Pros and Cons Social Networking Sites Affect on Relationships and Health - Research Paper Example

Social Networking Sites Technologies of the current era not only facilitate us; but also change our life style. The changes are not always likable; however, they make life easy and enhance living style. Lately, internet has become an essential part of modern age society. Its significance cannot be denied due to its contribution in education, home and industry. Business deals and social acquaintances are made on it every day. This shows the dependence of human race and also shows the modernization of networking. Every invention or creation made by humans has its drawbacks. They lack perfection and cannot become natural for us. However, uncountable benefits are attained from them and they do contribute in making our lives more comfortable. Technology has always been a great mean to spread awareness on a grand scale. Now a days, people not only learn different skills on internet them self but also learn the communicational skills; which eventually increases their social circle. The phenomena of Social Networking Websites have become inevitable for the people of today. It provides ample opportunity to communicate with ease and distant family members or friends, can easily meet online. To make these social gatherings possible on internet, a lot of popular companies have introduced their services through famous interacting websites. For example Friendster,Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, Skype and many more. Their aim is to shorten the distance among people and introducing the cyber world relationships through communication. Everything has its benefits along with the disadvantages. Social networking websites are gaining popularity in people belonging from all age groups. These websites help people of distant countries to stay connected easily and stay connected. They also provide instant and cheapest mean to communicate. The immediate communication strengthens the bond and people easily share their views and ideas. This is a very effective way to bridge geographical gaps. On the other hand due to these websites regular face to face interaction has reduced and people prefer to stay online to chat rather than spending time with people around them. According to a survey teenagers spend an average nine hours on these websites; which reduces the first hand experience of interaction in real world. These websites allow their users to use free of cost services such as chatting, blogging, games, photo and music sharing and many more. It helps to introduce new mediums of communication and exposure to creativity of expression. Excess sharing can backfire; a person can end up being abused by others due to intemperance of personal information or photo sharing. Often abusers use information about a specific person to harass and threat; to attain financial and sexual gains. People who feel shy and hesitant or are unpopular feel comfortable to communicate on Social Networking websites. They find people of common interest and explore new ideas with the people of their choice. Choosing a community would describe the preferences of a person and thus makes it easier for people of common interest and temperament to mingle up. However, there is no way to find out the true identity of a person on these websites. Mostly false profiles are made and fake images are used. Many sex offenders were identified by Myspace in 2009 but there is no way to stop them from creating new accounts. Social networking websites are the most effective mean to seek instant advice from experts; in critical decision making issues. In 2006, 60 million people of America with major life threatening problems were helped online, through their social network acquaintances (OCF, 2006). It also gives ample opportunity to improve relations and rapport with colleagues, and professional guidance can be attained from people of the same profession. On the other hand, the authenticity of professional’s advice can also be in question thus there’s no way to prove the actual identity of a person. Neither there is any proof whether the person belongs to the profession he or she claims to. Therefore, it reduces the chances to trust and minimizes confidence on the provided information. On the other hand, cyber bulling is increasing which lowers the self-esteem and becomes a cause of depression. These websites not only make it easier for bullies to approach the victims but also publics the messages on the large scale. The humiliation continues unless the bullies decide to deletes the message or people find it uninteresting. Social networking websites enable distant family members and friends to interact with no trouble and enhance their relationships with daily communication. This helps to produce effective communication and gives them a sense of closeness to their loved ones, who live abroad. Due to lack of direct communication that is at face value and isolation, people suffer from depression and thus are tempted to suicidal attempts easily ( Darkens,1951). Social isolation and loneliness are interconnected with depression. Lack of interaction with real world could eventually lead to depression. Being a part of social networking community provides an opportunity to increase quality of life. They help to minimize health issues for example retention ability and recovery from stroke. However, they can also become a cause of brain disorders in children such as ADH, low attention span, lack of confidence and personality disorders such as frequent self-admiration need. These websites are also making youngsters experience anxiety and depression due to psychological problems. These children show tendencies to be narcissist which eventually lead to self centeredness. (Weil, M, and Rosen, 1997). These social interacting websites are reducing the communicative skills required for children to use in their day to day lives. Social networking websites are a forum, where people can get benefit from others experiences and thus can receive help from people suffering facing the same problem. For example alcoholism and cancer suffering patients can communicate and share information regarding similar problems thus eventually become peer support for each other. If we look at the other side of the picture, the aim of these websites was to do business not to enhance peoples’ lives. The first online social networking website”Ryze” was made to expand business and facilitate industry to find potential business acquaintances. (ProCon, 2011) Communications of any information can be spread to the largest number of people in less time through social networking website. Messages coming on these websites are usually considered authentic and scanned; though it is not true. The scanning mechanism to check the messages whether they are free of viruses and scams isn’t available. The security and authenticity is vague over here. An online social network helps its user to receive information regarding products and packages. This also increases interest in people to explore new products available. These products show a make believe feed back page which some people trust and get cheated. As it is less likely not to meet scams and con artists through network of friends, who take advantage of trust and leave one with loss. The virtual world can be deceiving as everything is conducted through pictures and words, only real hand experiences can lead to right decision making. (Harwood, Mike,2011). Student community on social networking websites help children to learn through cooperative learning. It is also a platform where they share new ideas and get peer help in solving different problems. Thus information is easily transferred from one student to the other. They also develop conflict resolution skills and enhance reading, writing skills. Exposure to students from different countries, also help them to learn and adapt communicational skills along with positive interaction. Due to excess exposure teenagers are spending more time on community websites and less time in the real world. Their interaction in a virtual world with virtual friends has changed into obsession, which is increasing with the passage of time. Social online communities have expanded social circle of their users and allowed users to meet potential intimate partners. The profile shows the preference which leads to choosing specific person as a potential dating partner. As there is no prove of the true identity or true intention of any user; therefore people often suffer from fraud and are cheated in these relationship. The sense of security hangs in thin air; as intimacy cannot be estimated through words; it requires feelings which are visible clearly at face value. Social networking websites can be considered as training zones for teenagers to practice communicational skills with the security of safe environment. They not only learn how to deal people but also to deal the situation prudently. It also introduces the idea of virtual empathy which later on helps them to deal in real life situations. Teenagers who get used to of the fast pace on online social networking; can find the real world boring and unattractive as people and their views cannot be disposed of through a click. These types of teenagers are more in danger, as they are unable to handle themselves in the real world and can easily get de- motivated in trying situations.( Ellison, Nicole B.,2004). The frequent use of facebook and other social websites; is also becoming a cause of low grades. Children under the age of 14 are not allowed to visit social networking websites. However, the profiles of children under the age of 16 are set in private mode and they are invisible to other users. Cybercrime is also increasing due to availability of personal information in bulk on social networking websites. The residential addresses and other information can be easily attained on these websites; along with it updates of vacations and trip announcements give a green signal to these criminals. Social networking websites provide ample opportunity to communicate and makes it possible for a person to find people of his social circle easily. It also helps to get familiarize with people of different countries minimizing the geographical gaps. It also reduces the trouble of making long distance calls. However, humans can never invent flawless commodity. The amount of time spent on social networking websites isolates a person from real world, hence leaving him completely on the mercy of virtual world and friends. Lack of direct interaction promotes isolation and people can end up in depression or low self esteem issues in real world. Isolation can also become a cause of suicide according to Durkheim’s theory (Ocf, 2006). The responsibility also lies on parents, who have to aware their children how to keep a balance in personal and digital lives. Therefore, social networking websites display benefits but social circles in real world; play vital part in overall growth and can be easily trusted upon. Wordcount:1742 Work cited : Ocf.Barkley.edu:A New Epidemic: Social Networking Sites, 2006http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~stellal/ Durkheim, Émile. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Glencoe, Ill: Free Press, 1951. Print. Ellison, Nicole B. Telework and Social Change: How Technology Is Reshaping the Boundaries between Home and Work. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2004. Print. ProCon.org. "Social Networking ProCon.org." SocialNetworking.ProCon.org. ProCon.org, 14 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.http://socialnetworking.procon.org/ law, Politics, and Online Social Networking. eCommons@Texas State University, 2010. Internet resource. Harwood, Mike. Security Strategies in Web Applications and Social Networking. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011. Print. Weil, Michelle M, and Larry D. Rosen. Technostress: Coping with Technology @work @home @play. New York: J. Wiley, 1997. Print. Read More