A few days ago l appeared in a Federal Public Service examination. One of the questions asked was, what is the educational value of Facebook? My response was that Facebook serves no particular educational purpose. Many of my contacts are my present or former students. In the last four or five years, no one has asked me a single intelligent question regarding my subject on this forum. One friend, in last five years asked me to explain the meaning of a couplet by Allama Iqbal’s poems, despite the fact that I teach Biology, not poetry or literature.
I have posted some stories, some friends have liked them but I got no feedback or comment. For me it simply means my friends liked them but did not read them. If I post a quote, many make like them because they can read it in a single glance. If I post a photo it may glean some likes. However if I post a story no one will read. We want to invest no energy in reading. It shows our declining habit of read and a predilection to see just pictures or moving films. Many people post their families or personal pictures on Facebook and they serve no educational purpose. Some of my friends post their status as, on air port, going back to Canada and I am in a shopping mall etc. Certainly by reading these statuses no one can get any educational benefit at all. However I do agree Facebook can become a potential educational tool if we want to use it for that purpose.
MUHAMMAD ASHTAR,
Islamabad, January 23.