Facebook-a threat to society?

I was reading the papers a couple of days back and I came across a very interesting and shocking article. It was so shocking and disturbing that a whole page was dedicated to this. The subject, as you might have already guessed, is not surprising. A lot of articles have come out regarding Facebook. What sets this article apart is its content. It is bound to leave you disturbed and make you think twice and shake your head wondering what is the world coming to.

Apparently a few weeks ago, this man (if you can call him that), murdered his wife because...she changed her status to single on Facebook after her split with him and wrote that she wanted to meet more men on the site. It seems he could not take the "humiliation" and decided one fine morning to attack her with a kitchen knife and meat cleaver. He was also under the influence of cocaine and alcohol at that time of attack.

My first thought was, "What!You got to be kidding!". A huge blow to that man's ego and he "reclaimed" that by killing his wife. That lead me to my second thought- How big can a man's ego get? Is his pride more important than the well-being of his loved ones? Does a wounded pride make him blind to everything and everyone around him? Is his pride the cause of his selfishness? How does he react if his pride gets hurt in the first place? Well, I really wonder if anyone has the answers to these questions. I guess different men will react differently when their egos gets hurt. But all women know that all men have this ego issue to varying degrees. We cannot avoid it nor can we deny it.

The woman, by changing her status on Facebook, informed everyone in the world (figuratively) that she has split with her husband. I am an avid Facebook-er (if there is such a word) and I know if you change your status or update your profile or write comments or whatever you do, it will regarded as "news". Unless you change the privacy settings of course. It is a fast and easy way to tell your friends what is going on in your life and if it is going well or not. Some people, mostly girls, are perfectly fine with sharing their personal lives on facebook. Some would have no problems telling others if they are in a relationship or they have broken up. They would not mind sharing their favourite movies, songs, likes and dislikes. Sometimes, you can tell if a couple is going through a tough period as their relationship status keeps jumping from "in a relationship" to "single" to "complicated" and so forth. Women, generally, tend to be more open to their feelings and are more willing to share. If a woman is going through a rough time, she usually needs someone to talk to and some crave for attention. What better way to get attention than updating one's status or profile? People will definitely respond to the updates. Men, on the other hand, do not like to publicise their feelings. Usually they like to give the impression that everything is alright on the surface. I guess this is where their ego comes in. So when their girlfriends or wives hint that the relationship is not going so smoothly, their prides get hurt and they get embarrassed and angry. This brings me to my third thought- How personal can you get on these social networking sites? How much is too much? Is there anything wrong in spilling your whole life on these sites?


In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with telling everyone on these sites about every aspect of your life. But I feel there is a price to pay if you open up too much. In this case, the woman paid the price with her life. It is possible that she was punishing her husband by changing her status or she was finally moving on after her split. It is also possible the man was feeling jealous that she was able to move on while he still could not. In the end, was it all worth it? Well that is debatable.

I think it is best not to give away too much information on Facebook or any other social sites. In that way, nobody would get hurt. There are other ways of telling your friends about your delicate situation. Phones, emails, smses and msn were invented for a reason.


It seems there was another similar case but in that case, the man killed himself after he killed his wife. The incident left two young girls orphaned.


So is it right to say Facebook and similar social network sites are a new threat to the society? Or the people who make a big deal out of these sites?