Social media

Michelle Morales
Mrs.Riley
English1301
11 April 2014
Social Media We live in the time where communication is possible without having to exert so much effort. We live in the time where SOCIAL NETWORKING is the main medium of communication. Nowadays, we only need to have computers including cell phones and smart phones and proper internet connection to be able to communicate with someone from another country. Also, several people who have their own business take advantage of social networking; they use this to reach out to more people and sell their product. It seems that social networking has changed the world for the better, but is that all there is to this “great invention”? Do we really benefit from social networking? Dr. Larry Rosen – an international expert in “Psychology of Technology” – says this isn’t so. At the 119th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Larry Rosen did a presentation on how social networks may help and harm the children. Rosen (2011) said that although social networking may have changed the world for the better, it may also have negative impacts on a person such as: causing distraction among students, changing the way a person interacts with other people, and causing psychological changes. It is given that social networking is a great means of communication. It is quick, easy, and simple. The complexity of communicating with people from another part of the world is no more, all because of social media. Also, social networking has also made us more aware of what is going on in the other parts of the world, in real time. We are more up to date with the issues and the happenings, being good or bad, around the globe. Social networking has also made it possible for us to meet new people, without having to actually see them in person. One good example for this is Omegle. Omegle is a site where is made to talk to strangers who share a similar interest. Through this, two persons have the possibility of being friends. Rosen (2011) says that people who use social networking sites are more able to develop their sense of empathy. Once someone sees a person’s status saying something negative, that someone will immediately ask what’s wrong. Therefore, practicing empathy or “virtual empathy” as Dr. Rosen calls it. Evidently, these are only some of the positive impacts of social networking. It is quite obvious that using social networks has its benefits. The negative effects, however, are not as apparent. One negative effect of social networking is that it causes distraction to students. Rosen (2011) reported that the students who use social networking sites, such as Facebook, have lower grades than those who use said site less often. Students say that they do their school works, or what not, when using their computers. As they do their homework, they also check on their Facebook or Twitter accounts. Therefore, their time for doing school works has decreased. This, then, leads to poor work or no work at all. Another negative effect of social networking is that it changes how people interact with others. Derbyshire (2009) said that people who use social networking sites have the tendency to become more narcissistic. They also, somehow, tend to seek for attention. This kind of attitude may cause other social network sites users to be annoyed at the person who is seeking for attention. Then, this will lead to cyber bullying, which is extremely serious and should not be taken lightly. All of this could possibly lead to psychological changes, another negative effect of social networking. Due to the trauma of cyber bullying, or other bad experiences on social networking sites, a person might develop certain psychological changes. Bullying, of any kind, is a great factor in depression which might probably lead to suicide. According to statistics, suicide is the third leading cause of death among the youth. Victims of bullying are more likely to consider suicide. The seriousness of this issue is not taken properly. The issue that such small things, like a comment or whatnot, can make a person take his life is should not be taken lightly. According to Derbyshire (2009), frequent use of social networking sites helps shorten people’s attention spans. People, who are very much active in cyberspace, are more likely to have short attention spans because their brains are used to reading only short texts due to a limit in character count. Any text longer than a paragraph might seem uninteresting to people who are active in social networking. They want to get to the main point immediately; they do not want to elaborate further. A greater effect of social networking in psychological changes is suicide. Of course, several people will not agree with the points I have presented. Some individuals will say, for example, that not all students check Facebook while doing their school work. Clearly, not everyone does that, but the temptation of being able to check one’s account lingers. One might not be multi-tasking, so to speak, but one might be rushing his work just so he can do whatever he may on the computer. This will still lead to poor work. One might also be rushing the review of his lessons just so he can use the computer already. It is quite interesting to know how that will turn out for them. People might also disagree with my second point, saying that not everyone becomes attention-seekers when active in the social networking world. That may be true, but they might also be anti-socials. Rosen (2011) said that people who use social networking sites have greater tendencies to become anti-social. They might not consider themselves anti-social because they are active users of social networking sites, but they are not socially active in real life. They refuse to talk to people in person, they would much rather converse with them online. Somehow, they think it is easier to convey messages online than in person reports Derbyshire (2009).
It is quite clear that social networking has “taken over the world”. Almost the whole population experiences its positive effects. Some might even say that social networking is the best thing that ever happened to mankind. This may be true, if one only looks at the positive aspects of social networking. The real challenge is looking deeper. If one only looks behind the façade presented to us by cyberspace, then one will realize that not everything about social networking is good. What we should practice when socializing online, even in real life, is minding our actions. The world is bigger than an eleven-inch laptop, or a two-inch screen phone. The laptop screen will not tell us how someone felt when they read the comments we made online. Even the smartest of today’s smartphones will not be able to alert us about how other people feel or what other people think about us. We must keep in mind that, although we have the freedom to express our thoughts and opinion, we still have audiences. We may or may not want to have one, but we do because we are subscribed to social media. Our words and our actions matter greater than we thought. We do not know the impact of the words we post online. Therefore, we should be more careful with everything you do or say online. Think twice before you click the post button.

References
Parrack, D. (2012) Retrieved from: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/negative-impact-social-networking-sites-society-opinion

Rosen, L. (2011) Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/social-kids.aspx

Bullying Statistics (2011) Retrieved from: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.html

Derbyshire, D. (2009) Retrieved from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html