Is Facebook use making users “fat and poor”? BusinessNews Daily staff writer David Mielach strongly implies as much. According to Mielach, researchers have found that frequent users of Facebook have lower credit scores, higher debt level and higher body fat percentages. But is Facebook really the culprit?
Blaming Facebook for obesity, poverty and debt confuses the symptom for the problem. High Facebook use is the symptom. Lack of work ethic is the problem. Lack of work ethic may result in engrossing oneself in Facebook. It may also evidence itself with copious levels of television viewership, shopping, idle chatter, excessive sleeping or endless video games.
In each era of human history, distractions from work and purpose have abounded. Consider only the numerous admonitions in the Book of Proverbs against idleness and slothfulness. Although young adults thousands of years ago did not face many of our contemporary entertainment distractions, the Book of Proverbs still admonished, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” Or consider this warning, “The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.”
Yet, modern society seeks to transfer blame from the individual to a corporation—Facebook. The fact is, an undeveloped work ethic will often lead to idleness—wasted time. Wasting time on unproductive ventures comes with a huge opportunity cost. Taking on debt, refusing to work and lacking income to pay obligations can indeed result on lower credit scores. Remaining glued to a screen rather than moving can indeed result in unwanted weight gain. However, the culprit is not Facebook. Facebook is merely the latest distraction amongst hundreds of distractions available to humanity.
A strong work ethic instilled from childhood will result in a proper balance between intellectual, recreation and vocational pursuits, regardless of the distraction of the week. Blaming distractions for one’s personal problems shifts responsibility away from the individual—and avoids resolving the issue. Lack of work ethic, not Facebook, is the issue.
