Social Network = Social Nightmare?

The last point I personally want to touch, but certainly not the least negative, is where people become so involved in the online world or life behind their computer / cell phone screens, that they do not know how to function without them. You see them everywhere, children walking around town while texting, people texting while they are driving, people at coffee shops typing away on their laptops… Sometimes, it is a necessity, as some people run their business from their laptops or cell phones, but more often than not it is to social network. Frustrated parents (and older siblings…) trying to talk to the children only to find themselves on the receiving end of an absent-minded ‘hmmm’, ‘yeah’ or ‘come again?’ Or how about the teenagers (or sometimes parents!) sitting at the dinner table at home or in a restaurant typing away on their phones! Where has manners gone?

Or spending quality time with each other, technology free? It was usually considered pretty rude to look at something else while someone is talking to you, though these days they look away (at their cell phone screens, most likely) and text someone else on their phones while they are in the conversation or presence of another person. These are a few of the negative points when it comes to people becoming too involved in virtual online life. However, the most worrying is the danger all this texting has on people’s ability to read and write. Online slang and abbreviations are slowly but surely working their way into the everyday vocabulary of especially the young people – and with that, a whole new problem of learning disability arises!

The solution? Parents must make a point of establishing family time, where all members of the family should spend some time together, just talking without the influence of any technology – that includes television. Spending real time with real people will aid in maintaining a sense of reality and how to interact with other people in the ‘real world’ using appropriate language and behaviour. Also, having children read more will also greatly help their literacy awareness, so as to not become corrupted by virtual language and abbreviations.

These are but a few of the concerns about online safety and social networking, but to avoid making this aricle too long, I would like to end off with a final thought:

Everything that is marvelous can become a downfall if abused or used incorrectly.

Social networking and NMT is a lot of fun and helpful, but in the end is up to us as users to use it in the way intended in order to avoid becoming victim to either cyber crime or too lost in the cyber realm.