F2F Class Notes (Sonia)[R]

Do you think social media is doing great harm to society?- write a short description of your opinion

critic(n): a person who someone who says that they do not approve of someone or something

e.g he is a food critic so he knows a lot about the restauraunts in Shanghai

ruin(n): the broken parts that are left from an old building or town, 废墟；残垣断壁；倒塌的建筑物

e.g you can see the grave of the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty in Xian.

guilty(adj): to feel bad because you feel responsible for something that is not good

e.g I feel guilty for not giving my friend money when she asked me.

e.g I feel so guilty about forgetting her birthday.

former(adj): used to be, previously

e.g my former boss was American

overwhelm(v)

A former Facebook executive has said social media is doing great harm to society around the world. The executive is a man called Chamath Palihapitiya. He joined Facebook in 2007 and became a vice president. He was responsible for increasing the number of users Facebook had. Mr Palihapitiya said he feels very guilty about getting more people to use social networks. He said the networks are destroying society because they are changing people’s behavior. Twenty years ago, people talked to each other face to face. Today, people message each other and do not talk. People also really care about what other people think of them. They post photos and wait to see how many people like the photo. They get very sad if people do not like the photo.

Mr Palihapitiya said people should take a long break from social media so they can experience real life. He wants people to value each other instead of valuing online “hearts, likes, and thumbs-up”. Palihapitiya also points out how fake news is affecting how we see the world. It is becoming easier for large websites to spread lies. It is also becoming easier to hurt other people online. Anyone can hide behind a fake user name and post lies about other people. Palihapitiya said this was a global problem. He is worried about social media so much that he has banned his children from using it. However, he did state that Facebook was a good company. He said: “Of course, it’s not all bad. Facebook overwhelmingly does good in the world.”

Pronunciation

society: səˈsaɪ.ə.t