Mithmeoi

Social networking sites. They are the latest thing to sweep across the internet, nothing new perse but they have stolen the spot light. I remember when having your own personal site was a huge thing, then it moved on to having your own domain space, from there it was instant messenger and then the social networking sites hit the net. MySpace, DeviantArt, Facebook, etc. A quick and lazy way to keep up with multiple people at once. Granted it can be handy for finding old acquaintances and friends from school or work, but they also have their downsides.

Networking sites, as with anything where large groups of people mingle, are a breeding ground for unneeded drama. Just a simple comment, that might not even mean anything, can cause a huge fuss if it’s taken the wrong way. He said, she said, and then it explodes from there. Colleagues from work can find it and pass it around to the point it will hit the boss’ desk and then what? These kind of things can make or break relationships.

Or the users that bemoan every little aspect of their lives to get the sympathy and attention of those who bother to read their depressive posts. They thrive on the attention that their drama causes and so they continue to push the drama until they achieve their goal in attention seeking.

These networks harm real life everyday relationships too. How? Well you see these people everyday and you may not talk often but then they see you on facebook and pretend to be buddy buddy with you. The next time you see them they are silent again. They leave a nice comment on your photos or main page but they can’t give you a hi in person. That’s kind of sad. Is it that people don’t have the guts now to come up to someone and say something or is it just they can’t be arsed to do it?

They are havens for trouble makers, also known as trolls. These people have nothing better to do with their lives than to go around the web looking for victims to bash on, try to ruin their reputations and hurt them emotionally. Their tactics are childish and show how low people will go to keep themselves entertained or to make them feel better about themselves.

Large network sites also cause a severe case of LAZY. If asked to go visit a site or possibly shoot off an e-mail the person in question will just give a “You want me to do what? That’s too much effort, I’ll send you a private message on MySpace. If you want me to look at something then post it in your gallery.” Right, because possibly clicking a few pages away to a different site is a lot of effort. E-mails are too difficult even to check now it seems.

Theft of identities, artwork, and photography run rampant on these sites as well, and sometimes they are hard to catch. It’s so easy to just pretend to be someone else online and gather net fame, eventually they will be found out but it’s a fast way to jump into the limelight. Get attention for all the wrong reasons and have no repercussions since it is, for the most part, anonymous.

Social networking sites are a powerful tool and as they continue to grow and spawn more users they cause more damage among the general population, the youth in particular. This generation of young people are some of the most emotionally, socially constipated generations to have ever been produced in modern times. The media and parents are definitely to blame but I also think the Internet and it’s massive networking sites share in it to a certain extent. These kids do not understand how to communicate with other people. They are ultra sensitive, easily offended, and so emotionally tied to these networks that it’s almost an addiction. They are trapped in their own little virtual world.