Negative Effects of Social Networking

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Social Networking has been on the rise at an astonishing pace in recent years. In 1992, less than five million people in the United States used email (Goodale). In a 2010 study conducted by Miriam Geller, Yahoo! Mail's Director of Product Management, it was recorded that more than 270 million people access Yahoo! email alone (Brownlow). This exemplifies the incredible amount of popularity the internet has gained in the short span of eighteen years. Formal letters and phone calls have long been forgotten, being replaced with this new wave of technological communication called Social Networking. Social Networking is defined as using websites that allow users to share content, interact, and develop communities around similar interests. Networking platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and innumerable others are catching on like wildfire. Simply put, social networking is “in.” As a result, the failure to address the issue becoming so prominent in today’s generation of children, teenagers, and young adults, leads to an abundance of negative effects.

Everyone’s internet use varies. One might need to use the Internet extensively for work, or keeping in touch with friends and family. But spending time online quickly becomes a setback when it absorbs too much of one’s attention, causing neglect of relationships, work, school, or other crucial aspects of life. With the unbelievable rise in numbers, creators of these viral sites

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have no choice but to expand and adhere to their target market of “twenty-five and unders” who continuously demand more to keep up with their needs (Goodale). “These technologies are addictive,” says author Michael Bugeja, bemoaning what he calls “a growing self-absorption” encouraged by social ...

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