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people live in social networks
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Nowadays as humans have a highly developed brain, new innovations in communication are created to make our living standards better. Modern ways of communication make the lives easier, the business quicker and more flexible and connect people all over the world in no time. From children to senior citizens, modern means of communication have become a craze as a way of staying ahead with the technology. With our fast lifestyles, we have no time to meet our relatives or friends and are left with the only option of talking with the help of different gadgets and equipment.
Cell phones are the most convenient means of communication: you can call whenever you wish, not being bound by place or time. They often prevent a person from serious troubles providing a quick access to Emergency Services, besides we have a constant contact with the loved ones, can send immediate pictures and messages.
The Internet is quite convenient too. It saves a lot of time, provides vast field of information and gives the opportunity to visit virtually any spot of the world. It helps to pay taxes quickly; it secures up-to-date knowledge about any sphere of interest.
While the internet made the world a global village, the social networking sites brought the world within the four walls. No wonder it is one of the fastest growing communication tools. The rise of social networking sites have been phenomenal partly due to the immense freedom it affords. From finding long lost friends to meeting likeminded people, these sites offer everything to facilitate your online life.
Worldwide Connectivity
• The best advantage of social networking sites is that these sites allow you to keep in touch with your friends, classmates, and relatives. It is also the most cost effective way to keep in touch with your people. Here geographical locations are no barrier to stay in touch.
• These sites allow you to send and receive messages, upload photos, and videos. As such, they are very interactive as you can get to see what your friends and relatives are up to.
• With social networking sites, you are not bound by any geographical and cultural differences. These sites are a window to different cultures and places.
• You can build a network of contacts and interact with a lot of people at the same time. As such, you can spread your thoughts and interests to a large number of people.
• The social networking sites also facilitate you to procure information on any subjects from anywhere. These sites also make it easier and faster to collect the information.
Commonality of Interest
When you opt to participate in a social network community, you can pick and choose those individuals whose likes and dislikes are similar to yours and build your network around those commonalities. For instance, if you are a book lover, you can find and interact with those who share your interest. Because you are connecting digitally instead of having to physically attend meetings, you have the luxury of joining many more groups and communities.
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Real-Time Information Sharing
In many social networking sites you can exchange information in real-time via a chat. This is a great feature for teachers to use to facilitate classroom activities. These networks can be used as effective vehicles for students to pursue self-paced online learning. In addition, the Internet is the ultimate online textbook. Students can find online much of what they need to know. Social networking can provide a tool for managers or business people to use as a means of interacting with clients or prospects.
Free Advertising
You can spread the word to millions of people 24/7 through social networking profiles for free. You can promote one product, service or idea or many because you are limited only by the amount of time you wish to spend. Due to the huge number of people who regularly use networking sites it has found huge favors among advertisers.
Increased News Cycle Speed
Social networking has revolutionized the speed of the news cycle. Many news organizations now partner with social networking sites in order to both collect and share information.
Needless to say that social media has changed the way people interact but social networking can sometimes result in negative outcomes, some with long-term consequences.
Diminishing Privacy
The most glaring disadvantage of social networking sites is the risk of identity theft and fraud. The personal information of users can be used by dubious people for illegal activities. Information like the e-mail address, name, location, and age can be used to commit online crimes, taking into account that many users do not realize how much private information they are allowing to become public. Tagging can also serve as an invasion of privacy. When social networking sites have a " tagging" option, unless you disable it, friends or acquaintances may be able to tag you in posts or photographs that reveal sensitive data.
Isolation
Social communities reduce or eliminate face-to-face socialization. Because of the autonomy afforded by the virtual world, individuals are free to create a fantasy persona and can pretend to be someone else.
It is hard to say no, be rude, or ignore someone when you are looking them in the eye. It's incredibly easy and quick to unfriend or unfollow someone or simply block their efforts to make a connection. Just one click of the mouse and your problems are over. Unfortunately, this feature of online socialization cheats people of the opportunity to learn how to resolve conflicts in the world outside the Internet and it could cripple one's social skills development. While on the surface it appears social networking brings people together across the Internet, in a larger sense it may create social isolation. Scientists determined that social isolation can lead to a host of mental, psychological, emotional and physical problems including depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, tremendous levels of stress, aggression and many others.
Negative Health Consequences
Different scientific researches showed that hyper-networking (more than three hours on social networks per day) and hyper texting (more than 120 text messages per day) correlated with unhealthy behaviors in teens, including drinking, smoking and sexual activity. Hyper-networking was also associated with depression, poor sleep patterns, suicide and poor academic performance.
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Cyberbullying and Crimes Against Children
Use of social networks can expose individuals to harassment or inappropriate contact from others. Unless parents are diligent to filter the Internet content to which their families are exposed, children could be exposed to pornography or other inappropriate content.
People As Products
Global social networking revenues will exceed $10 billion in 2013. Most social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter offer their services to members for free, yet still net significant income. Social networking sites are uniquely positioned to make money by matching people to products. Since you generate content on a social networking site that indicates your interests, social and work background, and a great deal of other information about your personal preferences, the social networking sites can target advertisements specifically to you, a service for which advertisers are willing to pay significant amounts of money.
Time Waster
If this is not your kind of thing, then it would just be a waste of time for you. The key to social networking is that it is supposed to be fun, whether you are just doing it for kicks or clicking around for business purposes. That should be reasonable enough for anyone, but there are those people who don't see the point. For them, it can be a disadvantage. Moreover, it is easy to become distracted and end up spending valuable time on games, chats or other non-related activities.
Some other disadvantages may include such points as: encouraging poor grammar, usage, and spelling; creating a culture in which a single mistake such as a racy picture can cause irreparable harm to your reputation; decreasing productivity as workers habitually check social networking sites while they should be working.
Deciding whether we will use social networking is an individual choice. We should take responsibility for our own safety and integrity and never join something just because it is trendy or all our friends are doing it. In evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of social networking, it's best to err on the side of caution and information. After all, the lack of both can have a devastating effect. Parents should regulate their children's networking accounts. Additionally, many services have private settings available to protect profiles from unwanted online viewers. Discussing the rules and positive aspects of social networking with your friends and family can also defray negative repercussions. The power of social networking is solely in the hands of its countless users. With enough responsible members, aspects that may be potentially damaging have the potential to be improved.
In the century in which the most precious of all is information, modern technologies are the key for doing successful business and for safe communication. God has created us different in order to share our uniqueness and in this busy stressful world of alienation we should all cherish any valuable moment of personal contact with others. Looking at somebody’s eyes can preserve people as human beings. Modern technologies are quite beneficial but they could never replace the old fashioned personal contact between people who need to see, touch and feel the warmness of the men.
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