Influence of Social Networking

Social Networking and Life According to Joanna Brenner from Pew Internet, 67% of Americans have some sort of social network. The mixed blessing of social networking has grown so much over the years, from having basic email to instant messaging, MySpace and now Facebook, Instagram Twitter and another hundred more. Some see social networking as a way to keep in touch with long lost friends or family members, others to kill time, and entertain themselves for a short amount of time. Social networking is good in other ways. For example, it’s really easy to report important news and amber alerts through the internet. Messages can be sent in a second and be viewed by hundreds of people in minutes. Although social networking has a lot of benefits there are also many downsides to the situation, some people misuse social networking, making it dangerous for the basic things of life like, education, employment, and society itself. Throughout time, more and more people are getting involved with social networking, and figuring the wonders of it. Some of this people are very important when it comes to education. Thousands of students throughout the world apply for scholarships, grants and loans. Now that social networking has become so important, colleges administration are using this media to go through students Facebooks. In search to find signs of illegal behavior. Such as plagiarism, or vulgarities. In fact, according to ProCon.com, 35% of college admission officers found illegal behavior going on, resulting negatively on the students admission chances. Social networking is a big distraction to students. Some students exceed the amount spent on the internet and use it during class, making impossible to pay attention. At home, students may find it difficult to study. With often searching answers in the web, people could be tempted to browse for a “few seconds” their facebook or twitter. This eventually leads to spending hours on the web, doing everything except what they’re supposed to be doing. This bad habits lead to the point where students test scores and overall class averages are very low or barely passing. Cheating also comes easy when using social networking, Students could easily access the media to find test scores or homework made previously by other students throughout the world. Social networking doesn’t only apply to education but seeking, finding and keeping a job all takes part of the social media. According to Career Builder, 2 out of 5 companies use social networking to research job candidates. They look for things that might seem helpful to the job. Like, your personality overall too what kind of things you “like”, the kind of lifestyle you live and how you treat other people. Today, not all companies do it, but most are getting with the program and researching these things. Keeping a job has actually gone harder now. Anything you post in the net is not guaranteed to be private. In other words anyone can see what you post. Posting negatively about your job can get to managers and could get employees fired. Before, going in a job, a manual is handed out and in that manual, it clearly says that posting stuff about the job can lead to termination. Not mattering if it’s positive or negative things. Employment and education matter in life, but they don’t define everybody. Society could be defined as a whole. Social networking has affected society in so many ways. People who use social networking in excess are bound to seek for perfection. They see pictures or statuses about other people lives, and could become obsessive to become as close as what they see and want. Some people could get so obsessed with social networking, that they lose touch with real life. They become lonely and their self-esteem goes low, leading to depression. People could be what they want to be in the internet, meaning that people never know who they are talking with. There are million of users that are there to take over teens or naïve people who don’t know the danger of talking to strangers in the social media. Sexual predators are all well known to be in the internet for many years, but today it has become a real threat. They are finding easier ways to steal others pictures, and becoming a fake person online.
Society has lost all their knowledge learned in the past, they are using internet language, and apply it to everyday life situations. Some even become shy to participate in face to face communication. They want to do everything trough the net, avoid verbal and face to face communication.
Social networking has also lead to a lot of hate groups, against the government, gay and lesbians, different races, and literally anything in life. These kinds of groups lead to cyber bulling. Cyber bulling has become such a big problem. It’s really easy to just say hateful comments to someone over the internet. Comments that are negative towards certain people can lead to depression, and even worst, to death.
Social networking has gone big over the last decade, some people use it wisely and know the harms it could cause, but others are naïve to see how dangerous it can all be if being misused. Social networking affects everybody in a way. No matter if its trough education employment or just life. The sad thing about it is that it’s here to stay, and it could only become one of two, better or worst. People need to see the danger of having social networks and the people they get associated with, because once it’s in the internet, anybody from anywhere in the world could see it.
References
Brenner, Joanna. "Pew Research Center 's Internet & American Life Project." Pew Internet: Social Networking (full Detail). N.p., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.
"CareerBuilder 's 2013 U.S. Job Forecast Points to a Better, But Still Cautious Hiring Environment - CareerBuilder." CareerBuilder 's 2013 U.S. Job Forecast Points to a Better, But Still Cautious Hiring Environment - CareerBuilder. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.
"Social Networking ProCon.org." Social Networking ProCon.org. N.p., 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

References: Brenner, Joanna. "Pew Research Center 's Internet & American Life Project." Pew Internet: Social Networking (full Detail). N.p., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. "CareerBuilder 's 2013 U.S. Job Forecast Points to a Better, But Still Cautious Hiring Environment - CareerBuilder." CareerBuilder 's 2013 U.S. Job Forecast Points to a Better, But Still Cautious Hiring Environment - CareerBuilder. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. "Social Networking ProCon.org." Social Networking ProCon.org. N.p., 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.