Are Social Networking Sites Good for our Society?

We all remember when we spent most of our time playing outside and chasing our neighbors around the block. However, as more generations come and go, our world seems to become overran with technology. But what are we doing on all these new devices? Social Networking; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, just to name a few. While it may seem to some that social networking sites are benefiting our society, it is actually true that they are creating a corrupt society because of the distractions it causes, as well as the false sense of identity and information.

There is no denying the fact that social networks spread information worldwide, everyone are on these sites. A tweet goes out, and in less than minutes, it is worldwide. Social networks are also said to help students get more involved with their education by interacting with fellow classmates and teachers (Sarah Kessler and Elizabeth Delmatoff). Convenient of course, but not always the most trustworthy source. People will also say that as a teenager is preparing to become an adult, online social environments help them practice interaction with other young adults or teens as well as provide social support with people they may or may not know (Brendesha M. Tynes.) And yes, social networks are said to provide a way of self-expression and self-acceptance in many different ways; so why is social networking corrupting our society?

Contrary to the belief of others, we need to be awakened in the reality of the harm social networks are creating for us. Everyone on sites such as Facebook and Twitter are free to post whatever they please, whether they have any credibility or not. Social Media enables the viral epidemic of unreliable and false information. In a Mexico City suburb in 2012, rumors of fires, shootouts, and caravans of gunman were spread via social media that ended up to be untrue (Olga R. Rodriguez.) The cause of these rumors not only created fear amongst the city, but created havoc in local police and fire departments and even shut down schools. Now, who is to say that while everyone in the city was panicking about these rumors, there wasn’t an actual emergency? Social media can cause distraction away from someone who might actually need help, and if that is the case all of the time, then our society will be gone before we know it.

In other cases, social media is creating a decline in student’s grades and involvement. Two thirds of teachers even say that social media does more to distract students than to benefit their education (Leslie Lanir.) The easy accessibility of one another that is given to students through social networks encourages cheating and plagiarism, which could ruin the future of someone’s career. Without social networking, the simple copy and paste can be avoided and lessen the rate of cheating. In addition to cheating, social networks harm student’s education in terms of their productivity rate. Many of us have most likely been victims of wasting time on pointless tweets and pictures, but how long did it take you to get back to work? Statistics show that on average, if a new alert shows up it will take 20-25 minutes to return to the original task and in some cases 2 hours! (Urs Gasser and John Palfrey) Here, at Damonte Ranch High School, leadership went 30 days of no social media in order to break the habit and eliminate negativity. I can personally say that during those 30 days, I got so much more work done than I would have if I was still glued to my phone. My homework was done at 6pm rather than 10pm and life became a lot less stressful. With social networks, academic integrity and time management are both lost, which will catch up with you in the long run.

Even more importantly, social networks create an untrustworthy environment that can be both dangerous and cruel. Himanshu Tyagi, a specialist Registrar in Psychotherapy quoted, “…where you can delete your profile if you don’t like it and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable.” It is no doubt that people don’t hesitate to do this all of the time, and the sense of a false identity can create false hope. In addition, someone could be unaware of another person lying about who they are, and tell them information that could lead to cases such as bullying or even kid napping. Social networks teach people that it is okay to lie about who you are, and heightens the hope for a perfect person.

Social networking is not only ruining the society we are in now, but if it is continued to be used as it is, it will ruin future generations to come. The effects it leaves on people such as a false sense of identity and information and also the distractions it leads to will end up leaving us nowhere. We, as a country need to advocate that social networking is harming us more than benefitting us and it needs to be ended. If one by one, we eliminate the use of social networking in our lives than we can be aided to a better and brighter future.