Social Networking and Privacy

            Social networking is a wonderful thing as is chocolate and other favorite foods. As with anything there can be too much of a good thing. Facebook is a fantastic tool that can be used for so many things personally I use it to keep in touch and up-to-date with close and far away friends. Sometimes it feels like I’m slightly addicted to checking Facebook. If I’m bored, procrastinating, or trying not to look awkward (you know you all do it) I am on facebook. By having laptops , Smart phones and other devices always at hand its almost impossible not to check what everyone is doing. That right there can lead to major problems because people are on these networking sites so often people have seemed to stop thinking about what they are putting out in the world.

I am not one to over share be it in person or on the Internet the way I was raised was to be cautious of how you are affecting people around you. To put it basically to not say or do things that would come to bite you in the butt. That’s why its hard to thing of a time of a time I “over shard” on the Internet but I definitely have  text messages that I have sent and wished I hadn’t. What allowed me to even send them was the feeling of disconnect between the receiver and me. Because I couldn’t see or hear the reaction it was easier not to think of the consequences.

It’s hard to say that social networking is having a purely negative affect on society because I wouldn’t want to stop anytime soon. The overall problem is that a society we are choosing to only see the instant gratification and not the long term damage. Some major effects that are starting to show even now are on the disregard of privacy and the utter lack of personal interaction skills that one acquires when having to speak on the phone or in person. Personally privacy issues are not something I solely worry about when on social networking sites but anywhere on the Internet.