The effects of Social Networking on Society

I am almost sure that by now you feel that you've heard all there is to know about the advantages and disadvantages of social networking. Well, unfortunately I am gonna add my voice to the chorus and the reason is that I see too often how the medium is abused by individuals I know. Moreover, the internet & newspapers abound with articles of the negative effects that it could and have had on society. Just this weekend I cam across another claiming that research has show that there is a potential danger when people care more about what others think of them than what they think of themselves. Did we really need research to tell us that though? But apparently this is was social networking (such as Facebook) encourages...a crave for constant approval by others.

 There are those who live their lives in order to have Facebook  worthy posts. These are obviously the extremes one would say. Surely, there are positive aspects to social networking? But is there any empirical evidence for some the claims that's being made?


I have noted how after surfing YouTube for a while for example, I really started feeling that any video clip longer than 5 minutes seemed to be too long.


There are even claims made that people become addicted to social networking. If so, what are the symptoms? My final word on social networking for now is that with everything we need to find balance or we risk becoming a slave to it. It is too easy to become caught up in the virtual world and its connections and lose our physical connections. I guess the question for me is, "In our race to embrace technology and all it has to offer, what am I giving up... what "price" am I  paying, both as individuals and as society?"