Problems with Social Networking

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Recently, however, some researchers have associated online social networking with several psychiatric disorders, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Since social networks are a relatively new within the past 5 to 7 years, many questions regarding their potential impact on mental health remain unanswered. On the other hand, due to the popularity of these online services in the general population, any future confirmed connection between them and psychiatric diseases would pose a serious public health concern (Pantic, 2014).

Social networking also decreases face-to-face communication skills. “Computer reliance could hurt a person’s ability to have a face to face conversations by making it awkward and unusual to hear something and respond with a thoughtful message through the spoken word because of one’s dependence on a keyboard to convey a message” (Price-Mitchell, 2014). People are way too attached to their cell phones. Very often the teenagers at malls, restaurants, and even while hanging out with friends are on their smartphones sitting far away from the people themselves and focusing on Instagram, Twitter, etc.

For example, I am one of those people who doesn’t like to call and talk on the phone I would rather just text out what I want to say to someone fast rather than getting stuck on the phone with someone for hours. I really dislike that I am this way though. When it comes to talking to family members or people I haven’t talked to in a long time that is one of the only times where I like actually talking on the phone because I know I will have much more to say to them, but if it is just a simple conversation with someone I talk to almost every day I feel like it’s even more of a hassle to call. Also, sometimes I don’t like the confrontation that comes with talking to someone over the phone. Everyone has their own preferred method of communicating with people and I really do wish that mine was different because I do agree that face-to-face contact and even contacting with people over the phone has drastically decreased.

Another disadvantage of social media is it perpetuates false and unreliable information. Anything can spread to millions of people within hours or days on social media. This also, unfortunately, includes things that are false or made up. This information can cause panic and severe misinformation in society. “49.1% of people have heard false news via social media” (Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?, 2015). This quote shows that people can mistake false information for true information. People do misguided things constantly and end up suffering because of it. Breaking news and other important information can spread like wildfire on social media sites. Important things like recalls, storm information, or missing children are all communicated and taken seriously very quickly, so it’s not good when those are actually false statements. In other words, everything people see over social networking sites they believe. False information is being thrown around too easily on social networks. Most of those incorrect facts are being believed as true.

For example, Facebook has its own page called the Butte Classifieds. This page is huge now and has so many followers from all over Butte. If someone wants to sell one of their personal items online they usually post it on Butte Classifieds and everyone who is following this page can see what the other person is selling and can comment on it if they want it. Although, many people use it for much more. Some people use it to get information about something that is happening, which is where false information can come from. There have been multiple times where there has been a car accident or something that has happened here in Butte and someone will post on the classifieds and ask what happened and what is going on and then everyone will start commenting on it with their own opinions of what they think happened, when they actually have no idea what actually happened. If this wreck happened only twenty minutes ago, how can everyone possibly know what exactly happened? People like to throw out false information on these sites and they don’t care who could be seeing this stuff. What happens if this was someone’s family member that was in the car wreck and they didn’t know about it yet and just found out about it over social media and now they are getting all this false information from so many different people and don’t know what is true about it and what’s not true.

Aside from all the problems that social networking and social media can cause there are also some advantages from using these sites as well. One advantage is advertising. Whether you are non-profit organization who needs to get the word out about your upcoming fundraiser or a business owner marketing a new product or service, there's no better way to get your message in front of millions of people 24/7. The best part is it that you can spread the word through social networking profiles for free. You can promote one product, service or idea or many because you are limited only by the amount of time you wish to invest in the endeavor.

Another advantage is communication. Keeping in contact with family through the phone or even over email presents a challenge sometimes, everyone has different schedules and some of your family could be in different states with different time zones so it gets difficult to find a time that works for the both of you. Instead, social networking sites allows the individuals to share their day to day life in a secure but public forum, which family can watch and experience. Facebook, for example, allows people to share events, images, and thoughts in real time, during the course of any day. Family and friends can then experience all the things that someone does, and comment on them. Then, they share in the experience, rather than just being "informed" about them during weekly phone calls. Facebook also has instant messaging which make it easier to communicate with family and friends.

In other words, it get very hard when you have family and friends that don’t live near you. Whether it’s an hour away or three states away from you it’s hard not being able to see them or communicate with them whenever you want to. This is where social networks come in handy. They make it easy and convenient for you to talk to anyone anywhere, and to keep you up to date on their everyday lives.

For example, my sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces live over in Helena, MT. I know Helena is only an hour away from Butte but it still gets hard to not be able to see my nieces whenever I want. Sometimes depending on our crazy schedules I end up going almost a month at a time without being able to see them. Social networking