By Megan Mansfield In the past few years, Facebook, the online social network, has gripped the nation. It has become increasingly popular among the people of Surrey along with the rest of the population. But is this a good thing?

Chizzle Harrison, a student at Esher College, claims "I struggle to go a day without checking my Facebook account, otherwise I feel socially cut-off and its useful for asking my friends things without using up my credit. It has become an everyday habit." Other students like Chizzle are admitting to a sort of addiction to the site which could be an increasing problem with teenagers. Especially if they have exams to revise for, Facebook can be a serious distraction.

However, some people manage not to spend pointless hours flicking through their cousin's friend's wedding photos but use Facebook for much more useful things. The opportunity to organise events easily without wasting paper, the creation of groups to support beliefs or people, I often use my status to ask questions; for example, "What is pathetic fallacy" - at least one person online will know and hopefully comment! It is also useful for communicating and keeping in touch with old friends or friends who live far away. "I mainly use Facebook for uploading my photos and looking at other peoples" says Grace Prigmore, Surbiton High School. The photo application is useful to users as it allows a bit of innocent "stalking" from time to time, although is this just an excuse to pose, show-off and be fake?

Everything that happens to me during the day I find myself planning how to phrase it as my status. But is this healthy? Facebook often seems to be the point of going out. After a party I complete the same ritual, thank the person who's party it was, go round and ask everyone who was there if they had fun and wait for the photos to be uploaded. Life is made so much easier by it! Money is saved on texts and phone calls and everyone you know is easy to contact. On the other hand, we coped perfectly without it, do we really need to see a stranger's drunken holiday banter or our best friend from nursery's 18th birthday party photos? Is Facebook a complete waste of our time, holding us back from getting on with work and spending time with loved ones?

Ian Mansfield, parent of student at Surbiton High believes that "Teenagers spend too long on Facebook and not enough time working and actually socialising. I would prefer my daughter to be going out with her friends rather than talking to them on the internet when she should be working."

In my opinion, Facebook is harmless. If a person becomes so addicted to this website, they are most likely to become addicted to any other website. Everyone would use anything possible to prolong the time before they had to work and Facebook just happens to be a good way, they would merely resort to other distractions, like trashy magazines if not Facebook.

Facebook has made keeping in touch easier than ever, we can talk to our friends effortlessly. It allows lazy communication, hurling gossip and other information at each other by a click of a finger.