Social Networking

Social networking sites are all the rage at the moment. Everyone is on these sites, from your grandparent seemingly flooding your timeline on Facebook to your teenage cousin tweeting up a storm. These sites have grown immensely popular and therefore have become very important to the fabric of our society. Nowadays, these sites binds us and allows for more connectivity than the world has ever seen before. Never before has your grandfather from Cuba been able to look at you through a small camera on you phone and actually interact with you. Also, politicians have taken notice of the powers of these social media sites. This is evident with the rise of the former President of the United States Barack Obama. His use of social media to help his campaign is told on the New York Times Article "How Obama Tapped into Social Network's Power." The article mentions the fact that the former President used mass emails to get the word out for his campaign. That allowed for him to connect with so many people and that is the real purpose of social media. These social media sites are connectors that allow more interpersonal relationships to flourish. At least that is the most hopeful way to look at social media sites.
There is dark side to these sites, for pretty much the same reason that it is a helpful tool. That same connectivity allows for more sinister people to get a hold of your attention. Cyberbullying is a phenomenon that was born out of the dark underbelly of the rise of social media. Bullying no longer happens on the playground as social media allows for the bully to be connected to the victim. The bullying can happen even at the home now. There is also the issue of losing that face-to-face time that once was so cherished and common. This is detailed in the New York Times Article titled "Anti-Social Networking." This article mentions the massive amounts of text messages that are sent from friend to friend. Those text messages are taking the place of normal human contact and that could have consequences. These real issue that people have is the concern that relationships are going to be less significant. The quote from the article that reads "whether the quality of their interactions is being diminished without the intimacy and emotional give and take of regular, extended face-to-face time" tells us of the fear. This technology must learn to adapt versus this problem. Somehow these technologies have to find a way to help the young generation grow up with all those meaningful relationships that people fear of losing.