Disadvantages of Social Networking: Surprising Insights from Teens
“Honestly, I sometimes truly wish that ‘tools’ like the iPhone (or any smartphone), laptops, iPads, tablets, etc. hadn’t been invented. Sure, they’re great, incredibly useful, and fun time-killers. But the way teenagers abuse them, and switch them into mini group action rooms is frankly awful.”
At first glance, you would possibly think this quote came from a parent or grandparent lamenting on the disadvantages of social networking and the way social media has doomed today’s children. But it had been written by a Seattle-area tenth grader as a part of an assignment to answer the question, “How has online social networking influenced your relationships with friends and family?”
This student goes on to write down , “The teenage way of life has completely changed from what it had been only twenty years ago. Now, there's a dramatic decrease in face-to-face communication, which reduces our generation’s ability to interact with others on a speaking level.”
Not coincidentally, this same message was echoed by the children interviewed in Tomorrow’s Change Makers: Reclaiming the facility of Citizenship for a replacement Generation. Youth engaged within the ir communities claim that face-to-face interactions is what motivates them to form a difference in the world.
This is a two-part article gleaned from reviewing the essays of a category of tenth graders, with their permission, of course. it's meant to get additional discussion on the advantages and drawbacks of social networking and its effect on healthy youth development.
Below are the foremost discussed disadvantages of social networking consistent with these tenth graders, including quotes from their essays. during a similar format, you'll also read reflections on the advantages of social networking in my column at Psychology Today.
5 Disadvantages of Social Networking-
1. Lacks Emotional Connection-
“A couple weeks ago, one among my friends and that i got into a fight and she or he told me all of her feelings on why she ignored me for 2 weeks. Assuming it might are really hard to mention it to my face, she sent me a text message. The negative side was I didn’t know if she truly felt sorry because I didn’t hear it from her. the standard of a conversation using social media is awful because you can't sense the emotion or enthusiasm from the opposite person. It causes you to wonder if they really mean what they assert .”
2. Gives People a License to be Hurtful-
“I do think it's gotten to an extreme where you'll say belongings you can’t say or escape with face to face .”
“I’m disappointed whenever I hear about social media getting used as how to harm people. I'm wondering if this happens when the writers forget that there are real people behind the screen.”
3. Decreases Face-to-Face Communication Skills-
“Computer reliance could hurt a person’s ability to possess a face to face conversation by making it awkward and weird to listen to something and respond with a thoughtful message through the vocable due to one’s dependence on a keyboard to convey a message.”
4. Conveys Inauthentic Expression of Feelings-
“Social media conversations today are crammed with “haha”, “LOL”, and other exclamations that are meant to represent laughter. This shorthand has become habit and is usually used when the sender isn't even smiling, much less laughing, in real world . On the occasion that our “roflcopter” is really put to use at a funny moment, we are replacing actual laughter with, during this case, an easy ten-letter acronym. consistent with Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, the particular physical act of laughter, and not the abstract idea of something being funny, is what makes laughing feel so good. If we are so willing to exchange the act that, honestly, we all love, with a man-made , typed representation that doesn’t even bring an equivalent joy, what else would we be, potentially subconsciously, willing to exchange?”
5. Causes Face-to-Face Interactions to Feel Disconnected
“When I see my friends on their phones and that i am around them, I feel disconnected albeit we are only two feet apart….. Unfortunately, sometimes friends use their phones such a lot that it's difficult to possess an actual conversation with them. Sometimes friends can get so socially attached to something like a blog or gaming console that they lose touch with friends, creating small gaps and holes in close friendships/relationships.”
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