Social Networking-is it really social and what impact will it have on youth growing up with it? Is it networking or is it notworking?
Social networking is a relatively new terminology. By the term new, I mean within the last decade. Facebook wasn't even available when I was in high school and when I first registered, you had to have a valid collegiate or university email address. That lasted for only about 6-9 months after I registered. Then, you had to have a valid student email address-university, college, or high school. Then, well it became totally mainstream and unregulated in those terms. Now I believe the only requirement is that you must be able to turn on a computer and have basic knowledge of the internet.
Here's the thing, when I was in elementary school, if you wanted to "chat" with your friends, you dialed their home phone number from your home phone. The cool kids even had cordLESS phones! Some even had more than one line or call waiting! Many nights were filled with gab sessions on the phone, homework, projects, and sometimes television. "Social networking" eliminates the need for all of this.
With the need for verbalizing and vocal conversation no longer mandated in the formation and continuation of relationships of a younger age, children (I believe) will be at a MUCH higher risk of developing and displaying Asperger's and Autistic-type symptoms regarding social settings and peer connections. I have noticed this in myself regarding social settings-even familiar ones. After utilizing social networking sites, texting, and emailing, I find myself quite literally at a loss for words. Without being able to type it out, edit it, and word it the way I want, I am stuttering, tripping on words, and being unsure of what and how I want to say. I, unlike the younger generation, have years of prior experience with actually talking to people and being social.
I can see great attributes to utilizing social media and the way that it encourages thought before expression. It causes one to carefully plan what one wants to express and the wording that goes with it. It allows for editing and revising (although some people should use it a little more.) It connects people across continents and oceans, old high school friends and even teachers and celebrities. But with these "connections" the relationships behind them are becoming far less meaningful. Take this for instance: you graduate high school and maintain contact with a few close friends and a couple teachers for years. You visit with the friends regularly-monthly or so and talk on the phone twice as often. You visit the teachers at least once every school year and see them out in public. Now look at the relationship we have today with high school friends and teachers. They are comments or 'likes' on a Facebook page. Rarely are these interactions meaningful or meaty in any way.
This lack of meaning, in my opinion at least, desensitizes our minds to the necessity of human interaction. No longer are kids sharing conversation and thoughts about the world verbally. Instead they are texting and IM'ing. Some of you may think, well yeah, but that's how they share. NO. No. no. Those forms of communication-even this blog-lack the most important part of human interaction. The one thing we all use everyday without even recognizing we are--- EMOTION. Short of those shouty capital letters and the occasional emoticon, there is no emotion in texting, emailing, instant messaging, commenting, liking, etc. I mean how frequently do people use "LOL" when they are in fact not actually "laughing out loud?" I am guilty of that one to the worst degree. This lack of emotional interaction desensitizes our children to the point where some of them may not even understand emotions later in life. Marriages and family cannot sustain on technology and social media. Could this be a factor in high divorce rates? Perhaps.
In my very very personal opinion, social networking is most definitely society NOT WORKING.
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