Author Topic: Facebook Ban opens new windows  (Read 1328 times)

Offline AKBAR

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Facebook Ban opens new windows
« on: May 24, 2010, 09:41:20 AM »
Facebook Ban opens new windows

LAHORE:A BAN on Facebook has forced a number of Internet addicts to shift to similar alternative websites while some of them are using this opportunity to reconnect with their friends and relatives by visiting them.

Internet addiction has slowly and gradually penetrated into the Pakistani society as the lives of the masses in general and the youth in particular have shifted to the virtual world. They spend more time on the Internet and this seemingly harmless inclination has weakened the family institution society was once known for.

Dr Professor Aasir of Psychological Sciences department, Government College University, while talking to The News, said the virtual existence of personality, which the Internet provides, had reshaped society to a great extent. He said that besides the information revolution brought about by the advent of the Internet, the amount of time that our youth spent with their families and in other social activities, which played a pivotal role in progressive personality development, had been squeezed. He said that health was also being compromised upon because of the Internet addiction as majority of youngsters stayed awake till late in the night for this purpose.

Dozens of invitations for joining other social networking websites have filled email inboxes of the Internet users of Facebook in the country. This approach can be questionable as some of these alternative networking websites too have discussion forums regarding the blasphemous activity. Majority of those moving to these sites, however, argue that the blocking of Facebook has taken away their chance to hit back on those committing blasphemy and they need a platform to express their dissent and anger to the world on the Internet. Whereas there are those Internet users who have resorted to alternative virtual networking out of sheer helplessness due to their addiction. The ban on Facebook ironically was imposed near the weekend which was the peak time of usage of the website, therefore, the effect of the ban was strongly felt. The issue is the talk of the town right now and youngsters at every meeting point discuss the ban and its effects on the campaign.

ìI am at a loss to figure out what to do with the extensive time that I used to spend online using Facebook and its absence has made me realise how much time I have to invest in my true relations and in bonding with my family,î said Ahmad, a college student.

ìThis ban is like shutting our own eyes at the approaching storm, this will not stop the blasphemers from their action, although it sends out a message that we donít approve such acts but staying there and fighting for our cause would have been a better approach,î said Zainab.

Twitter, another popular social networking website, experienced a record subscription this weekend due to thousands of Pakistanis signing up which caused their host server to choke and the management had to halt any further sign ups for a while to deal with the inflow of users.Monday, May 24, 2010,By Moayyed Jafri The News