by Le Huong
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Imaginations run wild: Using facebook is an effective way to communicate and catch up with people around the world providing that users don't lose touch with reality. — VNA/VNS Photo Truong Vi |
Senior student Nguyen Tuong Linh opens his facebook account at least five times a day, no matter how busy he is. He chats, sees friends' photos, clicks on other web pages linked to the site and makes some comments. All his daily facebook routines consumes at least two hours per day.
He is among 1 million facebook users in Viet Nam [up to July, 2010, according to ZeninthOptimedia], many of whom have become dependent on social networks, which widely concerns psychologists.
"I feel uncomfortable if I do not enter the site once every three hours," he admitted, "The demand for connecting with friends urges me to check the account as often as I can."
Luu Diep Tu, another office junior clerk, said she and her friends went out less often since the group joined a common social network.
"All of our exchanges have mainly been done through the network," she said, "It's less expensive and quicker I think. Surfing through my friends' statuses, I know their most updated information, what they think and whether they need help and comfort."
It's impossible to deny the role of "imaginary friends", who help share real life sorrows and happinesses of the youth in Viet Nam nowadays, like facebook, Yume, Hi5, Cyworld, Zing Me and Yobanbe.
People are choosing social networks due to their effectiveness, which is narrowing the sharing space in real life, according to psychology consultant An Viet Chat from the An Viet Son Psychology Consultancy in Ha Noi.
He also admitted that social networks helped ease the pressure of modern life and the demand to build an the image of oneself.
"The accompanying tools of social networks, like finding old friends easily and establishing new relationships, are something like sweet honey to lure people to this kind of addiction," he said.
Lecturer Tran Thi Ngoc Nho, who teaches Urban Studies at HCM City's Social Sciences and Humanities University, said social networks had big influences on the youth's public communication space.
"The communications of the youth are changing from individual communications to public communications," she said, "That's why social networks are reducing real communications among people, making them gradually stay away from the real space."
Nguyen Dinh Toan, a graduate of the university, analysed that social network addiction was a systematic habit of abusing and using the networks, which led to the dependence on the network.
"It's easy to find out that the time for social network users click on the pages most is in working time," said Vo Thanh Tung, who is in charge of IT management at a joint-stock company in Ha Noi.
"This distracts them from their office work. We have to block social networks from our company's server so that staff can't use social network at works."
Toan, however, insists that such a method had no effect on social network addiction.
"The staff may not use an office computer for that purpose, but they can use their mobile phones instead," Toan said.
Nguyen Thi Le Uyen, from HCM City's Institute for Development Research, said the key factor of the society was the belief in a surrounding community.
"The young person should have enough energy, skill and spirit to overcome the drawbacks of an imaginary social network to win the belief of his/her community in real life," she said. "That's a wise way to use social networks."
Some other IT experts advised social network users to control their time surfing the net. Their tips included using a stopwatch to set the time, using the telephone more often, going outside more frequently, limiting memberships in the networks and removing cellphone applications.
"Using social networks is a wise and effective way to communicate and catch up with the rest of the world providing that network users don't forget the realities," said Tung. — VNS