Socializing is the current world is equated to a necessity. Even before the advent of social media, people still needed to socialize and as Postman (while underscoring the important role of communication in socialization) points out, human beings used various means of communication including smoke (7). The role that socializing plays with regard to the development of an individual’s personality, self-percept and image cannot be understated. The advent of the social media has seen many people register on the various social network sites. Social sites like Facebook, twitter, and many other sites which are slowly gaining popularity have found a way of giving people the joy of still being able to make friends even at work. This trend has seen people fixed in their offices whether at home or at work. A life like this makes the traditional mode of socializing a myth.
Social sites have brought a package that offers convenience, relationships, speed, segregation of content in terms of age, digital age movement exactly what everyone needs in this lifetime. There have been arguments against their popularity, which is the main idea here, whether social sites are good or bad for the society at large. Thus, determining such a statement will entail viewing both the negative and positive aspects of social sites and finally make a decision in terms of which side offered a more convincing reasoning.
The negative aspects of social networking sites are often focused on the disruption it brings to the norms and peaceful way things run. One disadvantage is that social networking sites have a negative influence on teenagers and young adults (Kelsey 5). Public sites like twitter and face book are open to everyone and this means that even teenagers can make up profiles and own accounts. This allows them to be able to view other people’s pages as there is no restriction that is strict on that, and most adults pages have content that should not be viewed by youngsters (Treblow Support n.p).
The danger of these sites to youngsters does not end there. Social networking sites also expose young children to sexual offenders. By allowing their users to put their profiles which most of the time involves a detailed description of their physical outlook and location, it also gives a description to the sexual offenders of how their next prey looks like and where they can get them. The society becoming stricter and parents taking care of their children has deprived these groups of individuals off their obvious prey and their next best option is often social sites.
Social sites also lower worker productivity; shorter attention spans and promotes narcissism. This is a case that has been reported by many employers who get reports that their workers are often on social sites more than they are on focused on their work. This led to many organizations blocking the access of social sites from the office computers, but the phones being marketed today still promote the vice. Research has shown that 51% percent of Americans access social networks while at work (Nielsen n.p).
A different research also showed that two thirds of workers in the United States with face book accounts access the site while at work (Nucleus research 1). Thus, spending time on social network while at work deprives the organization of time that would have been spent creating something else that is of importance. Thirty minutes a day which sounds like very little time, if spent by a company of 50 people and all of them on the internet it would cost the company 6500 hours of productivity a year(GFI 1).
Another negative aspect of that arises as a result of social networking is cyber bullying. The younger section of the society comprising of pre-teen, teens and children make a large percentage of the internet users. They account for rapid increase in the use of the internet. Whenever this group is online the most common activity is to join social sites actually to them that is what social networking is all about. The social sites define how they dress, who is out of fashion, and how they socialize. The same media also aids in the spread of cyber bullying, just as they determine fashion they also determine who does not fit to belong and they segregate them.
According to a consumer reports research conducted in June 2012, around 800000 minor were cyber bullied on face book. The percentage of students who have reported being bullied online is 49.5 % and those committing bullying behavior online the percentage is 33.7% (Mishna, Cook, Gadalla, Daciuk, and Solomon 362). Cyber bullying leads to disruption of societal peace as a huge majority of middle school children who are cyber bullied resort to suicide. This means that something that starts as a simple joke often ends up hurting others. At times even adults are cyber bullied from either social or workplace and their private life is displayed on social media. Social media has also become a site that gangs use to promote their criminal activities. They recruit other members from these sites, threaten other gangs and even coordinate their violent crimes through social networking sites. The openness of these sites enables stalkers to also learn more about their victims and set out appropriate times for their attacks (Topping n.p). It is a reason to be war but first it might help to look at the positive aspect of social sites.
One positive attribute abut social sites is that it is expedient for the economy. They have helped create thousands of jobs and many other ways of producing income and sales. Through social media, advertisement has been made easy, businesses find ease in relaying their products to consumers and at times they do not have to say anything but just to attach their products to a particular web page at a price. Customers, too, get an unbiased view of many varieties of goods and services thus, they choose easily and have many options while at it (Andy n.p).
Social sites might be sites whereby criminal activities are promoted but it also helps the authorities catch the same criminals. NYPD added a twitter tracking unit that uses social networking to catch criminals, who brag of their crimes online (Evon n.p). Social sites have created an ease to track down suspects and thus many citizens find peace in the usage of these sites as it is the only way in which they are assured of their safety. During the Stanley cup in Vancouver the city busted into riots and the police used the social sites to catch the culprits as social networking sites users tagged those they knew to be involves from the photos on social networks (Dalke 1).
These sites also promote sharing of educational knowledge amongst learners. A report on internet and educational relationship showed that 59% of learners use the internet to discuss educational topics and 50%use the site to talk about school assignments (National School Board Association 1). George Middle School in Portland offers a good example because after the introduction of social media in their school program, 50% of the students grades went up, extra credit assignments were completed by 20% of the students in school and chronic absenteeism went down by 33%(Kessler n.p).
Apart from just creation of employment social networking sites also create ease for employers to find employees and vice versa. Sites like linked in offer a way for people to market themselves with regards to what they do best and what they are good at and at the same time show case their interests. 65% of companies are on social networks that deal with recruiting. This is because this sites offer a wider pool of applicants thus, eliminating the need for an outside recruiter and also more efficient searches (HR Focus 1).
Social media also helps improve satisfaction in life, memory retention stroke recovery, and overall well being as it provides users with a wider base of socializing group. Through this media they can also have followers and support group to help them in dieting, exercising, stopping some additions like alcohol and smoking. It can be quite easy to meet life goals with a friend who helps you go through the whole period, and since physical meetings are hard social sites provide just the right solution to such issues.
Like Postman pointed out (although he was referring to television), the device itself is not that interesting but has created a content interesting enough to capture the attention of the users (17). Being that the current world has locked its mature citizens indoors at home, children at school and parents at work, there is very little time to socialize and keep in touch with the rest of the world. Social media sites help many senior citizens feel like they are still connected to the society (Sutton n.p). This way they are able to get information on churches, news, keep in contact with their families and also share their thoughts. It is a simple way of children talking to their grandparents if they live far away from each other instead of having to travel each weekend to go and visit.
Conclusion
As has been noted from the explanation above, the negative effects of social networking sites are more than the positive effects. From a personal standpoint, these are enough reason to warrant their control within the society in a bid to ensure everyone’s safety is considerably enhanced. The initiation of social sites, opinionatively, had only the best ideas and thoughts at heart but, they have now gone beyond human desires. Ideally, the fact that social networking can lead to death clearly gives insight to how this form of socialization has failed. However, it emerges that closing of social sites will not be welcomed by many, as despite its negative consequences other greatly benefit from it. Probably, the solution is not closing the social sites down but to monitor them closely and ensure that they do not affect anyone in the long run. This can be attained by formulating stringent rules to govern their usage besides punishing people involved in social-sites related crimes ruthlessly. The owners of the social sites should also be prevailed upon to look for effective ways of guaranteeing safety in the social sites. Pointedly, it is commendable how some sites are striving to create a safety socializing environment, for instance the phone verification protocol used by Facebook.
Works cited
Andy, Nathan. "How Social Media Saved The Economy." Technorati. N.p., 14 June 2011. Web. 14 May 2013.
Dalke, Richard. "Social media case study: the Stanley Cup hockey riots ." Fresh Networks. 1, n.d. Web. 14 May 2013.
Evon, Dan. "NYPD Uses Twitter to Catch Criminals." SocialDailyNews. N.p., 10 Aug. 2011. Web. 14 May 2013.
GFI. Social Networking at Work: Thanks, but No Thanks. Cary: GFI, 2011. Print.
Kelsey, Todd. Social Networking Spaces: From Facebook to Twitter and Everything in Between : a Step-by-Step Introduction to Social Networks for Beginners and Everyone Else. New York: Apress, 2010. Print.
Kessler, Sarah. "The Case For Social Media in Schools." Mashable. N.p., 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 May 2013.
Mishna, F, C Cook, T Gadalla, J Daciuk, and S Solomon. "Cyber bullying behaviors among middle and high school students." Am J Orthopsychiatry. 80.3 (2010): 362-374. Print.
National School Boards Association. Creating and Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social - and Educational – Networking. Alexandria: National School Boards Association, 2007. Print
Newswire. "Social Media Report 2012: Social Media Comes of Age | Nielsen ." Nielsen. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2013.
Nucleus Research. Face book: Measuring the Cost to Business of Social Networking. Boston: Nucleus Research, 2009. Print
Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1985. Print.
"Social media: certain tools are helping HR connect swiftly with the right job candidates." HR Focus 89.9 (2012): 1-4. Print.
Sutton, Marie. "Move over youngsters, grandma’s on Facebook." The University of Alabama at Birmingham. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2013.
Topping, Alexandra. " Social networking sites fuelling stalking, report warns." The Guardian . N.p., 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 May 2013.
Treblow Support. "Are social networking sites good for our society?" Treblow Enterprises Inc.. N.p., 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 14 May 2013.
