Social media has had a major impact on society today.
Of course with all significant changes come the positive and negative things
with them. Social networking is everywhere,
and virtually everyone has access to the internet to stay connected. Sites such
as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are a great way for us to stay connected. They
can increase social interactions and help build relationships.
I agree that social media and networking has become
more than just a convenient way to build long distance relationships. This
major increase in social globalization has as many negative aspects as positive.
The most controversial aspect is privacy. When something is posted; whether it
be a picture, a status update or a comment on a video, you loose complete
control over it. Once scanned by web search engines, it will be there forever.
A decrease in personal privacy is the result, and social publicity increases.
Jure Klepic states that “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas; what happens on
Twitter stay on Google forever!”.
More convenient, of course! Is it beneficial, not
really? People are being consumed by the
global phenomenon of communicating through multiple devices, anywhere, anytime,
instantly. The face-to-face personal encounters are becoming less frequent and
less important (Facetime does not count). Many employers are requesting
applicants to apply through online sites instead of connecting in person.
Confident handshakes, eye contact and smiles are disappearing. DSLR
photoshopped images are replacing them.
Another issue with social networking sites is the
superficial sense of self worth that is displayed, especially with its younger
audiences. People are becoming voyeurs and “Facebook creepers” wasting
countless hours, on discovering unimportant information and a good percentage
of it being misleading. It’s time consuming, distracting and highly addicting.
Some statistics say that there are more than 500 million active Facebook users,
or 1 in every 13 people on earth. Wow!
Information is constantly being stored about an
individual. These files are called Digital Dossiers. It is an accumulation of
every single digital file of you. Your
Facebook accounts, Emails, credit card purchases and even security camera video
are tracked of you. We need to aware, very VERY aware.
"You are what you tweet!"
