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Fifteen years ago, Facebook was born on February 4, 2004 in a dormitory room on the campus of Harvard University. Facebook’s birth certificate list Mark Zuckerberg as its parent. From day one and continuing non-stop to date, Facebook has been well-cared for. Facebook was well-fed and provided all the best life and money could bring. Facebook has grown up and into a social media machine with no peers and now has billions of followers all over the world.
The billions of people who have supported Facebook have enabled it to become a multi-billion dollar economic engine that has enriched the lives of many. In this world we live in, people and entitles who become successful are asked to give back to the rest of society commensurate with their high level of success. Given the profound level of impact Facebook has on the world stage, its fair on this occasion of Facebook’s 15th birthday to ask Facebook to transform itself into an entity that does much more to improve the human condition. Here are nine ways Facebook can make the world a better place.
One, Put Facebook on a thirty day vacation. Starting March 1, 2019 to March 30, 2019–go thirty days without Facebook. Give the world a break from Facebook. During this time frame the mental health profession can study the effects on humanity and make recommendations on how to address what’s considered by many to be the harmful addiction to Facebook by untold millions. A thirty day respite would give Facebook Leadership an opportunity to address the many concerns society has about Facebook such as data privacy issues, promoting of violent videos, contributing to social media addictions, lack of diversity in Facebook hiring practices etc. Consider having daily time limits on Facebook users’ access to their Facebook accounts. Answer the question many have: Should people spend hours a day on Facebook? Maybe one or more days a week or month Facebook users should see their accounts take a day off.
Two, use Facebook to confront the school tuition issue. Many people cannot benefit from education institutions due to high costs of school tuition. Using Facebook’s worldwide resources and platform, confront the fifteen U.S. Colleges with multi-billion dollar endowments and insist they offer FREE TUITION–across the board. The richest school endowment in the world is Harvard University with a reported $43 billion in the bank. Why is Harvard charging anyone tuition–and room and board–when they got $43 billion dollars in the bank. Its time Facebook rallies its two billion followers to take to the streets at these fifteen Colleges and demand they shake loose some of their multi-billion dollar endowments to benefit poor folks.
Three, health issues and how to pay for research and medicine is a global concern. Cancers, heart attacks, Sickle Cell Anemia, AIDS, eye diseases, genetic and blood disorders–the list is very long–are issues that have severely harmed society with no end in sight. People seeking information must navigate countless websites and other information resources. Facebook could help coordinate and streamline the process of getting current information and access to treatments. Facebook could mount efforts to host regional health information conferences. Facebook must do more to improve health outcomes.
Four, Facebook must take the lead in exposing government waste, fraud and misconduct. Across at the city, state, federal and international levels, waste, fraud, corruption, brutality and misconduct by governmental officials is stunning and widespread. Facebook can and should use its worldwide platform to expose wrongdoing its subscribers. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
Five, its time for the United States to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in all local, state and federal elections. There are twelve countries around the world that allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote–the United States is not one of them. In the USA, federal elections require a minimum age of 18 as do many cities and states elections. In the USA, there are an estimated twenty million people who are either 16 or 17 years old. Adding them to the voting rolls would encourage young people to participate in civic affairs. The City of Tacoma Park, Maryland appears to be the only City in America that legalized teens voting in its municipal elections. Facebook must lead the charge for this laudable change.
Six, Facebook must use its resources to expose discrimination at its core where ever it exists. New York City is home to some 16,000 Asian-owned businesses. They are laundry stores, hair and nail salons, restaurants and clothing stores. It now appears only nine of the 16,000 Asian-owned establishments hire Latinos and Blacks. It appears that about 81 per cent of all Asian businesses in New York City are located in Latino and Black neighborhoods. Nine out of 16,000 Asian-owned stores hiring Latinos and Blacks is a moral disgrace. The Asian business discriminatory hiring practices is not limited to New York City. Asian refusal to hire Latinos and Blacks is a nationwide phenomenon. Facebook must use its worldwide platform to confront this blatant discrimination by Asian-owned businesses.
Seven, traffic congestion and accidents are a major worldwide problem. Accidental injuries, deaths and property damage cost billions of dollars. Facebook can and must use its worldwide platform to bring about improvements in traffic safety.
Eight, Special Needs Registries are in use in various communities around the U.S.A. They track people with special needs such as blind, deaf, disable, etc. When a 911 call comes in from a given number, it readily alerts First Responders that people there have unique needs. It appears that there is no nationwide census or tracking or people with Special needs; as such local, state and the federal governments cannot make comprehensive plans as they are lacking in much needed information. Facebook must hold forums to address this matter.
Nine, In New York City there is an entity known as the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA); it was created in the 1930’s by then Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia who stated: “There shall forever be public housing for successive generations of poor people.” Currently, NYCHA, long-starved of adequate federal, state and local funding, is chaffing under the weight of a large number of repair needs. NYCHA is home to some 650,000 people spread across the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA public grounds have become the target of real estate developers who have been seen walking thru NYCHA environs with shopping lists in hand and salivating at the possibilities. Real estate developers have coined a new political buzz word: “underutilized”. Every time a developer spies a piece of NYCHA land with an eye for development, they recklessly throw around the word “underutilized” to soften the impact of taking NYCHA land.
Elected public officials and their real estate developer cronies have been marching into NYCHA and taking over playgrounds, parking lots and open spaces and giving them away to their developers pals. While all this is going on, NYCHA is suffering from a massive lead paint crisis, broken elevators abound, garbage piles up days and weeks at a time. And, many buildings go days and weeks without heat and hot water. Its time Facebook uses its worldwide platform to show the whole world the living conditions in NYCHA. If these conditions were shown to exist in another country, we would hear calls for massive aid to be delivered.
Let’s all wish Facebook a Happy 15th Birthday and hope that Facebook used to occasion to do more to help improve the human conditions for its two billion supporters.
