The
Social Networking Era Post # 6
From the very
beginnning I have been writing about the importance that the social networking
medias has on the society. It is undeniable that all of the popular social
networking websites has become a part and parcel for the technology users.
Despite having so many positive impacts there are also critics about these
websites. As the popularity of the social networking media is growing enormously,
mass awarness about the negative impact of using these websites is growing
around the world. In my discussion, today I will talk about the negative
impacts that these social networking medias has on the society.
If we are asked to tell
some of the negative impacts of the social networking websites then what will
be our answers? I catagorize the negative impact of these websites into two
part. One is social impact and the other
is psychological impact. First I will talk about the negative social impacts.
It is true that social netwroking sites like facebook, twitter, youtube etc. is
a commonly used tool to bring people closer. Instead of bringing people closer
sometimes these websites create distance between individuals. As a result being
too much dependent on the social networking sites people become addicted to it.
Sometimes the addiction is too severe that we can hardldy think about any
moment of diconnection from this websites. Instead of having interactive
connections with real friends the users find it more comfortable to be involved
with their virtual friends. Most of the time these friends are unknown to them.
It is always amazing to have new friends but as a result of putting too much
attention to the friends who are unknown
to us we have less attention to the friends who are around us. It creates a
communication gap between the friends. As a result the person who is too much
involved with social networking becomes lonely after a certaing period of time.
When we find that our virtual friends are not avilable online and also our real
friends are not around us we feel extremely depressed. We often surf these websites, put our status
there, see who commented on our status, see who liked or disliked it, upload
our pictures, see who followed us, play games etc. A vast amount of our
valuable time is spent in order to do so. As a result the we the students have
less time to concentrate on our studies. Studies shows that students who are extremely
involved in using social networking websites are more likely to have a lower
grade in the exam. So it has a far reaching negative impact on our professional
life because our educational background plays an important role for our
professional success. Social networking media is one of the prime reasons for
increasing divorce rate around the world. According to ABC news-“ A third of
all divorce filings in 2011 contained the word “Facebook”, according to Divorce
Online. And more than 80 percent of U.S. divorce attorneys say social
networking in divorce porceedings is on the rise, according to American Academy
of Matrimonial Lawyers”(Sydney Lupkin). Facebook as well as other social
networking websites is a very heaven for the cyber criminals. They often steal
personal information of the users and then use it for their illegal interest.
As a result the users become a victim of identitiy theft. Few days ago a friend
of mine told me that someone hacked his facebook account and then uploaded some
explicit photos on behalf of his account. My friend didn’t know what to do in
that situation, so he permanently closed his account and stopped using
facebook. These are just a few of the negative social impacts of using
facebook. There are many more.
Now let’s begin the
negative psychological impacts the social networking medias may have on it
users. According to American Psychological Association-“Pre-teens and teenagers
who use technology like the Internet and video games, on a regular basis will
have more stomach aches, sleeping problems, anxiety and depression. Teens who
use Facebook may show narcisisitic tendencies and young adults show more signs
of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviors, mania and
aggressive tendencies. Daily overuse of media and technology has a negative
effec on the health of all children, pre-teens and teenagers by making them
more prone to anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders, as well
as by making them more susceptible to future health problems”(OneIndiaNews).
Here it is needed to be mentioned that the social networking websites are not
responsible for such problems actually the “overuse” of these websites is
responsible. Therefore such negative impacts can easily be avoided just by
reducing the time used to surf these websites. But the Irony is that these
websites are so appealing to the new generations that they can hardly keep their
eyes on something else.
In real life everithing
has both positive and negative sides. It is like the two side of the same coin.
We can not think of any thing that only has good effect on the society.
Everything that is positive for the society has also some negative issues
involved with it. If we are aware of the proper use of social networking web
sites then we can hope to get the benefit for what it was invented. We only
need little conciousness. Thus we can hope to use these tools to keep in touch
with our beloved friends and family and keep ourselves away from trouble.
Work Cited
Lupkin,Sydney; ABC
World News, May 24,2012.URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-relationship-status/story?id=16406245#.UBpWtPZbf08
OneIndia News; August
9,2011.URL: http://news.oneindia.in/2011/08/09/tech-negative-positive-effects-of-facebook-part-1.html
