Social Networking Becoming The Only Social Thing?

Social networking is slowly becoming exactly what ever parent has ever feared it would become, an all consuming thing that prevents their child from doing anything else. Though this may seem a little exaggerated, the truth of the statement is not lost. A recent survey done shows that more than half of Facebook and Myspace users say they can’t live without their social networking website. This large number of obsessive people is actually just skimming the surface of all the people who spend hours and hours on social networking sites. This just brings up the issue of whether social networking sites are really destroying the social lives of its users.

Social networking sites all work on the same principle: create a profile and then expand the number of people you know, usually in the form of friends. There is something very alluring about achieving a large number of friends on a social networking site. In fact, it is not uncommon for one person to have thousands of friends on Facebook. Whether a person knows every single one of those thousands of people, or even knows how to pronounce their names, is a completely different issue. But it does satisfy a very primal part of each and every person to have that sort of connection. Perhaps it’s because everyone is seeking that place where they can feel ultimately important to lots of people. Perhaps it’s just being able to show off the large number of friends. Whatever the reason, there is a universal drive amongst social networking users to obtain large number of friends, one of the reasons why so many people are obsessed with social networking.

Another reason for the possessiveness of social networking is because it is real-time. This may seem like a curious statement but it is quite true. Think about it, because everything happens on a social network in real-time, the user must keep checking the website to assure that he or she doesn’t miss something important. Unlike the mail, which comes at certain designated times, Facebook pages can be updated at any given time. There is an odd, but unspoken need for people to respond immediately to comments or wall posts. Thus, the user becomes encaptured to the need for continual page refreshing in order to see the comments and posts immediately after they are made.

With the growing obsession with social networking, real social networks may be harmed. If a person is only concerned with his or her online network, they will inevitably spend less effort on their real life networks. This can be very harmful because people are naturally social creatures. However, the social connections that an online website provides will not be able to satisfy the inner desires of human nature, no matter how many friends you have on Facebook. Real voices and real people are needed to truly be socially satisfied. So keep that in mind when using social networks. Social networks are a good way to build existing relationships but should not be the only means of making connections.