The Impact of Social Networking

Since the new millennium occurred, social networking sites have been popping up everywhere, from Friendster, to MySpace, to Facebook. Setting apart the old way of communicating, by telephone, letters, and in person is having a negative impact on us. People young and old have found themselves addicted to well, basically themselves. People post pictures of themselves, update their status constantly and write blogs hoping someone else will credit it. With all of that said, these social networking sites seem to be causing more bad than good. Teenagers are a vast majority of those using these sites. Do social networking sites hurt teenagers? People of all ages use social networking sites to keep in touch with friends and family. Not everyone can see someone on an everyday basis, nor call them every day. Being able to talk to people in your life all at one time is a great idea. Meeting new people is an advantage also. Finding those who have the same qualities and hobbies as you can make an instant friendship. â€Å"Researchers say social-networking sites are shortening attention spans, encouraging instant gratification, and making young people more self-focused. (What Impact) By being on the internet so often teenagers are accustomed to caring more about themselves than anything else. â€Å"A large majority of teens (71%) have established online profiles† (Teen Internet). If 71% of teenagers have an online profile, and researchers say it is shorting their attention spans, what is that to say about our future? Social networking sites are more about me me me than keeping in contact, as if the whole thing was just a popularity contest. This constant attention battle takes a toll on the brain, â€Å"A British neurologist warns that extended use of the sites actually rewires the brain, causing teenagers to require constant reassurance that they exist† (What Impact). Thus why they check and update their profiles multiple times a day. Social networks in a way make it seem like your living in a small town or village, where everyone around you knows every aspect of your life. But because we purposely want that, it is making us more concerned with ourselves. Most of these people teenagers talk to in the irst place are people they see almost every day at school, work, and etc. Even if they conversed with someone during the day, they still continue to talk to them on the internet. Being able to keep in contact with friends and family is very important. Right now in our time people use the internet all of the time to talk to friends and family â€Å"The current generation is never unconnected. They’re never losing touch with their friends† (Thompson). With the fast pace life style teenagers and young adults face, the internet is an ideal way to keep up to date with all the things happening around you. Especially for college students does this come in handy, being able to contact someone with the click of a button, while also writing a paper or doing homework. Multi tasking plays a large role in the success rate of social networks. While on the telephone with on person, it can be hard to focus on doing something else but when you are on the computer you can talk to multiple people at once while still doing other activities. Socal networks can also help you to find people you have not seen in years. They have search engines within, so finding an old class mate or an old friend from your kindergarten class is not a problem.