SOCIAL NETWORKING

The Effects Of Social Networking On Children

The Effects Of Social Networking On Children

Introduction

Using social networking is among the most widespread interest of modern adolescents and children. Any site which lets social interaction is believed as a social networking website, such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. Video sites, virtual worlds, blogs, and gaming sites are also considered to be a social networking. These sites present a gateway for contact and amusement and have developed extremely in these days but social networking sites shorten teenagers' attention span, and lead to egotistical and antisocial behaviors. The more time children spend in front of the computer, the more their natural brain development is damaged. Their brains are rewired, causing them to look for instant gratification and leading them away from healthy real-life social interactions. (Edmiston, 2007)

MySpace, FaceBook and other online social networks are viewed by young people as “cool” and sophisticated and beckon them to boost their popularity, page visits, and number of “friends” with provocative profiles. Consequently, such Web sites are dangerous places for children and adolescents. Inexperienced and naive, they share their biographical information, interests, location, and inviting photos for the world to see on these Web sites, not realizing that child predators are constantly prowling the Internet. Therefore, parents must teach their children the dangers of logging on to the fantasy worlds social networks create and to not use them in secret. This paper discusses the effects of social networking on children.

Discussion

There are many negative effects of social networking on children such as attention disorder, obesity, violence and eating disorder. Privacy laws must not apply to the social networking sites. The sites must be strongly monitored by parents and law enforcement. Parents must be held held responsible for what their children are posting, viewing, or participating in. (Christian, 2009)

Many people, however, willingly post personal information about themselves on the Internet for all the world to see. Indeed, since the turn of the 21st century, millions of Americans have joined social networking websites—virtual spaces in which people can keep in touch with their friends and colleagues, as well as meet new people. As of July 2010, Facebook, the most popular social networking site, boasted more than 500 million unique users—200 million more people than the entire U.S. population. Facebook users maintain a list of friends who can see all the information they post about themselves; users not on an individual's friend list typically cannot see any information that the individual does not want them to see.

What is equally disturbing is the large number of On-line Obscenity Complaints about MySpace.com that have been received at Morality in Media's (MIM) www.obscenitycrimes.org web site. Unlike the Dateline series, the MIM complaints are not about sexual predators stalking children online, but about the pornography that is readily available on or through MySpace.

MIM has two consultants who validate these complaints. Both consultants are retired law enforcement agents with experience in investigating obscenity crimes. Once these complaints have been validated, the consultants then write and submit ...