Is Facebook a Benefit

From my experiences with new social media networks like Facebook, I do not think they are a benefit to society. Although networks like Facebook make day to day life easier, it do not necessarily prove to be a benefit to society. Facebook for example is a network that is legally able to view their users conversations and personal info whenever they feel it is necessary. I think this possess a problem to personal privacy but it is even more scary to think how many people who use Facebook don’t know Facebook has that privilege and actively exercises it.
Through my studies in my English class we have discussed what life would be like for an average person in a totalitarian government. We have reviewed The Handmaid’s Tale and saw how to much power in the wrong hands can lead to disaster. Most people in the new regime are stripped of their individuality, free speech, and rights. The new regime was able to accomplish this by slowly taking control of a government and slowly stripping the rights of their civilians. One right that was stripped in The Handmaid’s Tale was personal privacy. By the time the people of Gilead realized how important this right was it was too late.   “I’ve got over two thousand dollars in that bank, Woman can’t hold property anymore, she said” (224). This quote is an example of how easy Offred’s right to own property was taken away, by the time she tried to fight it, it was too late.  
An article we read in class called New Facebook Privacy Violations add to the Networks Woes by David Amerland talked about how anyone who downloaded the mobile version of Facebook of their cell phone can have their conversations and information read by Facebook. Even though Facebook apparently uses as research, I fear what is happening here is similar as to what happened in The Handmaid’s Tale. By the time the woman in the novel realized their right to own property was taken away it was too late. I think it is possible for us to also have our privacy taken away...