Are we doomed by Facebook?

It's hard to be on Facebook and not being struck by the fact that the so-called “social network” represents a huge opportunity to waste formidable chunks of time. If the medium was only to be used on weekends, this wouldn't be too bad, but it erodes our precious time 24/7 and ends up depriving the economy of precious productivity. Proponents of “conspiracy theories” might say that it was in fact put in place by al Qaeda, the Chinese or some other “evil empire.” I'm not here to deny this.

The fact remains that 7% of the world population has found the ultimate way to distract itself in Facebook and while indulging in that new habit, quit paying attention to producing goods and services. I'm sure there's a handful of capable economists that could put a price tag on what the Facebook addiction costs to the economies of the world that are victim of it. With a global GDP oscillating somewhere between 70 and 80 trillion dollars, that pesky network might easily cost us all around at least one trillion. Enough with that; I'm beginning today to hit the brake on my personal consumption of that “feel-good” medium!