Social Network And What It Did To The World - Report Example

Social Network And What It Did To The World Introduction Engagement of children, adolescents and family in social networking has become an everyday activity and it has benefited them by helping them enhance their interaction that is social in nature, interpersonal skills and skills that are technical in nature. Social networking outlets such as the Facebook and MySpace offer its users with various opportunities to interact and get in touch with people from different social settings such as schools and organizations. The usage of such social networks has increased among adolescent population by a great deal. A survey was conducted which concluded that teenager population visit and log into their favorite social networking websites for more than 10 times per day and those who are recognized as adolescents visit their favorite social websites for at least once per day (Common Sense Media 1). Certain percentage of the population of parents has shown satisfaction and others have shown regret to the usage of social networking websites by their children (Response to Fcc Notice of Inquiry 1). According to Hinduja, out of the total population of teenagers, 75% of them use mobile phones, 25% are using it for the purpose of connecting to social networking websites (Hinduja 89). These surveys clearly show that a huge population of the world is developing socially and emotionally through social networking websites. A huge number of people are using social media but all of them are not benefiting from its usage. Lenhart states that behaviors that are conducted in offline arenas are even being practiced through social networking websites, these behaviors include: online bullying, invasion of privacy, sexting, addiction to the internet and lack of proper sleep (Lenhart 1). Body Advantages Social networking websites allow individuals to remain connected with their friends and family members at all times, get into new relationships including intimate and friendly relationships, exchange of opinions and profiles. These websites aid children in connecting with their community as these websites allow children to raise money for charitable purposes, helps them promote their talents such as artistic talents, exchange ideas through online blogs and games, helps them learn key components of life such as tolerance and respect as they connect with diverse number of people and enhancement and development of the communicational and interpersonal skills of the children (Boyd119). Social networking websites have assisted students in learning and acquiring knowledge, students use social networking outlets to communicate with their colleagues for accomplishment of homework assignments and team based assignments assigned to them at their educational institutes (Kitsis 33). For example: students meet each at over the Facebook and discuss and solve problems that have been assigned to them as homework or coursework. Educational instates and instructors are even using social networking websites to their full potential as they use these websites and blogs to distribute notes. Now individuals no longer need to depend on their physicians and doctors for information regarding their health issues. The internet and social networking websites have loads of information available all over the internet which helps individuals in curing and figuring out cures for their diseases (Casalino 25). Professionals from the health care industry are already found online and these professionals use blogs to communicate their ideas and medication for health problems. Those who fall in the category of patients can ask specific questions regarding their health issues form these professionals and can get timely feedback. Social networking websites help individuals in developing interpersonal and communication skills which they first practice online and then apply in offline settings (Livingstone 400). There are certain individuals who are afraid of talking to different individuals or are quite shy. These individuals use different techniques of communication online and learn those communication methods that are accepted in online social life. They use these learned communication styles offline to ensure that they do not end up being embarrassed when they communicate in offline settings. Social media websites have even benefited the political and economical arena of the society (Park 400). These websites are used by marketers to market their products are services according to the demographics, cultures, values and norms of the internet users. Traditionally, it was very hard for marketers to figure out these details about consumers, but social media outlets have made this job easier for the marketers. The political arena has even sufficiently benefited from these devises, political parties used these websites to identify their popularity among individuals and to popularize their parties through social media networking. Disadvantages Social networking has not proven to be completely fruitful for users who are recognized as adolescents and teenagers. Several risks have been associated with their usage of social networking websites, these risks involve: privacy issues, exchange of content that is not appropriate for children and risks associated with communication with third party individuals. Social networking websites has been labeled as discriminatory websites for conducting discriminatory practices. These websites are even highly recognized for conducting the immoral act of cyber bullying through which individuals are being harassed purposely (Campbell 70). These kind of discriminatory and harassing activities occur quite frequently and ends up impacting children in negative manner. The outcomes of these activities have been linked with cognitive issues such as anxiety and depression and individuals have even committed suicide due to such activities. Another issue experienced by individuals due to use of internet based social outlets is the issue of sexting. Sexting is regarded as the act of sending and receiving of textual and visual content that is sexual in nature. According to the survey conducted by National campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted pregnancy, 20% of the teenagers who use social media websites have exchanged nude and seminude pictures and content that is regarded as pornography (. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 1). Melville has come up with a new form of cognitive issue that is regarded as Facebook depression (Melville 1). This mental disorder occurs because of excessive use of Facebook and other similar social networking websites. Those who experience this cognitive disorder spend ample amount of their time over social networking websites and slowly start exhibiting signs and symptoms of depression. Gaining social acceptance is quite important for individuals and children in online and offline regions, if children fail to gain importance and acceptance in online social settings they experience isolation and in turn exhibit signs of depression. Due to this experience, children resort to online websites that promise to provide solutions for cognitive disorders and these websites support the use of substances for the purpose of gaining mental stability. Privacy issues have been regarded as the top most issues experienced by children due to the usage of social networking websites (Livingstone 410). Individuals experience a risk of privacy if they connect with others over the internet. Individuals have a tendency of sharing personal information over the internet without being concerned about the implications of these sharing habits. Another issue is that experts of computer industry have the ability to follow the footprints of users of internet and by following these foot prints, experts obtain personal information which they later use to hack into systems and for extortion purposes. Conclusion Social networking has proved to be both beneficial and disadvantageous for the society. They have greatly impacted the children of today’s society, benefits obtained by children include: learning and development of interpersonal, communication and technical skills. Social media networking has assisted political groups in gaining support for their parties and marketers use social media to target consumers and promote their products in accordance to information obtained from individuals. The risks associated with use of social media networking includes: risk of privacy, risk of sexual abuse and risk of psychological disorders that children and adolescents develop due to usage of social media. Works Cited Boyd, D. Why Youth Heart Social Network Sites: the Role of Networked Publics in Teenage. Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, n.d. Retrieved From < http://www.danah.org/papers/WhyYouthHeart.pdf> Campbell, M A. "Cyber Bullying: an Old Problem in a New Guise?" Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling. 15.1 (2005): 68-76. Print. Casalino, L, RR Gillies, SM Shortell, JA Schmittdiel, T Bodenheimer, JC Robinson, T Rundall, N Oswald, H Schauffler, and MC Wang. "External Incentives, Information Technology, and Organized Processes to Improve Health Care Quality for Patients with Chronic Diseases." Jama : the Journal of the American Medical Association. 289.4 (2003): 22-29. Print. Hinduja, S, and Justin Patchin. "Offline Consequences of Online Victimization: School Violence and Delinquency." Journal of School Violence. 6.3 (2007): 89-112. Print. Is Social Networking Changing Childhood? ." Common Sense Media. N.p., 10 Aug. 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. . Kitsis, Stacy M. "The Facebook Generation: Homework As Social Networking." English Journal. 98.2 (2008): 30-36. Print. Lenhart, A. " Teens and Sexting | Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project." Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project. N.p., 15 Dec. 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. . Livingstone, S. "Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers Use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy and Self-Expression." New Media and Society. 10.3 (2008): 393-411. Print. Melville, Kate. "Facebook use associated with depression." Science News, Research And Discussion. N.p., 2 Mar. 2010. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. Sex and Tech: Results from a Survey of Teens and Young Adults. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, n.d.. Internet resource. Read More