Discursive Passage - 11 | English Grammar Advanced - Class 10 PDF Download

Read the following passage carefully:

1. A youngster quit Facebook in December after spending over three years on the social networking site. With that one act, he bid a silent adieu to more than 300 contacts that he had added to his account during the period. Like almost everyone from his “friends’ circle,” the 20–year–old was a regular on the service; visiting it everyday to post photos and status updates. But last week, a new feature on Facebook called Timeline forced him to reconsider the pros and cons of being on the networking site.

2. ‘Everyone has some skeletons in their closet and I am just not comfortable with Facebook digging up and displaying all the facets of my life on a bulletin board,’ says this youngster who joined the network in July 2007 while he was in Class 11.

3. Facebook, you see, had compressed the time he spent on the site and arranged it in chronological order. And while he initially liked the new, neatly organised scrapbook–like feature, he wasn’t happy to reveal posts from the past, those that, until recently, were hidden under layers and layers of recent updates. Just clicking on a date on the timeline could transport his friends back in time and enable them to view every embarrassing comment, link or photo he had posted on his profile.

4. “I think it’s a recipe for disaster,” he says. “In 2007, I had some wall posts, which seemed appropriate at the time, but now after a lapse of four years, I have moved on and don’t want them to be openly displayed for all to see.”

5. And he is not alone. Many users, worried about how Facebook activity could possibly affect their offline lives, are choosing to commit ‘Facebook suicide’. While some have privacy concerns, others feel that the site that was meant to bring them closer to their friends actually does the opposite – it reduces their friendship to something superficial.

6. “Poking and liking are not enough to keep a friendship going,” says a business analyst. Having quit Facebook three years ago, she prefers meeting her ‘real’ friends face–to–face, instead of reading their trite posts online.

7. “On Facebook, people hype everyday issues including what they ate and where they went on a daily basis,” says this analyst who continues to use Twitter.

8. Similarly, an engineering student, quit Facebook last December four years after joining it. One fine day, he exported all the data from his account into a little zip file and hit the delete button.

9. “I realised that when it came to my friends who really mattered, I could actually keep in touch with them over the phone or by meeting them in real life,” he wrote on his blog.

11.1. On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer the following questions in 30–40 words each:
(a) What feature of Timeline takes away a person’s privacy?

By clicking on a date on the Timeline one can see the posts, the embarrassing comments and thoughts, photos and links that a person has put on his profile in the past. This takes away his privacy.

(b) What was the youngster’s initial reaction to Timeline?

Initially the youngster found it to be well–organized as it had scrap–book like features. But only later he realized that it stores all the past information which can be seen by your friends if they go on to Timeline.

(c) Why did the youngster change his mind later?

The youngster changed his mind later because he realized that an information or poster put in the past may have been relevant then but today it may not be. People move on in life and sometimes they do not want their past to haunt them, they do not want their friends to see that and comment.

(d) What does term ‘Facebook suicide’ mean?

Many people have started feeling that their Facebook activity could affect their real life. So they are getting out of Facebook. This is called ‘Facebook suicide’.

11.2. On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer of the following:
(a) The meaning of the word ‘share’ in para 3 is __________.
(i) liked
(ii) timeline
(iii) hidden
(iv) reveal

Correct Option (iv) reveal

(b) The opposite meaning of the word “retained in para 8 is ___________.
(i) exported
(ii) delete
(iii) account
(iv) quit

Correct Option (i) exported

(c) Timeline is a new feature on Facebook that forced the youngster to reconsider the advantages and disadvantages of being on Facebook. (True/False)

True

(d) Many people are getting out of facebook as they feel that their facebook activity

could affect their real life