It seems that every time I read about social media, there is another person who deleted their Facebook and started preaching to everyone about how amazing they now feel. They try to convince you that Facebook is dead, that's it's a waste of time, and no one cares about your posts. News sites like Entrepreneur.com have even joined the bandwagon and have come out with articles that list why Facebook is such a horrible social media platform. 
But Facebook isn't a waste of time if you use it correctly. Unlike how a lot of people use it, I don't think Mark Zuckerberg created it with the idea of stalking your ex at work. In fact, Facebook has become almost a necessity in today's day and age. The arguments against Facebook have more to do with the people themselves than the actual platform.
"It's such a distraction."
A distraction is something that keeps you away from your duties because you allow it to. You don't have to check your Facebook every second of everyday. A year ago, Zuckerberg announced during an earnings report that the average person spends around 40 minutes on Facebook a day. The reason why you spend so much time Facebook stalking isn't because the app is physically forcing you too. People choose to use Facebook for time-consuming reasons, and blame the platform instead of their personal decisions. But, if you can control of your screen time, Facebook can actually be a great way to stay up to date with trending topics. Their "news" feature, though it may contain more entertainment than information, is something you should be paying attention to. 30 percent of U.S. adults now receive at least some part of their news from Facebook, that's just under half of all Facebook users. The reason for this is it allows you to gain an overview of trending topics without spending an hour surfing the web. One respondent of a Pew Research Center study said that, "If it wasn't for Facebook news, I'd probably never really know what's going on in the world because I don't have time to keep up with the news on a bunch of different locations." If used efficiently, Facebook actually saves you time. As a business owner myself, Facebook is essential to allow me to stay up to date with small business trends and news.
"I got fired because of my Facebook. Nothing is private anymore."
Though 70 percent of people said that they were not worried about potential employers looking at the social media, recruiters have said that they reject an average 10 percent of people because of an inappropriate social media presence. But quitting Facebook to go to a more "private" social network won't fix your problem. The reality is anything that you post through a piece of technology can be retrieved -- it's an unfortunate reality of our tech-filled world. Discretion really is your best ally in combatting privacy breaches and, really, this is nothing new. Jobs have been lost over what people did during their off-hours well before we all started checking in and posting pictures online. As long as you think before you post, you'll probably be okay. But if you talk about how much you hate your job, or post pictures of you and your friends sneaking into the office at 1 in the morning, HR may have some questions.
"Facebook is just a marketing platform. All they are trying to do is to sell me stuff I don't want."
Facebook is a great marketing platform, just like it is a great tool for communication and content sharing. Everyone seems to hate advertisements. But what makes Facebook's different is what you see on Facebook has been specifically chosen for you based off of your interests, location, gender, age, and much more. This means that the advertisements you are seeing on Facebook are meant to show you things that you actually would be willing to buy. In response to those that say marketing is its only goal, it is first and foremost a communication tool. Your ability to chat, post, comment, like, and share contributes to your communication with your friends. Facebook has even gotten in some trouble for having its advertisements low on its priority list. In 2012, investors grew anxious when Facebook continued to put user acquisition as its number one priority instead of monetization. Although advertisements are necessary for the company to generate revenue, it is far from their first priority in user experience.
Facebook, like any social media platform, is distracting if you allow it. Remember when cell phones came out for the first time and everyone was calling them a distraction? It's all about learning how to manage your time effectively with technology. If used effectively, Facebook can actually save you time and keep you updated on your friends, family, and media. So as you can probably guess, I'm not quitting Facebook anytime soon.