The Good and the Bad of Social Networking

October 19, 2011 / See the full lists of posts from Feel the Love

Many of us on campus are part of a social network like Facebook or Twitter. Some students spend a lot of time on these sites viewing profiles and chatting with people that they don’t see much of in person.  This kind of relationship is a social media relationship because your connection mostly exists online. These types of relationships have some benefits and they have some problems, too.

Benefits

• This type of relationship is a quick way to meet and learn a few things about a person.
• It’s an easy way to keep in touch with high school friends.
• It’s a person to talk to that may have a different view point then yourself. In more personal relationships we tend to surround ourselves with people that are similar to ourselves.
• You only have to talk to people online when you want to. These kinds of relationships usually are casual so people aren’t usually hurt if you don’t talk to them for a while.

Problems

• It’s difficult to truly get to know a person if you never actually see them in person. Conversations tend to be limited on social networking sites. You can’t see the body language and emotional context of the interaction.
• Can you really trust this person? It may not be a good idea to discuss personal things in your life with online only friends. There isn’t a strong bond so they may not care who knows about your conversations. You may not want your personal stuff going viral either. And certainly, you shouldn’t share personal identification or credit card information. There are scammers out there in social networking land.
• The relationship can be a little boring because you don’t really do anything together. You can only sit there and message them.
• If you get too wrapped up in these social media relationships your life can get a little boring and one-dimensional. You’ll be on the computer instead of meeting people in person, having conversations and building stronger relationships.

It’s important to remember that you shouldn’t get too wrapped up in these social networking sites. They can be fun, but are they worth all the time you spend on them? Go hang out with some people in person. You’ll have more fun and build stronger relationships.

by Russell Hostrander