In today’s technology obsessed world, social media and networking has become an intricate part of daily life. Social networks are websites and phone apps that allow people to create a personal profile, upload pictures of their life, update their status, and share information. These are very powerful mediums that have the ability to cause some great things, as well as some very bad things, to happen. Let’s look at all of the pros and cons surrounding social networks.
The Advantages of Social Networking
1. Staying In Touch
As we grow older, friends, family, and people that we knew move away and it is very easy to lose touch with them. With social networks, this problem is essentially solved. It is extremely simply to find people on social sites, and once you do you can add them to your friends list and always be able to instantly communicate with them, as well as keep up with what is going on in their life.
2. New Connections
Meeting people can be difficult, when the internet came around the dating world changed completely to try to fix this problem. Social networking is possibly the number one way that people met new friends or romantic partners in today’s society. Profiles and interests allow you to “pre screen” a person beforehand to see if there are any deal breakers.
3. Aids In Criminal Cases
Whether people are aware of it or not, what they post on social media can very easily be used against them if they where to get in trouble with the law. Someone who is selling drugs, and may be posting about it on their social networks, can be caught in this way. This also applies for someone who gets caught drunk driving, and was posting pictures of them at the bar moments before.
4. Gives Shy People An Outlet
Communication doesn’t come naturally to many people. If someone is very reserved or shy in their normal day to day life, social networking can be an outlet for them to share their ideas and thoughts with other people in a comfortable environment.
5. Connecting Kindred Spirits
Finding someone who is interested in all of the same things that you are can be tough, especially if you are interested in something unique. Social networking allows you to connect with entire groups of people who are interested in the same things as you, helping to grow friendships and enrich lives.
The Disadvantages of Social Networking
1. Cyber Bullying
Bullying has been a problem among young people, and even adults, for as long as we can remember. However, when social media came around, this bullying was taken to an entirely different level. Cyber bullying is when a person is continuously bullied through online accounts. Cyber bullying is such a problem because it can be 24/7 harassment, and it can also be done anonymously.
2. Misinformation Spreads Like Wildfire
Social media has become the number one source of news and information for the majority of people. I know this may sound scary, but I assure you, it’s true. People will read something and immediately take it as truth, and spread this information on to their friends, and so on and so forth. This can cause major falsities to taken as real life headlines.
3. Easy Prey
People are always “checking in” with their exact locations on social medias, advertising where they work, and providing much more sensitive information. Predators, such as rapists, can also obtain this information and easily identify where they can find you at any given time. This is a large danger. The danger is also spread on to the children, who may not have much of a clue of who is okay to speak with and who is not.
4. Less Real Life Interaction
Twenty years ago, if it was someone’s birthday you went and saw them in person, or sent them a birthday card. Today, however, we simply write a quick little message on their Facebook wall and leave it at that. All of the interactions that we have with people have become incredibly in personal.
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Important Facts About Social Networking
- 28 percent of all news is obtained through social media websites.
- The average person spends nearly 4 hours a day on social networking websites! That’s a whole lot of time.
- There are currently 1.19 billion users registered on Facebook.com.
- 80 percent of all the “Pins” on Pinterest are actually just repins.
