Thesis Statement: Although social networking may have
changed the world for the better, it may have negative impacts on a person,
particularly a teenager.
I.
Introduction
A.
Question
B.
Thesis Statement
II.
Body
A.
PROs
1.
Pro 1 – allows us to communicate even with great
distance
2.
Pro 2 – makes us more aware of our surroundings
3.
Pro 3 – allows us to meet new people
4.
Pro 4 – allows us to exercise our empathy
B.
CONs
1.
Con 1 – distracts the students
2.
Con 2 – changes the way we interact with people
3.
Con 3 – causes psychological changes
C.
REBUTTALS
1.
Rebuttal 1 – does not distract everyone
2.
Rebuttal 2 – does not make everyone
attention-seekers
III.
Conclusion
A.
Restatement
B.
Challenge
We live in the time where communication is possible without
having to exert so much effort. We live in the time where SOCIAL NETWORKING is
the main medium of communication. Nowadays, we need only to have computers
(cellular phones and smart phones included) and proper internet connection to
be able to communicate with someone from another country, perhaps. Several
people who have their own business take advantage of social networking; they
use this to reach out to more people and sell their product. It seems that
social networking has changed the world for the better, but is that all there
is to this phenomenon? Do we really only benefit from social networking?
At the 119th Annual Convention of the American
Psychological Association, Dr. Larry Rosen did a presentation on how social
networks may help and harm the children. Rosen (2011) said that although social
networking may have changed the world for the better, it may also have negative
impacts on a person, particularly a teenager.
It is given that social networking is an outstanding means
of communication. It made it possible for a person in the Philippines to
communicate with someone from the other part of the world. It made it possible
for people to communicate with people they have not talked to in quite some
time. Social networking helped entrepreneurs widen their market. It is quick,
easy, and simple. Also, social networking has also made us more aware of what
is going on in the other parts of the world, in real time. We are more up to
date with the issues and the happenings, may it be good or bad, around the
globe. Social networking has also made it possible for us to meet new people,
without having to actually see them in person. One good example for this is
Omegle - it is a site where one is made to talk to strangers who share a
similar interest. Through this, two people have the possibility of being
friends. Rosen (2011) says that people who use social networking sites are more
able to develop their sense of empathy. Once someone sees a person’s status
saying something negative, that someone will immediately ask what’s wrong.
Therefore, practicing empathy or ‘virtual empathy’ as Dr. Rosen calls it. Evidently,
these are only some of the positive impacts of social networking.
It is quite obvious that using social networks has its
perks. The negative effects, however, are not as apparent. One negative effect
of social networking is that it causes distraction to students. Rosen (2011)
reported that the students who use social networking sites, such as Facebook,
have lower grades than those who use said site less often. Students say that
they do their school works, or what not, when using their computers. As they do
their homework, they also check on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Therefore, their time for doing school works has decreased. This, then, leads
to mediocre work or no work at all.
Another negative effect of social networking is that it
changes how people interact with others. Rosen (2011) said that people who use
social networking sites have the tendency to become more narcissistic. They
also, somehow, tend to be more attention-seeking. This kind of attitude will make other social
network sites users be, somewhat, annoyed at the person who is an attention
seeker. Then, this will lead to cyber bullying, which is extremely serious and
should not be taken lightly. All of this could possibly lead to psychological
changes, another negative effect of social networking.
According to Rosen (2011), frequent use of social networking
sites helps shorten people’s attention spans. People, who are very much active
in cyberspace, are more likely to have short attention spans because their
brains are used to reading only short texts (due to a limit in character
count). Any text longer than a paragraph might seem uninteresting to people who
are active in social networking. They want to get to the main point
immediately; they do not want to elaborate further. A greater effect of social networking in
psychological changes is suicide.
Due to the trauma of cyber bullying, or other bad
experiences on social networking sites, a person might develop certain
psychological changes. Bullying, of any kind, is a great factor in depression
which might probably lead to suicide. According to statistics, suicide is the
third leading cause of death among the youth. Victims of bullying are more
likely to consider suicide. The seriousness of this issue is not taken
properly. The issue that such small
things, like a comment or whatnot, can make a person take his life is should not
be taken lightly.
Most definitely, several people will not agree with the
points I have presented. Some individuals will say, for example, that not all
students check Facebook while doing their school work. Clearly, not everyone
does that, but the temptation of being able to check one’s account lingers. One
might not be multi-tasking, so to speak, but one might be rushing his work just
so he can do whatever he may on the computer. This will still lead to mediocre
work. One might also be rushing the review of his lessons just so he can use
the computer already. It is quite interesting to know how that will turn out
for them.
People might also disagree with my second point, saying that
not everyone becomes attention-seekers when active in the social networking
world. That may be true, but they might also be anti-socials. Rosen (2011) said
that people who use social networking sites have greater tendencies to become
anti-social. They might not consider themselves anti-social because they are
active users of social networking sites, but they are not socially active in
real life. They refuse to talk to people in person, they would much rather
converse with them online. Somehow, they think it is easier to convey messages
online than in person.
It is quite clear that social networking has “taken over the
world”. Almost the whole population experiences its positive effects. Some
might even say that social networking is the best thing that ever happened to
mankind. This may be true, if one only looks at the positive aspects of social
networking. The real challenge is looking deeper. If one only looks behind the
façade presented to us by cyberspace, then one will realize that not everything
about social networking is good. What we should practice when socializing online,
even in real life, is minding our actions. The world is bigger than an
eleven-inch laptop, or a two-inch screen phone. Our actions matter. Therefore,
we should be more careful with them.
References
Dave Parrack (2012) Retrieved from: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/negative-impact-social-networking-sites-society-opinion/
Dr. Larry Rosen (2011) Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/social-kids.aspx
http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.html
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