Are Social Networking Sites More Beneficial or Harmful in Our Society?

Facebook, Twitter….and all the different kinds of social networking sites, they are increasing in our society. Social networking sites are services where people create their profile within the bounded system it is where communications happen with others. Websites like these helps grouping and connecting individuals with the same interest but from different places. You may think social networking sites are useful but have you ever wondered what the impact on us is? Here are the two sides of the story.

 Information spread rapidly. By these social networking sites, we receive news from around the world almost as fast as when the local people receive it. Just by going on the internet we know about the huge earthquake or a tragic accident that happened on the other side of the world. Thanks to these sites world connections are made. Not just connections around the world, connections are also made between people. On these sites people communicate with friends, family, strangers that share the same interest or even complete strangers that you happen to meet. It is also a great way to find friends using social networking sites. Old friends that don’t have any contact information are reunited because they found each other on sites like these.

A lot of people focus on the positive side of social networking sites and often forget how it can back stab you. Are connections really made? It may seem that people communicate more often to each other. But that is just an illusion. The chance of meeting person to person, face to face, is reduced. If teenagers continue to communicate using sites like these and not in person, teenagers might have problems communicating orally with others because they are so use to doing it online. Using these sites, you can talk to almost everyone, but you will never know who is sitting behind the computer, unless you actually informed and checked with the person. In order to create account for social networking sites, personal information are asked. If these information are public, some people might use it for other harmful use. This may affect your private space. Also putting pictures can result in misuse; the most common one is the morphing of photographs. Teachers and adults are all trying to promote the stop of bullying. But these social networking sites just make everything worse. Cyber bullying is happening on these websites, people use the internet to bully people. By spamming, calling names, putting pictures, these are all examples of cyber bullying.

   I do not think social networking sites are good for our society, but I don’t think it is bad either. If you use it properly without harming yourself or others, social networking sites could be very useful. There are always safe ways to do things, so if you keep all your personal information and avoid doing risky things, I don’t see how sites like these are harmful.

Useful Sites

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Impact-of-Social-Networking-Sites-to-People&id=4477078

http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/06/social-networking-impact-youth/

http://www.merinews.com/article/impact-of-social-networking-sites-on-social-life/157018.shtml