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Introduction
The explosive growth of internet over the last decade has changed the way people interact with each other. Internet is one of the most integral elements in one’s daily life in respect to one’s exposure to the world through networking. Social networking is said to have many negative effects on individuals and the society. Excess dependence on computer may adversely affect an individual’s a daily life. This is a medical condition termed as Internet Addiction or Compulsive Internet Use (CIU). Children are highly vulnerable to the bad sides of the internet and social networking. Several incidents indicate that many children across the world are affected by behavioural problems like Cybersex Addiction, Cyber-Relationship Addiction, and Net Compulsions. On the flip side, the technology has numerous positive impacts on the world, especially with regard to communication and knowledge sharing. Therefore, a cause and effect analysis of social networking from a socio-psychological perspective shows that the impact of social networking is not wholly positive or negative but rather a combination of effects that might be potentially good or bad. This paper will review available literature on the topic in order for determining the intensity of the good or bad effects of social networking on its regular users.
Review
Social networking is the best cost-effective common platform for people to interact with each other today. Internet enabled facilities such as Google talk, Yahoo messenger, and Skype allow people to connect with others from different parts of the globe livelily. Nearly half of the world’s population today has access to the internet, and devices like ipads and tablets make internet browsing and communication easy and convenient. On the grounds of such positive aspects, ‘moral panic’ on the growth of the net-assisted media seems insignificant. As pinker says, the advent of each form of media such as “printing press, newspapers, paperbacks and television” has had aroused ‘moral panic’ (Pinker). According to the author, all such developments were once considered as threats to people’s ‘brainpower and moral fiber’. And today, arguments against the technology-backed media are also illogic responses to development. Many people believe that presentation tools like powerpoint reduce ‘discourses to bulletpoints’; and social media like Facebook and Twitter shrink our ‘attention span’ (Pinker). Pinker encounters this arguments stating that proponents of moral panic also rely on the same technology to research and communicate today.
On the contrary, Nicholas Carr argues that net “is chipping away one’s capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr). The author explains this point narrating his own experiences with net-assisted reading and writing for the past few decades. He says that easy accessibility to a great volume of books and other literature and a smooth navigation through the sea of knowledge and data have altered the world’s method of reading and thinking processes. The argument is that the use of the internet has affected our cognition. Carr cites the results of some researches and quotes from the experiences of some bloggers and readers to affirm his position on this topic. According to a study conducted by University College London, people who use online libraries do not read materials in the traditional way. According to this study, a new form of reading is emerging, and users only “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins” (Carr).
Jon B. Alterman brings our attention to some unseen powers of social media. According to the author, social media allows “a large number of people to see themselves as activists because they were creating content” (Alterman). The author maintains that considerable level of research has been conducted on social media’s potential to provide content to the people whereas not enough emphasis has been given to understanding the importance of social media’s potential to allow people to “send content, transforming them from observers of activism to activistsas leaders, not just followers” (Alterman).
It is relevant to review the opinion of Kevin Clarke too. According to the author, in Egypt and Tunisia and other Middle East countries where the youth took to the streets were demanding a freedom they had already experienced in their social networking experiences. In other words, they proposed to translate the freedom of expression and opinion they experienced in the virtual world into their actual lives. People’s exposure to the cyberworld made them think about the feasibility of inhabiting in a world where free thinking and limitless imagination would be welcomed. Clarke is unsure about the future as to where the ‘internet-generated people power’ may lead the world. This power involves potential threats and opportunities simultaneously (Clarke). The author is optimistic about the positive effects of the internet and he says that the technology will remain as a force enhancing ‘connectiveness of all people’ (Clarke).
However, according to Alterman, the power of 20th Century media outsmarts the power of 21st Century media. According to him, the power of social media with regard to bringing political changes has certain limitations; and, it was television that “drove events, framed them, legitimized them, and broadcast them to a wide audience” (Alterman). The social media only supplied fuel to the protests in Egypt and other regions by giving “rolling coverage of the television networks with new material” (Alterman).
Analysis
Literature reviewed here makes it clear that researchers are deeply at odds regarding the benefits of social media. However, they all converge at the point that social media has immense power that can generate positive or negative effects. At the same time, the world is unsure about the way the technology would lead us. Obviously, it is a multifaceted issue. The world cannot ignore the challenges it poses to people’s psycho-social and mental abilities and cognition. On the other hand, the world cannot forget the immense benefits the technology offers.
The most important reason for the moral panic is that many children today maintain accounts with Facebook and other social networking sites and get involved in the newer modes of entertainment. Children today are found weak in decision making, and this could be attributed to their increased exposure to the internet world. Evidences suggest that children are likely to become addicts if they spend much time on the internet. Sexually explicit contents are easily available to anyone. Children’s exposure to such sites can cause drastic influence on their mental development.
On the other hand, many thinkers believe that internet usage will promote socialization, which is a dynamic learning process. According to this concept, internet enables cultural transitions, and this would significantly contribute to socialization. However, internet may promote a negative socialization process too because of its unfair usage. People who are lonely and show low self esteem may easily develop internet addiction. Those who fail in their family and social relationships also constitute this group. When it comes to teenagers, those who are misunderstood by parents may exceedingly depend on social media.
Evidently, internet usage has greatly benefited people as it helps them attain knowledge without any third party assistance. However, at some particular levels, the negative effects can outweigh its positive effects. Over dependence on social networking websites like Facebook can cause time wastage, and hence the overall productivity of individuals may thus decline.
In total, internet has become the hub of amusement today. It can at the same time be a potential threat to human relationship and cognitive development. Internet allows people to make friendships worldwide and gain or share knowledge or data. Social networking sites have intensified the use of internet worldwide. Negative sides of social networking involve people’s likeliness of developing cyber-relationship addiction and net compulsions. Reports indicate that internet addiction has grown to be a major social problem. Cognitive-behavioural therapy can help individuals to stop compulsive internet behaviours to a great extent. Therapy in this regard should address an individual’s stress, depression, and all other emotional constraints to overcome the addiction. Another moral argument is that search engines ‘lower our intelligence’ as we tend not to go deep into knowledge (Pinker). Researchers like Carr argue that search engines have been fooling us and changing our way of reading and understanding books and articles by profoundly affecting our cognition. However, authors like Pinker maintains that the world’s concerns over mass media in respect to people’s brain power, moral perception and other aspects are irrelevant, because the new facilities and web-based shortcuts have helped people to develop newer skills and abilities. Anyhow, in the case of children, parents should limit their children’s screen-time to save them from internet addiction. Parent should inform their children about the negative effects of the use of internet. One thing is clear that social networking involves potential challenges and benefits at the same time. Therefore, it is wise to say that the impact of social networking is not wholly positive or negative but rather a combination of effects that might be potentially good or bad.
