Utilitarianism Theory

Within today’s world, the concern of the emotion displaying aspects is taken to be displayed through many ways. One of the most profound ways is taken through social media aspects. Social media plays a vital role is producing the desired platform especially for those who are suffering from broken heart or any sort of such practises. Regarding such, the concern of the content switches to alignment of theoretical perspective (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue and contract) to the use of the social media especially facebook producing a platform for broken hearts to produce their emotional behaviour. Apart from the theoretical perspective, an overall conclusion has been derived to produce the conclusive portions of the content.

Utilitarianism theory refers to the concept of moral happiness of people (Peters, 2015). According to the principle of Utility approves that the taken action is correct or not by analysing the outcome of it. If people choose a wrong action for the eradication of certain problems in their lives, then it could increase their problem. Their problem becomes more critical and long lasting and it can make their life intolerable. Therefore, in the opinion of Shapiro & Stefkovich (2016), utilitarian theory gives emphasis on saving two lives instead of one.

In relevance of the theory, there are presences of several platforms for producing the emotional behaviour among with social platforms are the most chosen among the individual such as facebook posts. Through posting any sort of breakup posts from both genders, the concern switches toward the outcome being both favourable as well as non favourable. In the case study, people try their best to overcome their breakups with the help of Facebook and other social media (Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, 2018). They post their status a few days after their break up which instead reminds them of the incident and increases their pain (Bennett & Huberman, 2015).  As the people of social media remind them of that sorrow when later people comment on it. Moreover, as per the ICT ethical norms, personal post cannot be used by others (Hörisch, Freeman & Schaltegger, 2014). In case of Facebook, people use this post and transfer the signal to advertisement companies for benefits, which is the breaching of act. They try to forget their sadness by travelling with friends, or shopping, or going to hang out with friends as suggested by their friends on social media (Ihekwuaba & Anthonia, 2016). By maintaining privacy, Facebook can apply the perception of theory properly (Schwartz, 2016). . The people should not take these social media very lightly, because they can get access to their personal data very easily, and misuse them.

The theory deontology encourages people to select a right action instead of an action which is beneficial for them. As opined by Öhman & Floridi (2017), the theory has tried to develop relationship between duty and morality of an individual. Initially, it may seem like the path in which they are going is a tough one, but later it will fetch them good outcome. The right task always brings out the right result. If they select the beneficial action to remove certain problems in their lives, it will, later on, increase the problem. Further, it will create more vital and serious problems in their lives.

Deontology Theory

Concerning present context, it is seen evident that the use of facebook has more positive remarks regarding the sharing of breakup posts rather than using any other ways of solving the issue. However, according to the Deontology Theory, it is termed to be unethical and hence reflects the breach of ethics rule. Facebook is providing their personal data to the marketing and advertising companies for their own benefit, which is absolutely an illegal offense. Initially, the companies like tour and travel companies and some shopping sites offer huge offers and the person acquires some pleasure from them. Afterward, the person realizes that its problem is arising again in a different way. No company has the rights to play with the emotions of any person for their own profit. It is totally an unethical act. Facebook and other social media should always be careful with their privacy and security policies. They should not do any task which could break their user’s belief upon them.

According to this theory few people have their virtual philosophy. As per Shohet (2018), they find their virtual happiness from some actions which are not right. Eudemonism is a type of virtual theory according to which eudemonia is a goal of some people’s life. This tells us that good person will certainly lead a good life in their future. It can be achieved by doing some good job every day. This theory helps to develop their character. There are different types of virtuous attributes such as virtue of courage, virtue of generosity, virtue of honesty, and so on.

In the present case study, Facebook, uses the personal data of the people for their personal benefit. This is totally an unethical act. According to the theory, whether the action is correct or not can be analyzed based on its previous works. As Facebook is decoding people’s personal posts from early time, this action must be considered as unethical. Facebook is not only using the personal data but also playing with the emotions of the people. Virtue theory does not accept the wrong work on Facebook as this should not be the character of social media. A social media should keep the faith of their users upon themselves. It should not manipulate its terms and conditions for mere benefits.

There are always some rules and regulations that should be followed by everyone. For example, living in a society, one has to follow, the rules and regulations of the society both by paperwork as well as psychologically. The maintenance of paperwork in legal documents is known as contract theory. As stated by Shapiro & Stefkovich (2016) there is a contract which is signed when entering into a society not through paperwork, but through psychologically. It is the ethical theory of making agreements, to save some ethical values of life.

When an account is created on Facebook, they show in the terms and conditions that they are maintaining the privacy policies of the users. Mismatch of ethical concern sustains in cases where the social media application misuse the user’s information despite of staying under certain terms and conditions with the user. There are found several incidents for data leakage through facebook especially, that hinders privacy aspects for the user as well as increases trust issues. As per Spence (2016), both the users and the social media should be careful. People should not blindly trust on any social media. The social media also need to be trustworthy. It should not take advantage of anyone’s faith in them. It could seriously hamper their relationship with users and they might lose the market reputation. Therefore, the Facebook authority needs to follow the ethics in order to maintain privacy of the status of users.

Conclusion

From the above content, various conclusions can be derived. Concerning to that of utilitarian theory, it is evident that the face book usage for posting breakups has their positive as well as negative sides. The consequences for the post reveal negative impact over the user through reviving the sad memories in case when the application produces memory revival. For such, in time of posting the status, it creates happiness within the user while triggers the memory after a few duration. The deontological theory produces the conclusion for facebook usage regarding breakup posts through sustaining the opposition fact for taking the correct action against posting the breakup posts. From that of virtue and contract theory, the concern of nature along with societal culture comes into play. It considers having the acceptances over the posting breakup posts in facebook rather than being cognitive toward the producing data breaches for the users.

Reference List

Peters, R. S. (2015). Ethics and Education (Routledge Revivals). Abingdon: Routledge.Retrieved from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317494782

Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Abingdon: Routledge. Retrieved from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317681113

Bennett, J., & Huberman, J. (2015). From monuments to megapixels: Death, memory, and symbolic immortality in the contemporary United States. Anthropological Theory, 15(3), 338-357. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1463499615575943

Hörisch, J., Freeman, R. E., & Schaltegger, S. (2014). Applying stakeholder theory in sustainability management: Links, similarities, dissimilarities, and a conceptual framework. Organization& Environment, 27(4), 328-346. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1086026614535786

Ihekwuaba, O. N., & Anthonia, A. I. (2016). INFLUENCE OF WIDOWHOOD PRACTICES ON THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH OF WIDOWS IN SELECTED STATES OF SOUTH-EASTERN, NIGERIA. European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences Vol, 4(6). Retrieved from: https://www.idpublications.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Full-Paper-Influence-Of-Widowhood-Practices-On-The-Psycho-Social-And-Physical-Health-Of-Widows-In-Selected-States.pdf

Schwartz, M. S. (2016). Ethical decision-making theory: An integrated approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(4), 755-776. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-015-2886-8

Shohet, M. (2018). Two deaths and a funeral: Ritual inscriptions’ affordances for mourning and moral personhood in Vietnam. American Ethnologist, 45(1), 60-73. Retrieved from: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/amet.12599

Spence, L. J. (2016). Small business social responsibility: Expanding core CSR theory. Business & Society, 55(1), 23-55. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0007650314523256

Öhman, C., & Floridi, L. (2017). The political economy of death in the age of information: a critical approach to the digital afterlife industry. Minds and Machines, [Online] 27(4), 639-662. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11023-017-9445

Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, (2018), Targeting a Broken Heart, Retrieved from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/internet-ethics/resources/targeting-a-broken-heart/ on 16/8/2018