block me. My question to him is, did he see that fake ID alone, or did someone else see it. If it is so Inconvenience to talk about that ID then why did he give me initial information? He knows all the answers, I do not know. In today’s age of information technology, fake ID is not a child’s play. The last language he spoke to me was offensive, defamatory, and extremely insulting. Telling him, you may not want to talk to anyone, you may dislike him. So I put the question to your conscience whether you can insult him or not. The three people whose stories I have told so long are my former acquaintances. They consider it my weakness to give them time and importance by giving up urgent work. Whatever you think, I value all kinds of people. I have learned the profession that I am here. I’m still learning. I will watch and learn as long as I live. Politicians like you, bankers, and teachers will teach people these. Not to mention one or two more. I didn’t even know how to upload pictures on Facebook, I didn’t know how to take selfie. A few days ago, I took a selfie and uploaded it on Facebook. My only daughter got GPA-5 in 2018 and passed PEC. In 2019, the best school in the Cantonment Thana area was the first among 2600 children in the admission test and the North South School was also the first in the admission test. I have never uploaded these pictures on Facebook. In my long three decades of journalism, I have traveled to 9 countries; I have had many accidents in my life.
There are also many pictures with many celebrities, ministers, MP bureaucrats. I have never posted these pictures on Facebook. I have recently suffered social, physical, emotional and even massive financial loss by turning to Facebook. A few months ago, when I went to help two Facebook friends financially, I saw that their ID was fake. After getting my identity, they deleted two of their ID. I am still occasionally embarrassed while using Facebook. In addition to Facebook, I have other means of expressing myself, writing news, uploading pictures and keeping up to date. Then why the so-called media be reminded of Facebook. Meanwhile, as I write this, an announcement has been made to change the corporate name of Facebook. Facebook will now be known as Meta. Facebook will be under the meter. Apps like Instagram and WhatsApp will remain the same as before. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement at an event on Thursday night, October 28th. Hopefully, this new corporate name Facebook will be limited to social media instead of the so-called mass media like before.
Writer: Editor, The Daily Dhaka Protidin and The Daily News Mail
