Online Communities - Coursework Example

Angwyn Karban: English101: 15th October Online Communities Technology has led to creation of online communities through social media platform such as Facebook and Myspace. The purpose of creating online community was to help people share ideas or information especially when doing business. Online communities have not only changed how people do business currently, but it has also changed interaction within local and global communities. The online community has both positive and negative impacts on the community. Consequently, it is necessary to explain the positive and negative impacts of the online community. In addition, it is crucial to proffer solutions to the negative effects of the online communities. One of the negative impacts of the online community is that it has reduced the quality of relationships amongst people (Moorman & Bowker 2). People only focus on quantitative relationships on the online communities. It means that their main aim is to make many friends. One may have more than 5000 friends on the online community, but feel empty in the real world because the friendships formed on social media are of poor quality. The online platform has also affected the quality of friendship in the real community. People spend most of their time on social media and do not get time to interact with their friends because they believe that they can simply interact with them online. In as much as friends may meet, they do not get enough time to talk to each other since they spend most of their time chatting. People have to interact more on a personal level in order to create quality relationships. This enables them to know each other better (Moorman & Bowker 2). It is difficult for people to know their friends well without meeting and interacting in the real community. The online community has destroyed people’s relationships in the real world. Studies show that many marriages have been destroyed because of the online communities (Sohn 1). The online community encourages people to cheat on their spouses. Study outcomes reveal that people who spend most of their time on social media are more likely to break their marriages. It is easier for people to reconnect with their ex-partners on an online platform (Sohn 1). Prior to the introduction of the social media, it was difficult for people to meet with their ex-partners or new partners. Interaction in the online communities is very addictive. This means that people spend most of their time chatting with their friends online than their partners. They do not get time to interact with their partners. The situation creates hostility between partners in their real relationships. It also leads to jealousy and mistrust. In the year 2011, a survey showed that social media especially facebook is a third cause of divorce fillings in the US (Sohn 1). People cited inappropriate messages and mean comments as the main cause of divorce. Apart from marriages, the online communities have also destroyed people’s relationship with their employers. Some employees have been fired or warned after interacting with friends during working hours. Others have also been fired for posting negative comments about their employers on social media. The online community has also negatively affected people’s socials skills (APS 1). The effect is mostly experienced by children. People need to interact with other people in order to enhance their social skills such as communication and language. Addiction to online communities leads to isolation. This hinders communication development among children. Communication development among children and teenagers is very important because it determines how they will interact with people in their future work places. Since online communities have ruined face-to-face communication, many people find it uncomfortable when interacting with people in the real community (APS 1). Some also experience social anxiety when meeting new people. A social risk factors associated with the online communities is cyber bulling. The vice affects people psychologically if they are threaten or humiliated on social media. It can lead to psychological problems such as depression. Some people especially teenagers can commit suicide due the humiliation caused by cyber bullying. The online communities have also positively influenced interactions in the community. One of the positive effects is the ability to enable people to stay connected with their friends in the real world (Sponcil & Gitimu 9). People are very busy with work in the current society. Some are also travelling to other countries. Consequently, it is easier for friends and families to lose touch. Even though, online communities should not replace interpersonal interactions, social medial enables children to meet friends dealing with the same issues such as those feeling isolated. In addition, it enables them to meet friends with the same interests. With social media, people can still interact despite the geographical separation. In addition, social media allows people to meet new friends and reconnect with their old friends. Some people have found their old friends from school or past neighborhoods through the online communities. Online communities are very diverse because they enable people to learn new ideas from people with different backgrounds. The process helps in enhancing people’s problems solving abilities in the real world. The online community reduces communication barriers since it allows people to express their views or perceptions to a large group of people which would be difficult in the real world. The online communities can also help in improving students’ performance in school. This happens if they use social media to discuss schoolwork and solve problems (Sponcil & Gitimu 9). Social media has also helped in improving people’s living standards. Some people get employment through the social media. Some employers look for employees on social media. In addition, public health experts have also improved people’s health by creating awareness about health issues on the online communities locally and globally. It is easy to reach millions of people within a short time through the online communities. The situation helps in influencing their health positively. It is also easier for business persons to create a good relationship with their customers on the online communities. They can interact with their customers faster and in cheaper ways. This helps in improving the performances of their businesses. It is difficult to eliminate or change the online communities. However, the problems caused by the platforms can be addressed. One of the ways to solve the problem includes limiting the time spent on social media (Moorman & Bowker 7). The strategy will prevent addiction to online communities. Parents should restrict the time spent by their children on social media. They should also monitor their children’s activities on the online communities. This will prevent problems such as cyber bullying. Limiting the time spent by children on the online communities will also encourage interpersonal interactions among children and their friends. Children should communicate with their friends on face to face basis in order to enhance their communication development. Instead of interacting on social media, people should try to meet their friends more often in order to create qualitative relationships rather than quantitative relationships on the online communities. Users should interact with the online communities appropriately. For instance, they should be careful when posting comments of the social media. The process will help in preventing relationships problems. Employees should also be careful on how they use social media. They should avoid using them while at work. They should also solve their work place problems with their employers directly instead of airing views on social media. Conclusion Millions of people prefer interacting on the online communities. The online communities are creating a barrier that limits people’s interactions in the real world. The platforms have been instrumental in strengthening old friendships that had been weakened by geographical separation. They have also made it easy to conduct business operations such as advertisements of company products. However, the online communities have negatively affected people social skills. The situation is attributed to the fact that online communities hinder interpersonal communication. Addiction to the online communities prevents face to face interactions. Works Cited Moorman, Jessica & Bowker Anne. The university facebook experience: The role of social networking on the quality of interpersonal relationships. The American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal. Vol 15. 2011. Web. 15 July 2014. Sohn, Emily. How social media overload can lead to break-ups. ABC Science. 2014. Web. 15 October 2014. Sponsil, Megan & Gitimu, Priscill. Use of social media by college students: Relationship to communicate and self-concept. Journal of Technology Research. 2011. Web. 15 October 2014. The Australian Psychological Society. The social and psychological impact of online social networking. National Psychology Week Survey. 2010. Web. 15 October 2014. Read More